Plex changes default WAN streaming quality to maximum achievable bitrate

Media server platform Plex introduces a new feature that automatically selects the best quality setting from the first stream attempt when users stream from the Internet. Until now, this was only the case with local streaming.

A Plex employee confirms the change on Reddit and states that not only does the quality of a stream improve, but the buffer time also decreases; from Plex’ tests it would appear that transcoding to a lower bit rate and buffering it takes longer for the average server than immediately buffering a higher quality. The feature is currently being rolled out and is currently only available on Android TV. The feature replaces the current automatic quality setting, which does not automatically choose the best quality.

Plex server admins been complaining for years about this default setting of Plex, where new devices default to a lower quality video stream than the maximum achievable. Thanks to the new feature, the content is no longer transcoded by default, which ensures that the use of bandwidth is preferred over the computing power of the server.