Plex, Jellyfin, Kodi & NAS: building your library
A pile of MKV files becomes a beautiful, browsable library once a media server can read it. The secret is consistent naming and somewhere solid to store it all.
Name files so they match
Media servers identify films by filename. Use this convention and matching becomes near-perfect:
Film Name (Year).mkv — for example The Godfather (1972).mkv. Put each film in its own folder of the same name for cleanest results.
- Pick your server. Plex (easiest, polished apps), Jellyfin (free, open-source) or Kodi (most flexible) all read MakeMKV's MKV files natively.
- Point it at your folder of named films and let it scan — it pulls posters, summaries and metadata automatically.
- Aim for Direct Play so the original file streams untouched at full quality, rather than being re-compressed on the fly.
Where to store it
UHD rips are large (50–90GB each), so a big HDD/SSD or a NAS (Synology, QNAP or Unraid) is ideal — it keeps the whole library in one place, available to every screen in the house. Rip on a connected computer, then move or save the files onto the NAS.
Best players for a TV
For the best picture from your rips, a dedicated player like a Zidoo or Nvidia Shield feeds the file to your TV at full quality — see the media-player comparison on the Disc vs Streaming page, which covers Dolby Vision FEL support device by device.