Search Very Slow (3 minute response)

[Rumzzz 31]

After updating to 4.9.1.90, searching has become very slow.

Before the update, searching would take around 15 seconds. Now, searching (especially for larger results) takes 2-3 minutes.

Can this update be reverted to 4.9.1.80 safely?

embyserver.txt

[Luke 42077]

HI, that's surprising. It really should be faster. I would try more searches and see how things compare.

[Rumzzz 31]

Single word searches seemed to come back faster, but still took around a minute. Multi word searches come back after minutes.

I reverted to 4.9.1.80 and searching is back to normal. Not sure when I will be able to re-test on 4.9.1.90, but maybe other users can chime in on their experience.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, that's helpful. We'll take a look at that. Thanks.

[bravoland2 6]

I came here to say I noticed the same behavior recently too.  Search is now painfully slow.  never had a problem before a few days ago.

[Dan_86 5]

What platform is your server on? Linux?

Newest version dropped yesterday 

[bravoland2 6]

i'm running my server on windows 11.  Today was the first day I noticed the sluggishness of the search so that makes since.

Edited November 12, 2025 by bravoland2

[Luke 42077]

HI, we are looking into it. Thanks.

[bandit8623 213]

server 2025 here searches super fast.  just to give info.

[brothom 177]

Mine is running on Windows 10 and searching is fast. Searching "south family star" (gives a whole bunch of results on my system) and only takes a fraction of time. Not sure if that's because this result may or may not be cached due to previous search / compounds.

[JoLas 26]

I'm running Windows 11 25H2 and Emby Server 4.9.1.90. Searching takes about one second so no difference since earlier versions for me.

[Dan_86 5]

Super fast searches with the 4.9.1.90 docker server.   Great job team

[Rumzzz 31]

I had a chance to update and test 4.9.1.90 again. I think this has something to do with the quoted searches change.

Things like (Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Ice Cube, Teyana Taylor, Andy Clausen) all take 3-5 minutes to return results, but something like (Jay-z, common, Rihanna, Ludacris, C418) comes back super fast.

HOWEVER, putting any of the multi-word searches within quotes like "Kid Cudi" returned results super fast.

I am running Windows 11 on an NVME drive with 10GB of ram allocated to my embyserver process. Library of about 2 million songs, database vacuum on every boot.

@Luke I am staying on 4.9.1.90 since I have the quote workaround. Let me know if there's something specific you'd like me to test.

Edited November 13, 2025 by Rumzzz
clarification

[adminExitium 355]

Probably because without quotes, it searches both those terms individually too and merges the results, which will have a lot of matches with your large DB.

With quotes, it searches the full name only, which should have a lot fewer matches.

I still think Emby should be defaulting to "with quotes" by default and allow users to opt-out if they want. I am not sure why any users would enter multiple terms otherwise, other than actually requiring results when both of them are present.

[Rumzzz 31]

I personally can't even think of a case where I'd want to search multiple terms individually (maybe searching a song title AND artist?)

I think it is very much worth defaulting to quoted searches behind the scenes. The speed improvement is massive, often times taking less than a second to return results.

Edited November 13, 2025 by Rumzzz

[adminExitium 355]

I believe this was added to partially address the Fuzzy Search FR (

), but seems more like a hack than anything.

I have added a comment there to implement that properly rather than relying on this behavior, so hopefully, once that's added, this hack can be removed.

[Rumzzz 31]

Hopefully this can be fixed (properly or improperly) soon. I can hear my CPU fans ramp up for 5 minutes every time someone searches without quotes.

[bandit8623 213]

5 minutes ago, Rumzzz said:

Hopefully this can be fixed (properly or improperly) soon. I can hear my CPU fans ramp up for 5 minutes every time someone searches without quotes.

what is your cpu?

[Rumzzz 31]

1 hour ago, bandit8623 said:

what is your cpu?

13600k. No overclock, although I do give embyserver.exe a higher level of processing priority. The process doesn't pass 20% utilization but my fans run as if it's at 100%

[bandit8623 213]

2 minutes ago, Rumzzz said:

13600k. No overclock, although I do give embyserver.exe a higher level of processing priority. The process doesn't pass 20% utilization but my fans run as if it's at 100%

no worries.  that should not have to use much cpu.  i was curious if it was a low power solution.

[bandit8623 213]

1 hour ago, Rumzzz said:

13600k. No overclock, although I do give embyserver.exe a higher level of processing priority. The process doesn't pass 20% utilization but my fans run as if it's at 100%

for giggles what if you dont make it a high priority process?  leave default?  is this a normal desktop?  do u have fan curves setup in any software?  its likely triggering a specific temp and ramping fans.  cpu fan would be fine right?  but maybe not have the rest ramp up as well?  more info i can help with what i can like board info.

obviously this is a bandaid in the meantime of a fix for the slow search

Edited November 17, 2025 by bandit8623

[Rumzzz 31]

Shouldn't really be an issue with my (Windows 11 Pro) environment. The fan curve is default/linear on my B660-I motherboard, and changing the process priority (or core affinity) changes nothing. The only time my fans ramp up like this is during graphically intensive games or heavy multi-threaded programs.

It's both very frustrating and kinda funny how I can search for one word and it comes up instantly, but then I'll search for 2-3 words and it'll take 5 minutes of loading while my PC fans scream at me.

Hoping for a fix soon, would gladly move to beta channel to test a fix.

[bandit8623 213]

how many cores are used when the search happens? i cant compare as i have a 24 core 48 thread xeon cpu running my server.  also in my basement

[Rumzzz 31]

It looks like about half of my cores.

Are you able to search with multiple words without issue? How big is your library / what kind of content is it?

[brian5678 7]

What an absolute mess of a release.  I am waiting minutes for the Movie and TV folder to show the titles. (sometimes does open but BLANK  & sometimes it has timeout error) .  Super long delays playing anything (wait screen is just a BLANK screen).

It is a little better using a web browser BUT both LG TV app and Roku app its unusable.

MAKE AVAILABLE THE OLD DOCKER RELEASE PRIOR TO 4.9.1.80