Streaming media service
Plex Inc.
|
Company type
| Private
|
---|
Founded
| December 2009
; 14 years ago
(
2009-12
)
|
---|
Founder
| Elan Feingold, Cayce Ullman, Scott Olechowski
|
---|
Headquarters
| Campbell, CA
, U.S.
|
---|
Key people
| - Keith Valory
- (president and CEO)
|
---|
Products
| Client?server
software,
streaming media
|
---|
Number of employees
| ? 100 (2019)
|
---|
Website
| plex
.tv
|
---|
Plex Inc.
is an American software company that runs its namesake
ad-supported
streaming media
service that provides television shows and movies to users worldwide, and allows them to discuss and discover content across all major subscription
streaming services
. Plex also develops
media server software
and a series of apps that allows users to stream their personal media collections from their servers to their various devices. Plex Inc. is based in
Campbell, California
.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
Plex began as a
freeware
hobby project in December 2007 when developer Elan Feingold created a media center application for his
Mac
by
porting
the media player
XBMC
(since renamed Kodi) to
Mac OS X
.
[2]
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 Mac OS X, and noticed Feingold's progress in the XBMC
online forums
. They contacted him and offered support and funding, and they formed a three-person team in January 2008.
[3]
[4]
The team released early versions of the port, called OSXBMC,
[5]
intended for eventual full integration into Mac OS X.
[2]
The developers continued collaborating with the Linux-based XBMC project until May 21, 2008. Due to different goals from the XBMC team, they forked the code that became Plex, and published it on
GitHub
. The OSXBMC code was kept roughly in sync with the upstream XBMC code.
[6]
In July 2008, the project was renamed Plex, which the developers said was chosen because "it evokes 'cineplex' and the suffix means 'comprising a number of parts'".
[7]
In December 2009, Plex, Inc. was incorporated with Ullman as CEO and Feingold as chief technology officer.
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
At that time, Plex had 130 apps, the most popular of which were viewers for
iTunes
movies trailers,
YouTube
,
Hulu
,
Netflix
,
MTV
music videos,
BBC iPlayer
and
Vimeo
. Feingold said Plex apps had been downloaded about one million times.
[5]
[12]
Keith Valory became president and CEO in 2013.
[13]
As of July 2016
[update]
, Plex had 65 employees.
[14]
In December 2019, Plex launched an
ad-supported streaming service
of movies and television shows from content sources including
Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution
,
MGM
,
Lionsgate
,
Regency Enterprises
and
Legendary
.
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
As of August 2019
[update]
, Plex had about 100 global employees.
[23]
In February 2024, Plex TV started offering movies for rental.
[24]
In April 2024, Plex partnered with T-Mobile.
[25]
Plex Media Server
[
edit
]
Plex Media Server
Initial release
| 2008
; 16 years ago
(
2008
)
|
---|
|
Stable release
| Server:
v.1.40.2.8395-c67dce28e (April 18, 2024
; 57 days ago
(
2024-04-18
)
[26]
)
[±]
|
---|
|
Operating system
|
- Server
:
macOS
,
Windows
,
Linux
,
FreeBSD
,
Nvidia Shield TV
,
Synology Disk Manager
,
Netgear
,
QNAP
,
Unraid
,
Drobo
, ASUStor,
Thecus
,
Seagate
, and
Western Digital
- Player
:
Apple TV
,
Fetch TV
,
iOS
,
macOS
,
Amazon Appstore
,
Linux
,
Android
,
Chromecast
,
Roku
,
PlayStation
,
Sonos
,
Oculus Go
,
Android TV
,
webOS
,
Tizen
,
Windows
, and
Xbox
|
---|
Platform
| x86
,
ARM
|
---|
Available in
| 43 (server) languages
[27]
|
---|
Type
| Media server
and
player
|
---|
License
| |
---|
Website
| plex
.tv
|
---|
Plex Media Server (PMS) is free software that allows users to create a
client?server
for movies, television shows, and music. Free Plex accounts can share personal media libraries among a user's own collection of devices or with friends. Plex Media Server organizes movie and television content and adds posters, plot summaries, cast and crew lists, technical details, critical reviews, and
subtitles
. Plex Media Server is also capable of
transcoding
files if the
codec
is incompatible with the device playing the media.
[28]
Plex does not support DVD and Blu-ray
disk images
and menus, saying, "these formats just don't fit into the idea behind the Plex ecosystem."
[29]
Plex Media Server can run on
Windows
,
macOS
,
Linux
,
FreeBSD
, some
NAS
devices, some
Netgear
routers and the
Nvidia Shield TV
.
[30]
[31]
For music content, it can automatically organize files by metadata tags such as title, artist, album, genre, year, and popularity.
[32]
[33]
[34]
It can also acquire content from
iTunes
,
iPhoto
,
Aperture
and the Internet.
