Volunteer built, GPL licensed
What Jellyfin is and why you'd self-host it
Jellyfin is a free media server that keeps track of the films, shows, music and books you already own, then streams them to a browser, a phone or a TV app. It started as a fork of Emby in 2018 and has stayed under the GNU GPL since, with no premium tier and nothing held back behind a subscription.
Running it yourself means the library, the user accounts and the metadata all live somewhere you control. It doesn't phone home, so the only place your viewing history sits is your own disk. A VPS adds a public address to that, which is what makes Jellyfin remote access work properly for family without exposing your home network.