Feature Request: Support pre-encoded HLS ladder playback for library items

[CraigWatt]

I’m interested in implementing support for pre-encoded bitrate ladders per library item, using HLS master playlists as the first target.

The feature request already exists on the feature hub and I have upvoted it:
Bitrate ladder support

My goal is to support a workflow where a media item can have multiple pre-encoded renditions stored ahead of time, and Jellyfin can expose them through a standards-compliant HLS master playlist so clients can select the best playable version based on their own capabilities and network conditions.

The intended behavior would be:

• No active transcoding required at playback time for laddered assets
• A library item can map to multiple pre-encoded renditions
• Jellyfin serves a master playlist that references those renditions
• Clients can ABR between the renditions normally
• Existing playback behavior remains unchanged for items without a ladder

For an initial version, I think the right scope is:

• HLS only
• server-side first
• pre-encoded renditions only
• focus on a straightforward universal ladder structure first, with room for more advanced codec combinations later

My thinking on implementation is:

• Add a way to associate ladder metadata with an asset or media source
• Add server-side manifest generation for those ladders
• Keep playback URLs authenticated and consistent with existing Jellyfin playback flow
• Validate that current clients can consume the resulting HLS master playlist without special-case logic where possible
• Add client-specific changes only if testing shows they are required

I’m intentionally not trying to solve every codec/device combination in v1. My main goal is to establish the architecture for user-defined pre-encoded ladders and get the server-side model in place first.

If this sounds reasonable, I’d appreciate feedback on:

• where ladder metadata should live
• whether the model should be HLS-specific or protocol-agnostic from the start
• what the smallest acceptable v1 scope would be

[hjourdain-ryvr]

I've added support of pre-packaged HLS files, and I think many of the items you describe here might be covered. My post is in another related - I believe - issue: https://features.jellyfin.org/posts/13/hls-adaptive-streaming-movies-using-pre-encoded-files-with-jellyfin
Does that address your needs? I have it released for 10.11.11 for the moment, but am also maintaining it locally on master.

[CraigWatt]

TY for informing me.

I'll review and test on my home setup as soon as I can!