Best Jellyfin app for Fire TV and Fire Stick (2026)
The official Jellyfin app, Wholphin, Moonfin and Kodi on Fire TV, Vega OS versus Fire OS and sideloading, and Fire TV codec limits by model.
By Swiftly Player11 min read
Disclosure: we build Swiftly Player, one of the clients in this article. We point out where other apps do better.
Version numbers, release dates and device specifications come from each project's GitHub releases, the Amazon Appstore, Amazon's developer device-specs pages and AFTVnews, checked in September 2026.
TL;DR
The official Jellyfin app installs free from the Amazon Appstore on any Fire TV that still runs Fire OS, and it is the safest starting point. Wholphin and Kodi are worth sideloading if you want a different interface or already use Kodi; Moonfin is on the Amazon Appstore directly. The catch in 2026 is that Amazon has started shipping new Fire TV Sticks on Vega OS, a Linux-based system that cannot install Android apps or sideload at all — so the model you buy decides whether any of this works. Swiftly Player's Android TV build is in a closed test through Google Play, and Fire TV devices use the Amazon Appstore, not Google Play, so Swiftly does not run on Fire TV today, on either Fire OS or Vega OS.
Comparison table
| Client | Fire TV support | Install | Playback engine | Skip Intro / Media Segments | Sideloading needed | Latest release checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jellyfin (official) | Yes, Fire OS only | Amazon Appstore, F-Droid, GitHub APK | Media3 ExoPlayer + FFmpeg decoder, libass | Yes, per segment type | No | v0.19.10 |
| Wholphin | Yes, Fire OS 6+ | Amazon Appstore or sideload | ExoPlayer or MPV | Yes, per segment type | Optional (Appstore covers it too) | v1.0.8 |
| Moonfin | Yes, Android 7+ | Amazon Appstore (org.moonfin.androidtv) | Media3 / ExoPlayer | Yes (intros, credits, pre-rolls) | No | 2.5.1 |
| Kodi + Jellyfin add-ons | Yes, Fire OS only | Sideload (Downloader) or ADB | Kodi's own player | Not listed in either add-on's README | Yes | Kodi 21.3; add-ons v2.2.0 / v1.0.2 |
| Swiftly Player | No | — | — | — | — | Closed test, Google Play only |
Fire OS vs. Vega OS: the model you buy decides everything
Every Fire TV up to and including 2024 runs Fire OS, Amazon's Android-based system. Fire OS can install anything built for Android, and it has always allowed sideloading — installing an app from a file instead of a store, using the free Downloader app by AFTVnews. This is how Kodi and some Jellyfin clients that skip Amazon's store get onto a Fire TV.
That changed with the Fire TV Stick 4K Select, announced for $39.99 and released on 15 October 2025, the first Fire TV to ship on Vega OS instead of Fire OS. Vega OS is a Linux-based system Amazon built in-house; it has no Android compatibility layer, so it cannot run Android APK files at all. Amazon's own announcement states that "only apps from the Amazon Appstore are available for download" on the 4K Select, and that the Vega OS app catalog is "heavily reduced" compared with Fire OS devices — at launch it covered services like Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, HBO Max, Hulu, Plex, YouTube and a handful of others, with no mention of Jellyfin, Kodi, Wholphin or Moonfin. A second Vega OS device, the 2nd-generation Fire TV Stick HD, followed in 2026, and Amazon's developer documentation says every future Fire TV Stick will run Vega OS from here on.
How to tell which one you have: open Settings > My Fire TV > About and look at the Software Version. AFTVnews's device list says a version starting with "1." means Vega OS; a version starting with 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 14 means Fire OS. As of September 2026, that puts these devices on each side:
| Runs Fire OS (sideloading works) | Runs Vega OS (no sideloading) |
|---|---|
| Fire TV Stick 4K Max (1st and 2nd gen) | Fire TV Stick 4K Select (2025) |
| Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, Fire TV Stick 4K (2nd gen) | 2nd-generation Fire TV Stick HD (2026) |
| 1st-generation Fire TV Stick HD (2024), Fire TV Stick 3rd gen, Fire TV Stick Lite | |
| Fire TV Cube (all generations), Fire TV smart TVs |
If you are buying a Fire TV specifically to run Jellyfin, buy a Fire OS model. As of this writing there is no Jellyfin app, official or third-party, confirmed to run on Vega OS, and Vega OS's closed, Amazon-Appstore-only design means one is unlikely to sideload its way on even if written.
