Getting Started with Plex on macOS

Getting Started with Plex on macOS 🍎

Welcome to your Plex journey on Mac! This guide will walk you through everything you need to get Plex Media Server running beautifully on macOS.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have:

  • macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or later (Apple Silicon and Intel supported)
  • At least 4GB of RAM (8GB+ recommended)
  • A Plex account (free at plex.tv)
  • Your media files organized and ready

Step 1: Download Plex Media Server

  1. Visit plex.tv/downloads
  2. Click on Plex Media Server
  3. Select macOS from the dropdown
  4. Download the .dmg file

Step 2: Install Plex Media Server

  1. Open the downloaded .dmg file
  2. Drag Plex Media Server to your Applications folder
  3. Eject the disk image
  4. Open Plex Media Server from Applications

First Launch Permissions

macOS will ask for several permissions:

  1. “Plex Media Server” is from an identified developer - Click Open
  2. Network access - Click Allow (required for streaming!)
  3. Full Disk Access (optional but recommended for accessing all media)

Step 3: Initial Configuration

Plex will open in your browser at http://localhost:32400/web:

  1. Sign in with your Plex account
  2. Name your server (e.g., “Mac Media Server”)
  3. Enable remote access if you want to stream outside your home

Step 4: Add Your Media Libraries

Click Add Library and choose:

  • Movies - For your film collection
  • TV Shows - For series with seasons and episodes
  • Music - For your audio library
  • Photos - For image collections

For Plex to properly identify your media, organize files like this:

/Users/YourName/Media/
├── Movies/
│   ├── The Matrix (1999)/
│   │   └── The Matrix (1999).mkv
│   └── Inception (2010)/
│       └── Inception (2010).mkv
└── TV Shows/
    └── Breaking Bad/
        ├── Season 01/
        │   ├── Breaking Bad - S01E01 - Pilot.mkv
        │   └── Breaking Bad - S01E02 - Cat's in the Bag.mkv
        └── Season 02/
            └── ...

Using External Drives

For external storage:

  1. Format drive as APFS or HFS+ (avoid NTFS/exFAT for large libraries)
  2. Add external drive path to your library
  3. Note: Plex will warn you if the drive isn’t connected

Step 5: Configure Library Settings

For each library:

  1. Select the scanner (Plex Movie/Plex TV Series)
  2. Choose the metadata agent (Plex Movie/TheTVDB)
  3. Add the folder paths where your media is stored

Apple Silicon Optimization

If you’re on an M1/M2/M3 Mac:

  1. Plex is Universal Binary - runs natively on Apple Silicon
  2. Hardware transcoding uses VideoToolbox automatically
  3. Performance is excellent even on Mac mini!

Step 6: Start Plex Automatically

To have Plex start when you log in:

  1. Open System Settings (or System Preferences)
  2. Go to General → Login Items
  3. Click + and add Plex Media Server

Alternatively, Plex shows in the menu bar - right-click and enable “Launch at Login”

Plex adds an icon to your menu bar. Click it to:

  • Open Plex Web
  • See server status
  • Access preferences
  • Quit Plex

What’s Next?

Congratulations! 🎉 Your Plex server is now running on macOS. In the next guides, we’ll cover:

Need help? Check out our Troubleshooting Guide for common macOS issues.