Transcoding & Direct Play - Tori Docs

Direct Play

If your device/browser supports a file’s codec and container natively, Tori serves it as-is — no CPU/GPU cost, best quality, fastest start time.

Transcoding

When direct play isn’t possible (unsupported codec, remote device with limited codec support, bandwidth constraints), Tori transcodes on the fly using FFmpeg.

Hardware acceleration

Tori can use GPU-based hardware encoding/decoding where available:

macOS: VideoToolbox
Windows: NVENC (NVIDIA), QuickSync (Intel), AMF (AMD)
Linux: VAAPI / NVENC depending on GPU and drivers

Enable under Settings → Transcoding → Hardware Acceleration. If unavailable or misconfigured, Tori falls back to software (CPU) transcoding, which is slower and more CPU-intensive — this matters if you’re running Tori on a low-power VPS.

Quality/bitrate settings

Adjust target resolution and bitrate under Settings → Transcoding to balance quality against your (or your viewers’) bandwidth.

Streaming
Remote Access — bandwidth matters more once you’re streaming outside your LAN