Show HN: Spiel – watch your own files on every device

kilian-ai1 pts1 comments

Spiel — your movies, everywhere | self-hosted media player

Up and running in minutes

No accounts required to start, no router settings, nothing to configure twice.

Run the server

Download it for your Mac, Windows or Linux box and open it — it lives quietly in the<br>menu bar or as a service. Docker works too.

Point it at your media

Add a folder, a NAS share, a cloud drive or your Plex/Jellyfin server. Filenames become<br>a real library with posters, ratings and episodes.

Watch everywhere

Open Spiel on the TV, the phone or in a browser — same library, same resume points.<br>Go Pro and it follows you out the door.

A player that feels like the big ones

Ten-foot interface, artwork and metadata, instant resume — but it's your<br>collection, your hardware, your rules.

▶Plays everything

MKV, HEVC, multiple audio tracks, embedded and sidecar subtitles. What the device<br>can't decode, your server transcodes on the fly — seeking stays instant.

⌂Made for the living room

A real 10-foot UI: poster rows, Siri-Remote focus that tilts and shines like the<br>best TV apps, scrubber previews, skip-intro and auto next-episode.

⇆Resume anywhere

Pause on the TV, continue on the phone. Watch state and preferences follow your<br>account to every device — free.

☁Away from home

Your server dials out; the Spiel relay finds it from anywhere. Full library and<br>streaming over the internet with zero router configuration.

◫Truly multi-user

Every account keeps its own sources, settings and watch state — sign in once on<br>the server and every screen in the house follows.

✦Artwork & metadata

Filenames become a real library: posters, ratings, descriptions, seasons and<br>episodes, automatically.

Every source you'd expect

If your media lives on it, Spiel plays from it.

SMB / NAS<br>NFS<br>WebDAV<br>FTP · SFTP<br>Local folders<br>Plex<br>Jellyfin<br>Emby<br>Google Drive<br>OneDrive<br>Dropbox<br>阿里云盘 Aliyun<br>115 网盘<br>夸克 Quark<br>百度 Baidu<br>123 云盘<br>PikPak<br>MEGA<br>S3<br>…and more

Simple plans

Everything at home is free. Pay only if you want your library to travel.

Free

$0

forever

Full player on every device

All sources, all formats

Resume across devices

Your own library server, at home

Get started

Spiel Propopular

$0.99

per month · or $9.99/year

Everything in Free

Reach your library from anywhere

No port forwarding, no setup

Cancel anytime

Go Pro

Lifetime

$49.99

one payment, forever

Everything in Pro

Every future update

Buy once, done

Buy Lifetime

Frequently asked questions

The short version — the docs have the rest.

What is Spiel?<br>Spiel is a self-hosted media player for your own movie and TV library. You run a small server on your Mac, Windows, Linux box or NAS, point it at your files, and watch them on Apple TV, iPhone, Mac and the web — with beautiful artwork, resume-across-devices and remote access.

What media sources does Spiel support?<br>Local folders, network shares (SMB, NFS, FTP, SFTP, WebDAV), cloud drives like Google Drive and Dropbox, and existing Plex, Jellyfin or Emby servers.

Which devices can I watch on?<br>Apple TV and iPhone/iPad (beta), any Mac, Windows or Linux machine, and any web browser. Android and Fire TV are on the way.

Do I need to open ports on my router to watch away from home?<br>No. With Spiel Pro, your server reaches out to Spiel's relay over an outbound-only connection, so you can stream from anywhere without port forwarding or any router configuration. Your video streams directly and never passes through Spiel's servers.

Is Spiel free?<br>Yes. The free plan gives you the full player on every device, all sources and formats, and resume across devices on your home network. Spiel Pro ($0.99/month, $9.99/year, or $49.99 lifetime) adds internet access to your library from anywhere.

Get Spiel

▶Try it right now — no install, no sign-up

A live Spiel server running in the cloud, signed in as<br>demo@spielplayer.com and stocked with open movies.<br>Play something, skip around, close the tab, come back — it remembers where<br>you were. That resume position syncs the same way across every device you'd<br>own.

Open the demo player

shared demo library · resets periodically · your own Spiel is private to you

Spiel is in private beta while we finish the App Store releases.<br>Want in early?

Spiel for macOS

The app: double-click and a window opens with your library and player —<br>the server runs inside it. Or grab the menu-bar server for a Mac you leave<br>on for the TV. ffmpeg bundled in both.

Download app<br>Server only

Apple silicon · macOS 12+ · ~64 MB each

Unsigned: right-click → Open the first time, since it isn't<br>notarised yet.

Spiel Server for Linux

A standalone binary — ffmpeg bundled, nothing else to install. Runs on<br>Debian 11+, Ubuntu 20.04+ and equivalents. Or use Docker.

Linux x86-64<br>Linux ARM64

tar xzf … && ./spiel-server/spiel-server

Spiel for Windows

The app: double-click Spiel.exe and a native<br>window opens with your library and player — the server runs inside it.<br>Or grab the headless server for a NAS or background use<br>(spiel-server.exe serve)....

spiel server library player watch resume

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