Quality Gate is a Jellyfin plugin that caps the video height each user can be served: 480p, 720p, 1080p, 1440p or 4K, per user or as a default for everyone. The cap is measured on the file's real video stream, so a rename, a re-encode or a symlink does not get around it. Media above the cap arrives as a capped transcode, or as a smaller version of the same item when one exists, and the original file is refused.

Jellyfin's own limit is a bitrate for remote clients, not a height: a low-bitrate 4K file passes it, and a viewer on the local network is not limited at all. Quality Gate checks pixels, for every client, on every route that hands out video, with one documented exception (a legacy HLS segment route).

Features:

• Per-user policies: assign one per user, set a default for everyone else, or mark a user unrestricted.
• A capped user cannot direct-play, stream, download or fetch the original file.
• Smaller copies play as they are: keep a 720p encode beside each original and capped viewers get it without a transcode.
• Optional version grouping shows Film.mkv and Film - 720p.mkv as one film with two versions, in movies libraries.
• API keys and anonymous requests can be held to a policy of their own.
• A different intro video per policy, and a log line for every decision naming the user, the cap and the policy.

It is not DRM, and if the plugin fails to load every user is unrestricted, so check that it stays Active.

Documentation: https://geiserx.github.io/quality-gate/

License: GPL-3.0-or-later

Needs Jellyfin 12.

1. In Jellyfin, go to Dashboard > Plugins > Repositories and add https://geiserx.github.io/quality-gate/manifest.json.
2. Install QualityGate from the catalogue and restart Jellyfin.
3. Confirm the plugin shows Active, then open Dashboard > Plugins > QualityGate, add a policy with a Maximum Resolution, assign a user under User Access and save.