[35]
[36]
[37]
A Plex Media Server can function as a
home theater PC
and can stream content to Plex's
front-end
media player
client applications that run on a myriad of devices and web browsers.
[38]
[39]
[40]
The media player applications are Plex, Plex Web App, Plexamp, and Plex Dash, which allow the user to manage and play content from a Plex server.
[41]
[42]
The Plex app is the successor to the Plex Media Player, and runs on a multitude of platforms including Android,
Apple TV
,
Android TV
,
Chromecast
,
Roku OS
,
iOS
,
iPadOS
,
PlayStation
,
Sonos
,
Oculus Go
,
webOS
,
Tizen
,
Windows
,
Xbox
, and
macOS
. Player applications on computers and
Smart TV
platforms are free of charge, while the apps on
iPhone
,
iPad
and
Android
phones and tablets require a one-time $5 activation fee to stream from a server.
[43]
Plex's apps largely relied on the native video player and supported codecs of the streaming device's operating system. In 2018, Plex began rolling out a media player based on
mpv
to support additional codecs.
[44]
Plex also offers Plex Pass, an optional paid-subscription service that adds additional features to its server software and player apps such as mobile
synchronization
,
metadata
fetching for music,
multi-user
support,
parental controls
,
over-the-top
live TV and DVR, trailers, extras, and
cross-selling
offers.
[45]
In 2016, Plex launched Plex Cloud for Plex Pass subscribers, which supported
cloud
-based servers. Plex's launch partner was
Amazon
, and the service was compatible with
Amazon Cloud Drive
.
[46]
Users were critical of the service, noting that Amazon seemed to impose upload limits.
[47]
The service also supported
OneDrive
,
Dropbox
and
Google Drive
. The service was discontinued in November 2018 amid technical problems and concerns of pirated content.
[48]
Plex Media Server has often been associated with
pirated content
. In 2019,
The Verge
headlined that Plex "makes piracy just another streaming service".
[49]
Streaming media
[
edit
]
In 2019, Plex introduced an
ad-supported
video on demand
(AVOD) streaming service and free-to-stream live TV channels.
[50]
[51]
Its content partners include
Warner Bros. Television Studios
,
[52]
MGM
,
Lionsgate
,
Legendary
,
Crackle
,
Endemol Shine
,
Shout! Studios
,
Regency Enterprises
, Kidoodle TV and
A24
.
[53]
[54]
Plex can also be used as a client for
Tidal
and hosts
podcasts
.
[55]
In 2022, Plex added a "Discovery" feature which aggregates content from other streaming media sources.
[56]
As of 2023, Plex had 16 million active monthly streaming users.
[57]
In 2020, Plex announced that it would introduce a movie and television show rental marketplace.
[58]
Its movie rental service launched in February 2024.
[59]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Plex (April 14, 2021).
"Streaming Media Platform Plex Raises $50 Million in Growth Equity to Become the One-Stop-Shop for Movies and TV"
.
GlobeNewswire News Room
(Press release)
. Retrieved
May 19,
2023
.
- ^
a
b
"Interview with the OSXBMC Developers – Automated Home"
. April 29, 2008.
Archived
from the original on August 22, 2016
. Retrieved
July 10,
2016
.
- ^
"Behind the App: The Story of Plex"
.
Lifehacker
. July 30, 2014.
Archived
from the original on April 11, 2021
. Retrieved
March 20,
2021
.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
a
b
"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
.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
"Announcing Plex"
.
Plex
. July 5, 2008
. Retrieved
May 20,
2023
.
- ^
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
.
- ^
"Plex, Inc. Company Profile - Bloomberg Markets"
.
Bloomberg
.
Archived
from the original on July 27, 2020
. Retrieved
November 18,
2019
.
- ^
"Happy Holidays from Plex! – Plex"
. December 24, 2010.
Archived
from the original on August 16, 2016
. Retrieved
July 10,
2016
.
- ^
"Laika Revealed – Plex"
. October 28, 2011.
Archived
from the original on August 16, 2016
. Retrieved
July 8,
2016
.
- ^
Anderson, Kevin (October 7, 2009).
"Thinking inside the box"
.
Guardian
.
Archived
from the original on June 5, 2016
. Retrieved
December 17,
2016
.
- ^
"Executive Bios"
.
Plex
. Retrieved
May 19,
2023
.
- ^
"About Plex – Media Server – Media Streaming Server"
.
Archived
from the original on August 4, 2016
. Retrieved
July 8,
2016
.
- ^
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
.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
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
.
- ^
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
.
- ^
"Plex will stream free, ad-supported Warner Bros. movies and TV shows"
.
Engadget
. August 29, 2019.
Archived
from the original on September 6, 2019
. Retrieved
November 18,
2019
.
