Emby Media Server
with NVIDIA GPU Transcoding

Emby is a self-hosted media server — think personal Netflix. With hardware transcoding enabled, your NVIDIA GPU handles video encoding/decoding on the fly, meaning you can serve 3–5 simultaneous 4K streams with nearly zero CPU usage.

The setup we use here: Emby runs as a Docker container on a Linux host (Arch Linux VM on KVM, or Unraid directly), with the NVIDIA GPU passed through from the hypervisor. The media library is stored on a NAS (ODIN via NFS) and mounted into the container.

The host OS needs NVIDIA drivers installed before Docker can access the GPU.

You should see output showing your GPU model, driver version, and CUDA version. If the GPU is passed through from a hypervisor (bhyve, KVM, XCP-NG), install drivers inside the VM — the host doesn't need them.

The NVIDIA Container Toolkit allows Docker containers to use the host GPU.

1. 1

   Open Emby Admin Dashboard

   Navigate to http://<emby-ip>:8096, complete setup wizard, then go to Admin Dashboard → Playback → Transcoding.

2. 2

   Enable Hardware Acceleration

   Set Hardware Acceleration to NVIDIA NVENC. Emby will detect your GPU automatically if the NVIDIA runtime is configured correctly.

3. 3

   Enable Hardware Decoding

   Check Enable hardware decoding for H264, H265/HEVC, and VP9. This offloads video decode (not just encode) to the GPU — critical for 4K HEVC content.

Emby Docker container configuration in Unraid — GPU runtime params and NVIDIA device passthrough

Emby transcoding settings with NVIDIA NVENC hardware acceleration enabled

Active transcoding session in Emby — GPU handling encode, minimal CPU usage

Pre-converting your library to a compatible format (H.264, 8Mbps for movies, 4Mbps for TV) eliminates transcoding entirely — clients can direct play. This is especially useful for older clients that can't handle HEVC.

1. 1

   Install HandBrakeCLI

   apt install handbrake-cli # or on Unraid: install via Community Apps
2. 2

   Batch Convert a Directory

   Convert all MKV files in a directory to H.264 MP4:

   for f in /media/movies/*.mkv; do HandBrakeCLI -i "$f" -o "${f%.mkv}.mp4" \ --preset="Fast 1080p30" \ --vb 8000 \ # 8Mbps for movies --encoder nvenc_h264 \ # use NVIDIA GPU --aencoder av_aac done
3. 3

   Use NZBGET Categories for Auto-Convert

   If using NZBGet for downloads, configure post-processing categories to automatically trigger HandBrakeCLI on completed downloads — different bitrates for TV vs movies.

Test from multiple client types to confirm direct play and transcoding quality:

Monitor the Emby Dashboard during streaming to confirm GPU is being used (CPU usage should stay below 10% during transcode sessions).

On Unraid, GPU passthrough to Docker is handled differently:

1. 1

   Install NVIDIA Plugin

   In Unraid: Community Apps → search "NVIDIA" → install Unraid NVIDIA plugin by ich777. This adds NVIDIA driver support to Unraid's kernel.

2. 2

   Configure Emby Container

   In the Emby Docker template in Unraid, add an extra parameter in the Extra Parameters field:

   --runtime=nvidia

   Add environment variables:

   NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=GPU-4d31ca78-d605-aa77-a116-610b356fc58b NVIDIA_DRIVER_CAPABILITIES=all

   The GPU ID is unique to your hardware — find it with nvidia-smi -L from the Unraid terminal.

• Emby Hardware Acceleration Forum Community discussion on GPU transcoding setup
• MediaInfo on Linux Inspect media file properties — shared in HomeLab Discord #media-servers
• NVIDIA Container Toolkit Docs Official NVIDIA Docker runtime installation guide