You can move Plex watch states and playback progress to Jellyfin, but there is no documented direct Plex-database import that guarantees a complete history transfer. The practical route is to make your media visible in Jellyfin, then use a third-party tool to match Plex items and apply each user’s watched status and supported progress. Back up first, review the tool’s dry run, and verify the results before relying on the new library.
What can move from Plex to Jellyfin?
Jellyfin’s migration guidance says its internal databases “cannot be copied or adjusted easily” and directs users to third-party scripts for copying watched status and users from Plex. The Jellyfin migration guide does not describe importing Plex’s database directly into Jellyfin.
The plex-to-jellyfin project lists transfer of watched, unwatched, and partially watched states, including playback position. That is a tool’s stated capability, not a guarantee of a complete Plex history clone. The available documentation does not establish that it transfers every Plex Home or managed-user setup, rating, playlist, artwork item, or historical viewing event.
Prepare both servers before transferring history
Back up Plex data
Keep a separate backup of the Plex data you care about before changing servers. Plex documents its database location and a SQLite export of metadata_item_settings for moving view state and ratings between Plex installations. Its Plex view-state and ratings article is a backup/export reference, not a method for inserting Plex data into Jellyfin. The article was last modified March 14, 2020, so check its paths and database details against your installed Plex version. The documented export operation requires Plex Media Server not to be actively running on the source or destination during that operation.
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Make the media available to Jellyfin
Before transferring watch data, add the relevant media libraries in Jellyfin and confirm that it can see the files. If you are moving Jellyfin from Linux to Docker, its migration documentation says the paths inside the container must exactly match the configured file paths. See Jellyfin’s migration guidance for that deployment detail. Matching paths can also help the transfer tool identify items, but they do not replace reviewing its matches.
Transfer watch states with the tool
- Choose the source and destination users. The tool asks you to select a Plex user and a Jellyfin user. Confirm that the intended person’s Plex data will be applied to the correct Jellyfin account; do not assume user mapping happens automatically.
- Select the Plex libraries to process. The project says it can select Plex libraries and can be operated through either its command-line interface or web UI. Follow the current instructions in the project README for setup and the interface available in your installation.
- Run a dry run. Use dry-run mode before writing changes. Review the proposed item matches, paying particular attention to approximate-title matches, alternate editions, and items with unusual metadata.
- Apply the transfer. Once the planned user mapping and matches look right, run the transfer to write the supported watch states and progress to Jellyfin.
- Spot-check the result. In Jellyfin, check several movies and episodes, a partially watched title, and any ambiguous or alternate-edition items you identified. The project does not publish a measured success rate, so a successful run should not be treated as proof that every item matched.
How the tool matches items—and where to review carefully
The project describes its matching order as external provider ID (IMDb, TMDb, or TVDb) first, file path second, and approximate title third. The approximate-title fallback is the least reliable of those options. Different editions can share a title, and a title-only match may point to the wrong item; review those proposals in the dry run rather than accepting them on name alone. The README does not provide an independently validated match-accuracy rate.
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Why Plex account sync is not a Jellyfin migration
Plex’s “Sync Watch State and Ratings” feature serves Plex account-connected services; it is separate from the API-based transfer tool and is not documented as a way to import watch data into Jellyfin. Plex distinguishes a current “watch state” (watched or unwatched) from “watch history” (the ongoing log of changes). On initial opt-in, Plex says it uploads one current state record for previously watched or rated titles rather than recreating every past viewing event. It also says this feature does not sync partial or in-progress information. Details are in Plex’s Sync Watch State and Ratings documentation.
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| Option | Destination and user handling | Partial playback progress | Matching or review |
|---|---|---|---|
| plex-to-jellyfin third-party tool | Transfers from a selected Plex user to a selected Jellyfin user; Plex libraries can be selected. | Listed as supported, including playback position. | Provider IDs, then file paths, then approximate titles; dry-run mode is available. |
| Plex Sync Watch State and Ratings | Plex account-level sync for Plex services; not documented as a Jellyfin import path. | Not synced, according to Plex. | Not a cross-platform item-matching workflow to Jellyfin. |
| Plex SQLite export | Documented for moving view state and ratings between Plex installations. | Not established as a Jellyfin transfer method. | Database export, not a documented Jellyfin import path; Plex must be stopped during the documented operation. |
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