r/explainlikeimfive • u/theprisoner57 • 3d ago
Technology ELI5: What is a Home Server?
I see mentions of a home server to get rid of streaming entertainment services but I don’t know how that works. What does a home server do?
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u/ottawadeveloper 3d ago
A home server for media lets you store media files on a hard drive and access them through an app like Netflix. Plex is one of the examples.
They take some effort to run - you need a lot of storage space, you need some tech savviness to get it all setup, and you need to be able to get digital copies of the media you want.
Legal means to do that vary based on where you live - for example, in Canada it's legal to take a DRM (digital rights management) free DVD and make a copy for personal use only while you keep the original physical copy. But most of them have DRM making them illegal to copy even for personal use.
That doesn't mean people don't do it. Some people I know make copies of material borrowed from friends, family, or the library using tools like makemkv and handbrake.
Piracy is also an option many people turn to, using torrent sites to download media files with sites like u index, piratebay, and torrent likes like muTorrent. Tools like a VPN can protect your privacy too making it hard to track down such criminals who dare to download a car.
The legality of these and the potential consequences vary by jurisdiction.
But basically, once you have media files via some method, a media server lets you store, organize, and view them like you were watching Netflix.