Transcoding Troubleshooting
Why Is My Media Transcoding?
If the question is why transcoding is happening at all, rather than why it is failing or slow, see Why Is My Media Transcoding?.
High CPU Usage Despite Hardware Acceleration
The most common cause is subtitle burn-in. PGS and DVD subtitles frequently have to be burned into the video during transcoding, and most GPUs cannot do this, so the CPU ends up heavily involved. It is a taxing process even for a powerful server, and worth avoiding:
- Turn subtitles off before playback, using the pre-playback subtitle selection menu
- Use external text-based subtitles such as
.srtinstead. Emby Server's subtitle download features can automate acquiring them - Use an Emby app that can direct play these subtitle formats without transcoding, such as Emby Windows, Emby Linux, Emby for macOS, Android or iOS