- ^
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
.
- ^
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
.
- ^
Purdy, Kevin (February 8, 2024).
"Plex, where people typically avoid Hollywood fees, now offers movie rentals"
.
Ars Technica
. Retrieved
June 10,
2024
.
- ^
Plex (April 30, 2024).
"Streaming Media Company Plex Partners with T-Mobile, One of the Nation's Biggest Advertisers, to Expand Its Connected TV Reach"
.
Globe Newswire
. Retrieved
June 10,
2024
.
- ^
"Media Server Downloads"
.
Plex
. Retrieved
April 18,
2024
.
- ^
"PlexMediaServer Translations - Get Localization"
. Archived from
the original
on October 8, 2014
. Retrieved
July 2,
2016
.
- ^
"Transcoding Media"
.
Plex Support
. Retrieved
May 20,
2023
.
- ^
"Why are ISO, VIDEO_TS, and other Disk Image Formats Not Supported?"
.
Plex Support
. Retrieved
May 26,
2023
.
- ^
"Best Media Streaming Devices - Live streaming apps powered by Plex"
.
Archived
from the original on January 17, 2023
. Retrieved
August 22,
2017
.
- ^
"How do I set up my Plex Media Server on my Nighthawk X10 R9000 router?"
.
NETGEAR KB
. Retrieved
June 6,
2023
.
- ^
"Identifying Music Media Using Embedded Metadata – Plex"
.
Archived
from the original on August 16, 2016
. Retrieved
July 8,
2016
.
- ^
"Adding Music Media From Folders – Plex"
.
Archived
from the original on August 9, 2016
. Retrieved
July 8,
2016
.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
"Plex 7 Adds iTunes and iPhoto Support and More"
. November 11, 2008.
Archived
from the original on July 6, 2016
. Retrieved
July 8,
2016
.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
"Plex Media Server | 2021 Plex Pass Cost, Pricing, Plans & Free Trial"
.
Cordcutting.com
. October 15, 2016.
Archived
from the original on February 6, 2021
. Retrieved
March 20,
2021
.
- ^
"What Is Plex?"
.
PCMAG
.
Archived
from the original on April 11, 2021
. Retrieved
March 20,
2021
.
- ^
"Plex Terms of Service – Plex Media Server"
.
Archived
from the original on August 16, 2016
. Retrieved
July 7,
2016
.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
"Title of the page"
.
The Kartina TV
. Archived from the original on May 31, 2024
. Retrieved
June 2,
2024
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
"What is Plex Pass, anyway?"
.
TechHive
. Retrieved
May 19,
2023
.
- ^
Hollington, Jesse (December 6, 2018).
"Plex begins rolling out Enhanced Video Player in Apple TV and iOS apps"
.
iLounge
. Retrieved
May 25,
2023
.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
Perez, Sarah (September 26, 2016).
"Plex partners with Amazon to launch a hardware-free media server, Plex Cloud"
.
TechCrunch
. Retrieved
May 19,
2023
.
- ^
Perez, Sarah (December 2, 2016).
"Amazon isn't playing nice with Plex's new cloud service"
.
TechCrunch
. Retrieved
May 19,
2023
.
- ^
Roettgers, Janko (September 11, 2018).
"Plex Shuts Down Its Cloud Service"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
May 19,
2023
.
- ^
Stephen, Bijan (July 23, 2019).
"Plex makes piracy just another streaming service"
.
The Verge
. Retrieved
May 19,
2023
.
- ^
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
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Welch, Chris (December 4, 2019).
"Plex launches its free movie and TV streaming service"
.
The Verge
. Retrieved
May 19,
2023
.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
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
.
- ^
Harley, Nick (July 13, 2022).
"The Best A24 Movies Streaming on Plex in July"
.
Den of Geek
. Retrieved
May 19,
2023
.
- ^
Perez, Sarah (November 29, 2018).
"Plex teams with TIDAL to bring a discounted streaming music subscription to its media app"
.
TechCrunch
. Retrieved
May 19,
2023
.
- ^
Clark, Mitchell (April 6, 2022).
"Plex's latest beta features can help you navigate every streaming service you have"
.
The Verge
. Retrieved
May 20,
2023
.
- ^
Plex.
"Plex Closes Year with Billions of Minutes Watched; Doubles YOY Viewership"
.
www.prnewswire.com
(Press release)
. Retrieved
June 3,
2023
.
- ^
Perez, Sarah (January 5, 2023).
"Streamer Plex finally ready to launch a TV and movie rentals marketplace"
.
TechCrunch
. Retrieved
May 19,
2023
.
- ^
Purdy, Kevin (February 8, 2024).
"Plex, where people typically avoid Hollywood fees, now offers movie rentals"
.
Ars Technica
. Retrieved
April 5,
2024
.
External links
[
edit
]