We’re excited to unveil the second release candidate for Jellyfin 12.0!
As a preview release, this is aimed at testers who want to help squash bugs before the final launch. Your help in finding issues is invaluable. As always, please stop your Jellyfin server and take a complete backup before upgrading.
A note about versioning
Starting with this release, we’re dropping the leading 10. from our version numbers. So 10.11.x becomes [10.]12.x, i.e., 12.x. This change reflects that the project no longer anticipates a hard API break as previously envisioned, and the old scheme caused confusion about what constitutes a “major” release. For more details, see the RC1 release notes.
What’s new?
Performance is the star of this release. While version 10.11.0 introduced a substantial backend overhaul that worked well overall, it had several rough edges. This release aims to smooth out most of those issues and deliver snappier performance for everyone.
Beyond performance, you’ll find countless minor fixes, enhancements, and translations. Our draft release notes and the Web changelog provide the full picture.
Important: You must be on Jellyfin 10.10.7+ or 10.11.x (ideally 10.11.11) before attempting the upgrade. Jumping from an earlier version will fail. Upgrade to one of these first.
Heads up: The initial startup of Jellyfin 12.x will run several database migrations and can take a few minutes. Please be patient and don’t interrupt the process. You can monitor progress via the newly improved startup UI on your local network (or a general status view remotely) by visiting your server’s URL in a browser while it starts.
Plugin users: When testing the RC, disable all external plugins and reinstall them from the unstable plugin repository. Otherwise, plugins may fail to load and cause unexpected problems.
Installing
This preview is available through our usual channels, though not automatically via the Apt repo or the latest tag.
- For non-Docker setups, grab the manual download files from our repository by choosing “Stable Preview” for your OS.
- For Docker, pull the
12.0-rc2orpreviewtags.
What’s Changed (since RC1)
Behind the scenes, the team has been busy polishing database operations. Large batch deletions no longer choke on too many SQL variables, and heavy database tasks now politely wait until scans finish to avoid contention. Duplicate cleanup during migrations now happens in batches, and orphaned people entries are automatically swept away, keeping your library tidy.
Several pesky bugs have been squashed. Live TV tuners now release properly when not in use, channel icons refresh correctly during guide updates, and embedded lyrics update as expected after a full metadata refresh. Comic book plugin registration works again, localization lookups are fixed, and a password-hashing tweak for Schedules Direct improves reliability.
On the usability front, the startup UI has been completely revamped for a cleaner look and better experience. Security gets a boost too: the plugin installer now rejects package names that could be unsafe.
Under the hood, numerous dependencies were updated, including CI tooling, test libraries, and the Swagger UI components—keeping everything modern and stable.
We’re also delighted to welcome first-time contributors obrenoalvim and danieltutuianu, who chipped in with the Schedules Direct fix and the Live TV icon refresh, respectively.
