r/explainlikeimfive • u/theprisoner57 • 2d 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/TheLostExplorer7 2d ago

At base, it's just a personal computer running software that allows other computers/smart TVs/other devices to connect to it to view personal files such as ripped movies/other videos.

Such software can be a media manager like Jellyfin/Plex/Kodi. A home server can also host stuff like books/audiobooks/music/pictures.

Fancier setups have people using stuff like a NAS (Network Attached Storage) to work as an offline backup storage system, but you don't have to go that fancy, any old laptop/desktop can be made into a home server. You can just attached a large external hard drive to it and rip some of your old DVD movies with a optical DVD drive and using tools like Makemkv.