Sync Introduction

The sync feature allows you to make use of content without playing it back directly from the Emby Server. It's a unique feature with many practical uses. With Emby Sync, you can choose specific media, then a device or destination such as a cloud provider along with criteria such as resolution and bit rate and Emby will prepare/convert the media to the format requested, then copy it to the destination.

There are a few different types of sync built into Emby. Some of these sync types are only available to the administrator for setup while other types can be used by users of the Emby server (if given permission).

As an example, an administrator can setup Dropbox or Google Drive as a sync destination, then setup specific media to be synced to the "cloud". This is quite useful when the administrator's Emby Server is ran from a location with limited upload bit rate. In this way the administrator can SYNC popular or new movies/shows to the cloud. Then when a remote user plays back this media the Emby server instructs the Emby client to play back the media from the cloud location instead of using the server's upload bandwidth. In this scenario the media is prepared and uploaded ONE TIME to the cloud where it can then be played back from numerous times without requiring the server to use bandwidth delivering the file again and again.

Another popular way to use SYNC is by an individual user who has been given access to the sync feature. In this case typically the user will pick a few movies or TV Shows and sync this content to a mobile device. This allows them to then playback this media "off line" without the need to communicate with the Emby server. This is an excellent way of allowing the family to load up on media to take on vacation, to give you kids something to watch on long car drives, to catch up on shows during lunch at work or to enjoy on public transportation getting to work.

While these are two completely different uses of Emby Sync (there are others as well) what they have in common is that the original media is not touched in any way. All media always resides on the Emby Server. Syncing does not "move" or "relocate" media in any way and will continue to be available for all other users just as it normally is.

Emby Sync is very flexible and can provide different features for different needs. It will be best to explore the functionality first hand and visit the forums for other unique uses of other types of syncing such as folder sync!