How to Play iTunes Movies on Plex
Do you have different videos from multiple locations? If so, sometimes you may find that it is kind of troublesome to access and play the videos, because usually you have to transfer them first before playing.
Thanks to development of multimedia technology, nowadays, you don't need to worry that any more. With a dedicated media managing and streaming software, like Plex, you can get access to all kinds of media files from computers, NAS, online cloud and Wi-Fi routers and play them on any devices freely.
However, it doesn't support iTunes digital media files such as the videos, music. Therefore, to find out the details, please continue to go through the post and we will show you the reason and solution on how to play iTunes movies on Plex.
Part 1. Why iTunes Videos Can't Be Played on Plex
Plex is powerful and it can support nearly all kinds of local media files, like MP4, MOV, AVI, MP3, etc. However, it can't access to iTunes videos. The reason is obvious for everyone, it is because iTunes videos are M4V files and locked by the digital rights managements. Apple don't want their digital media files to be copied or shared out of their own ecosystem. Thus, you can't add iTunes to Plex for playback directly.
With this right protection, even for the Apple devices including Mac computers, IOS mobile devices, you are required to authorize the videos before you can play, let alone other non-Apple devices. In addition, there is not a sign that when this protection would be changed or removed by Apple itself, so the videos are likely to be locked with the decryption in the foreseeable time.
Part 2. How to Convert iTunes Movies to Plex with DRMare M4V iTunes Converter
According to the reason why you can't get iTunes movies on Plex, if you want to stream iTunes to Plex for offline playback, removing the right protection from iTunes videos is necessary. This only requires you to find a third-party tool. To help you through, here we would like to recommend a professional iTunes video converter for you.
DRmare M4V iTunes Video Converter for Windows/Mac is a powerful tool that can help you convert iTunes videos to plain video formats or Plex compatible formats in just a few clicks. Similar to converting other videos, you can accomplish the goal within 3 steps too. You can set the output formats and edit the iTunes movies before converting according to your needs. After converting, you can transfer converted iTunes movies to Plex for offline watching.
DRmare M4V to Plex Video Converter
Please download and install DRmare iTunes Video Converter on your computer first. Just click on the "Download" button above to complete the installation. Then you could follow the guidance below to start to convert iTunes M4V videos to Plex.
- Step 1Add iTunes videos
- Launch DRmare program and drag & drop the iTunes video files to import them to the main interface of DRmare software. Or you can press the 'Add Files' icon at the bottom left and choose your files precisely.
- Step 2Set the output format for Plex Media Server
- Plex supports a lot of formats such as MPEG4, H264, ASF, MKV, WebM, MOV, WMV, MP4, AVI, etc., you can select different formats which fits your destination playback device best. Typically, it is better to choose the web formats such as WebM if the internet speed is low. For Windows Plex App offline playing, you can choose AVI. If you just want to play across all kinds of devices, MP4 is highly recommended.
- Step 3Apply the settings to convert iTunes videos
- Click on the conversion button at the bottom right of DRmare main interface to start to convert iTunes movies. Then DRmare M4V to Plex Converter will do the job for you automatically. When it is done, you will get all the converted iTunes videos on your computer. You could hit on "Converted" button to locate and check the files on your computer.
Part 3. How to Play iTunes Videos on Plex
Finally, as you had converted iTunes movies, then you can start to sync the videos to the Plex Media Server and play them on other devices via the Plex App.
To do so, you need to download the Plex Media Server and the Plex App on your devices and sign up a new account to log in. When you run the Plex Media Server software for the first time, it can help to search and add the media files automatically.
Please note that the features are limited under a free account, you can only stream the videos via Plex App on limited devices such as casting the videos on Smart TV etc. It doesn't have the feature to stream videos on the Windows, Android IOS Plex App.
If you want to play videos on all kinds of devices, then you have to subscribe to the premium subscription (Plex Pass) or pay a one-time fee to activate the Plex App. It is only $4.99/month or $39.99/year or $119.99 for a lifetime. With a Premium membership, you can even access to a lot of extra features like automatic photo-tagging, live TV, Plex DVR, mobile sync, cloud Sync and a lot more. You may go to the official website to learn more details.
In a word, Plex is not totally free, but it does offer a new way for you to experience videos, you may try it out anyway.
Video Tutorial: Stream iTunes Movies to Plex
Part 4. Quick Introduction of Plex
Plex is a client-server media player system which comprised of two parts Plex Media Server and Plex Media Player.
Plex Media Server is a media managing software which can be downloaded to computers like Windows, MacOS, LInux, NAS, Wifi routers or just runs on Plex cloud. By settings up the server, it can add the videos from your library and make them accessible by other devices within the same Plex account.
Plex Media Player is also known as the Plex App. It supports Android, Windows, IOS phones, Sonos, Chromecast, Nvidia Shield, Xbox One, Smart TV, Amazon Alexa, etc. And it can help you play the local media file under a free account and stream the videos which you have added to the Plex Media Server under a premium subscription membership.