Official Jellyfin app for Fire TV
The Jellyfin for Fire TV listing on the Amazon Appstore runs the same code as jellyfin/jellyfin-androidtv, the project's Android TV client — Jellyfin's own downloads page lists it as "the official Jellyfin app for Android TV and Fire TV devices." The latest stable release is v0.19.10. It is also on F-Droid and as a direct APK, in addition to the Amazon Appstore, for anyone who wants to update outside the store.
Playback. The app uses AndroidX Media3 ExoPlayer with Jellyfin's own FFmpeg decoder module and libass for ASS/SSA subtitles (explained below). One detail that matters specifically for Fire TV boxes with mixed media libraries: PGS subtitles (the picture-based format burned onto most Blu-ray rips) play back embedded in the video without a server-side transcode by default — the setting pgs_enabled defaults to true in the app's UserPreferences.kt. Direct Play means the file plays exactly as stored; when it can't, the server transcodes, which means it converts the file on the fly, using more CPU and adding a delay before playback starts.
Media Segments — a server-side feature that marks the start and end of intros, recaps, previews and commercials — get their own settings screen with "Ask to skip", "Skip" or "Do nothing" per segment type. The app can save several servers and accounts and switch between them.
Wholphin, Moonfin and Kodi: what needs sideloading and what doesn't
Wholphin. Wholphin is an independent, open-source Android TV client with a Plex-style interface, at v1.0.8 as of mid-September 2026. It needs Android 6 or Fire OS 6 or newer, offers a choice between ExoPlayer and MPV for playback, and has per-type Media Segment skipping, multi-server support and PIN-locked profiles. It is on the Amazon Appstore and Google Play, so most people won't need to sideload it — but the README also documents sideloading with the Downloader app, using the code 8668671, for anyone who wants a build newer than the store listing.
Moonfin. Moonfin is a Flutter-based client for Jellyfin and Emby, one codebase across Android TV, Fire TV, Google TV, Apple platforms, Windows, Linux and the web, at 2.5.1. It is on the Amazon Appstore as org.moonfin.androidtv, so on a Fire OS device it installs like any other app — no Downloader needed unless you specifically want the GitHub APK. It uses native Media3/ExoPlayer and, per its Playback and Codecs wiki page, supports Dolby Vision Profile 7 Direct Play and audio passthrough on Android TV hardware that has it.
Kodi. Kodi itself is not on the Amazon Appstore, so it always needs sideloading on Fire OS. The official Kodi wiki and most guides point to the same route: install Downloader from the Amazon Appstore, then enter the URL for kodi.tv/download and pick the ARMv7A (32-bit) build for Fire TV's ARM chips. Once Kodi is running, the Jellyfin documentation for Kodi covers two official add-ons from the Kodi Jellyfin Repository at kodi.jellyfin.org: Jellyfin for Kodi (v2.2.0), which copies your Jellyfin libraries into Kodi's own database and syncs watched state both ways, and JellyCon (v1.0.2), a lighter add-on that browses the server directly without syncing anything and supports switching users and servers. Neither add-on's README documents Media Segments or Skip Intro support.
None of this — Kodi, the Downloader app, or any Android APK — works on a Vega OS device, because Vega OS has no mechanism to install anything outside the Amazon Appstore.
