Plex (software)

Plex is an American streaming media service and a client–server media player platform, made by Plex, Inc. The Plex Media Server organizes video, audio, and photos from a user's collections and from online services, and streams it to the players. The official clients and unofficial third-party clients run on mobile devices, smart TVs, streaming boxes, and in web apps.

Not to be confused with PLEX (programming language).

Plex
Developer(s)Plex, Inc.
Initial release2008 (2008)
Stable release
Server: 1.30.0.6486 (December 8, 2022 (2022-12-08)[1]) [±]
Operating system
Platformx86, ARM
Available in43 (server) languages[2]
TypeMedia server and player
License
Websiteplex.tv

History

Plex began as a freeware hobby project in December 2007 when developer Elan Feingold created a media center application for his Apple Mac. He ported the media player XBMC (since renamed Kodi) to Mac OS X.[3] Around the same time, Cayce Ullman and Scott Olechowski—software executives who had recently sold their previous company to Cisco—were also looking to port XBMC to OS X, and noticed Feingold's progress via XBMC online forums. They contacted him and offered support and funding, forming a three-person team in January 2008.[4][5]

The team released early versions of the port, called OSXBMC,[6] intended for eventual full integration into Mac OS X.[3] The developers continued collaborating with the Linux-based XBMC project until May 21, 2008. Due to different goals and vision from the XBMC team, they soon forked the code to become Plex, and published it on GitHub. The OSXBMC code was kept roughly in sync with the upstream XBMC code.[7]

In December 2009, the US-based Plex, Inc. was founded with Ullman as CEO and Feingold as CTO.[8][9][10][11] At that time, Plex had 130 apps, the most popular of which were viewers for Apple Movies Trailers, YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, MTV Music Videos, BBC iPlayer, and Vimeo. Feingold declared Plex apps had been downloaded about one million times.[6][12] As of July 2016, Plex had 65 employees.[13] In December 2019, Plex, Inc. announced ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) of TV shows and movies available globally to free Plex accounts, from publishers including Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, MGM, Lionsgate, Regency Enterprises and Legendary.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] As of August 2019, it had about 100 global employees.[22]

Software
Plex Web App is a browser-based interface for users to manage libraries, server settings, and watch content.

Plex is a media player system with a client–server model. Plex Media Server (PMS) stores, organizes, and streams all content; the playback client applications run on myriad devices and web browsers.[23][24]

PMS[25] is the back-end component, free of charge. It can acquire content from files, iTunes, iPhoto, Aperture, or the Internet,[26][27][28] and automatically organize them by metadata tags[29][30] such as title, artist, album, genre, year, and popularity.[31] It organizes audio and visual content from personal media libraries and streams it to the player, either on the same device or over a network. PMS can run on Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, NAS devices, or on Nvidia Shield TV.[32]

The front-end player apps are Plex, Plex Web App,[33] Plexamp, and Plex Dash.[34] They allow the user to manage and play all content from PMS. Most apps are free of charge. The Plex app is the successor to the Plex Media Player, and runs on a multitude of platforms: Amazon Appstore, Android, Apple TV, Android TV, Chromecast, Roku, iOS, PlayStation, Sonos, Oculus Go, webOS, Tizen, Windows, Xbox, and macOS.

Streaming

Free Plex accounts can share personal media libraries among a user's own collection of devices or to friends, and access Plex, Inc.'s content library of ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) and free-to-stream live TV channels.[35] The publishing partners have included Tidal,[36] Warner Bros. Television Studios,[37] MGM, Lionsgate, Legendary, Crackle, Endemol Shine, Shout! Factory, Regency Enterprises, and Kidoodle TV.[38] Plex Pass is the optional paid-subscription service including mobile synchronization, metadata fetching for music, multi-user support, parental controls, OTA live TV and DVR, trailers, extras, and cross-selling offers.[39]

