Jellyfin 3DS

Native Jellyfin media client for Nintendo 3DS. Stream music and video from your Jellyfin server directly to your 3DS.

The first native Jellyfin client for Nintendo 3DS.

Features

• Music streaming — browse artists, albums, tracks. MP3/AAC with album art
• Video streaming — H.264 hardware decode at 24fps on New 3DS (400x224)
• Audio + video sync — 3-thread architecture with audio-master sync
• Library browsing — navigate all Jellyfin libraries with pagination
• Search — find content across all libraries (SELECT button)
• Seeking — skip forward/back 30 seconds (L/R shoulder buttons)
• Auto-play — next track/episode plays automatically
• Session persistence — login once, credentials saved to SD card
• Watch mode — hide bottom screen for distraction-free viewing (D-pad Down)
• Album art — displayed on now-playing screen for music

Requirements

• Nintendo 3DS with Luma3DS CFW
• Homebrew Launcher
• Jellyfin server on the same network
• New 3DS required for video playback (Old 3DS: audio only)

Install

1. Download jellyfin-3ds.3dsx from Releases
2. Copy to sdmc:/3ds/jellyfin-3ds/jellyfin-3ds.3dsx on your SD card
3. Launch from Homebrew Launcher

Usage

Controls

Screen	Button	Action
Browse	D-pad	Navigate list
Browse	A	Enter folder / Play
Browse	B	Go back
Browse	L/R	Next/previous page
Browse	SELECT	Search
Browse	Touch	Tap to select, drag to scroll
Now Playing	A	Pause / Resume
Now Playing	X	Stop
Now Playing	B	Back to browse
Now Playing	L/R	Seek ±30 seconds
Now Playing	D-pad Down	Watch mode (hide controls)
Now Playing	D-pad Up	Show controls
Any	START	Exit app

First Launch

1. Enter your Jellyfin server URL (e.g. http://192.168.1.100:8096)
2. Enter username and password
3. Press R to connect

Credentials are saved automatically — next launch skips login.

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• devkitPro with 3DS toolchain
• Docker (for reproducible builds)

Build

# Install devkitPro packages (if building natively)
sudo dkp-pacman -S 3ds-dev 3ds-curl 3ds-mbedtls 3ds-zlib \
    3ds-libmpg123 3ds-libopus 3ds-opusfile 3ds-libvorbisidec 3ds-libogg

# Build the app (first run cross-compiles FFmpeg, ~15 min; subsequent runs are fast)
./build.sh

# Deploy via FTP (3DS must be running ftpd)
./deploy-ftp.sh <3DS_IP> 5000

Docker build (recommended)

./build.sh  # uses devkitpro/devkitarm Docker image

Architecture

Network thread → Ring buffer → Decode thread (FFmpeg demux + MVD H.264 + AAC)
    → Frame queue (6 slots) → Convert thread (Morton tile + A/V sync)
    → Double-buffered GPU textures → Main thread (citro2d render)

• FFmpeg 6.x — MPEG-TS demuxer, AAC decoder, H.264 parser
• MVD — Hardware H.264 decoder (New 3DS)
• NDSP — Hardware audio output
• citro2d/citro3d — GPU-accelerated 2D rendering
• libcurl + mbedTLS — HTTPS networking
• cJSON — JSON API parsing
• stb_image — Album art JPEG decoding

Known Limitations

• Video playback requires New 3DS (Old 3DS: audio only)
• No subtitle support yet
• No offline/download mode
• CIA install not yet working (use .3dsx via Homebrew Launcher)
• Some library types may show unexpected content (server-dependent)

Credits

Built with reference to:

• ThirdTube — video architecture
• Switchfin — Jellyfin API patterns
• Video player for 3DS — MVD decoder usage