Fire TV codec limits: Dolby Vision, AV1 and DTS by model
Codec support on Fire TV is entirely a hardware question — no software update adds decoding a chip does not have — and it varies a lot between models still sold side by side. This table comes from Amazon's own device specification pages for streaming sticks and the Fire TV Cube:
| Model | OS | Max resolution | Dolby Vision | AV1 decode | Atmos passthrough | DTS passthrough |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire TV Stick Lite / 3rd gen / 1st-gen Stick HD | Fire OS 7 | 1080p | No | No | Only within some apps | No |
| Fire TV Stick 4K (2nd gen) | Fire OS 8 | 4K | Yes | Yes | Yes | DTS-HD |
| Fire TV Stick 4K Plus | Fire OS 8 | 4K | Yes | Yes | Yes (TrueHD) | DTS-HD |
| Fire TV Stick 4K Max (1st gen) | Fire OS 7 | 4K | Yes | Yes | Yes | DTS |
| Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd gen) | Fire OS 8 | 4K | Yes | Yes | Yes (TrueHD) | Full DTS |
| Fire TV Cube (3rd gen) | Fire OS 8 | 4K | Yes, Profiles 4-MEL/5/8/9/10 | Yes, up to 60 fps | Yes (TrueHD, AC4) | DTS + DTS-HD (basic profile) |
| Fire TV Stick 4K Select | Vega OS 1.1 | 4K | No | Yes | Yes | DTS-HD |
| Fire TV Stick HD (2026) | Vega OS 1.1 | HD | No | Yes (decode) | Not listed | Not listed |
The gap worth noting: the Vega OS-based 4K Select decodes AV1 and passes through Atmos and DTS-HD, but it does not support Dolby Vision at all, unlike the similarly priced Fire OS-based 4K Plus and 4K Max. If your library has Dolby Vision remuxes, a Vega OS stick is a downgrade on video even before sideloading enters the picture — see our guide to Jellyfin, Dolby Vision and HDR for how that plays out with different clients, and Atmos and TrueHD passthrough for the audio side. Whether a file actually reaches the TV untouched or gets transcoded also depends on which client and device profile you use — see our comparison of Jellyfin clients for Android TV and Google TV, which covers the same apps on Nvidia Shield and other Android TV boxes.
FAQ
Does Jellyfin work on Fire TV Stick?
Yes, on any Fire TV Stick that runs Fire OS. Install the official Jellyfin for Fire TV app from the Amazon Appstore, then sign in with your server address and account.
Can I install Jellyfin on the new Fire TV Stick with Vega OS?
Not as of September 2026. The Fire TV Stick 4K Select and the 2nd-generation Fire TV Stick HD run Vega OS, a Linux-based system that only installs apps published to the Amazon Appstore for Vega OS specifically, and Jellyfin has not published one. Check Settings > My Fire TV > About before buying a stick for Jellyfin — a software version starting with "1." means Vega OS.
How do I sideload apps on a Fire TV Stick?
On a Fire OS device, install the free Downloader app from the Amazon Appstore, then enter the web address or short code for the APK you want and install it from the file it downloads. This does not work at all on Vega OS devices, which block installing anything outside the Amazon Appstore.
Which Fire TV models support Dolby Vision and AV1?
The Fire TV Stick 4K, 4K Plus, both 4K Max generations and the 3rd-generation Fire TV Cube all decode AV1 and support Dolby Vision, per Amazon's device specifications. The cheaper Fire TV Stick Lite, 3rd-gen Stick and 1st-gen Stick HD cap out at 1080p with neither. The Vega OS-based Fire TV Stick 4K Select decodes AV1 but does not support Dolby Vision at all.
Does Fire TV support DTS passthrough for Jellyfin?
On the 4K-capable Fire OS models and the Fire TV Cube, yes — Amazon's specs list DTS or DTS-HD passthrough on all of them. Whether Jellyfin actually sends DTS untouched (Direct Play) rather than transcoding it depends on the client's device profile and your receiver, not just the Fire TV hardware.
Can I use Swiftly Player on Fire TV?
No, not currently. Swiftly's Android TV version is in closed testing through Google Play, and Fire TV devices use the Amazon Appstore instead, so the beta does not reach Fire TV hardware.
Summary
- On any Fire OS Fire TV, install the official Jellyfin app from the Amazon Appstore first; it has Media Segments, PGS Direct Play by default, and multi-server support.
- Wholphin and Moonfin are both on the Amazon Appstore too, so neither strictly needs sideloading; Kodi with the Jellyfin add-ons always needs sideloading through the Downloader app.
- Vega OS, shipping on the Fire TV Stick 4K Select (2025) and the 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick HD (2026), blocks sideloading entirely and has no confirmed Jellyfin app — check Settings > My Fire TV > About before you rely on either.
- Codec support varies sharply by model: only the 4K-and-up Fire OS sticks and the Fire TV Cube handle Dolby Vision, AV1 and full DTS passthrough; the Vega OS 4K Select skips Dolby Vision entirely.
- Swiftly Player does not run on Fire TV. Its Android TV build is a closed Google Play test, and Fire TV uses the Amazon Appstore.