See also

References
  1. "Media Server Downloads". Plex. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  2. "PlexMediaServer Translations - Get Localization". Archived from the original on October 8, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  3. "Interview with the OSXBMC Developers – Automated Home". April 29, 2008. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  4. "Behind the App: The Story of Plex". Lifehacker. July 30, 2014. Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  5. "Scott Olechowski Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  6. "CrunchGear Interview: We talk to the lead developer of Plex Media Center for Mac OS X: It was doing Boxee-like stuff before Boxee was cool". January 15, 2010. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  7. "XBMC for Mac forked for a separate project called PLEX (formerly known as "OSXBMC")". May 23, 2008. Archived from the original on August 21, 2009. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
  8. Stephen, Bijan (July 23, 2019). "Plex makes piracy just another streaming service". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  9. "Plex, Inc. Company Profile - Bloomberg Markets". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  10. "Happy Holidays from Plex! – Plex". December 24, 2010. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  11. "Laika Revealed – Plex". October 28, 2011. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  12. Anderson, Kevin (October 7, 2009). "Thinking inside the box". Guardian. Archived from the original on June 5, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  13. "About Plex – Media Server – Media Streaming Server". Archived from the original on August 4, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  14. Salkowitz, Rob. "With Warner Bros Partnership, Plex Looks To Flex Its Media Muscles". Forbes. Archived from the original on July 8, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  15. "Plex partners with Lionsgate to expand its ad-supported video library". TechCrunch. September 18, 2019. Archived from the original on July 8, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  16. "Plex Is Making Itself Impossible to Ignore as a Go-To Streaming Service". Gizmodo. January 8, 2020. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  17. "The best ways to legally stream movies and TV for free". Popular Science. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  18. Hern, Alex (March 23, 2020). "10 streaming services to help get you through self-isolation". Newsweek. Archived from the original on April 13, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  19. Ricker, Thomas (November 29, 2018). "Plex now streams cheap Tidal music subscriptions". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  20. "Plex will stream free, ad-supported Warner Bros. movies and TV shows". Engadget. Archived from the original on September 6, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  21. Roettgers, Janko (August 29, 2019). "Inside Plex's Quest to Become a One-Stop Shop for Digital Media". Variety. Archived from the original on December 3, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  22. Roettgers, Janko (August 29, 2019). "Inside Plex's Quest to Become a One-Stop Shop for Digital Media". Variety. Archived from the original on April 22, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  23. "Plex Media Server | 2021 Plex Pass Cost, Pricing, Plans & Free Trial". Cordcutting.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  24. "What Is Plex?". PCMAG. Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  25. "Plex Terms of Service – Plex Media Server". Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  26. "Plex 7 Adds iTunes and iPhoto Support and More". November 11, 2008. Archived from the original on July 6, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  27. "Plex media center adds Aperture support, continues to shine – 9to5Mac". November 25, 2008. Archived from the original on August 27, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  28. "Frankly my trailer, I don't give a playlist – Plex". July 31, 2014. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  29. "Identifying Music Media Using Embedded Metadata – Plex". Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  30. "What metadata can an m4a file hold and how do I get at it?". August 25, 2015. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  31. "Adding Music Media From Folders – Plex". Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  32. "Best Media Streaming Devices - Live streaming apps powered by Plex". Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  33. "A Plex/Web Update – Plex". November 16, 2012. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
  34. "Media software maker Plex launches new subscriber-only apps for music and server management". TechCrunch. April 16, 2020. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  35. April 2020, Marshall Honorof 26. "What is Plex? Everything you need to know". Tom's Guide. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  36. "What is Plex? 5 Things to Know". Cord Cutters News. November 27, 2020. Archived from the original on March 4, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  37. "Plex is launching its own ad-supported video service, starting with content from Warner Bros. TV". TechCrunch. August 29, 2019. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  38. D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 25, 2020). "Atari VCS Will Offer Streaming Service Plex Following Game Console's November Launch". Deadline. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  39. "What Is Plex Pass? 10 Features Worth Paying For In 2020". AndroidPCReview. July 15, 2020. Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
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