Stream 4K Video to Fire TV 2 via Plex Media Server

Plex adds support for 4K playback on Amazon Fire TV 2

Good news: Plex had added official support for the 4K video files on the 2nd generation Amazon Fire TV with their v4.21.0.528 update. This means 4K videos can be directly played on the Fire TV without your Plex server needing to transcode the files. This includes support for H265 HEVC encoded files.

Can Plex on Fire TV 2 perfectly handle all 4K video?

The fact is that many users finding 4K files don't meet the required specifications for direct playback by Plex. First, the 4K files must be encoded with a maximum bit depth of 8-bits per sample and contain metadata identifying them as having a Main Profile level. Secondly, the Plex app for Amazon Fire TV 2 doesn't offer support for surround sound, and the audio files must have an AC3 or AAC audio track present. Thirdly, even if your 4K files fits all the criteria, it still may not play directly due to a bug identified last week. Plex is working to improve 4K playback on the Fire TV, so look for better support with future updates. While the newly added 4K support is not perfect, it's a good first step towards local 4K content playback for the Fire TV 2.

Best way to play 4K video on Fire TV 2 via Plex

From above information, we can see that it is still not a good option to directly stream 4K video to Fire TV 2 via Plex Media Server at the moment before a future update made by Plex developers. For those people who insist on streaming local 4K video to Fire TV 2 via Plex, it's very likely that the 4K video you own in hand may not meet the playback standards required by Plex app for Fire TV 2.

Here, you can easily fix all those incompatible issue with a powerful program called Pavtube Video Converter, which can assist you to convert various 4K file formats with the container file format of AVI/WMV/MP4/MOV/MKV/MXF/XAVC/XAVC S/TS or codec like H.264, H.265, Prores, etc to Fire TV 2 plex app compatible MP4 container file format with H.265/HEVC compression codec. Besides that, you can also customize to output Amazon Fire TV 2 Plex app readable audio codec like AAC or AC3 in the programs "Profile Settings" window.

If you always encounter some unsolvable issues when playing 4K video on Fire TV 2 via Plex app, we highly recommend you to compress 4K to 1080p or 720p with Fire TV Plex app readable H.265 MP4 or H.264 file format.

Pavtube Video Converter is available on Windows 10, 8.1, 8 and 7, it is accompanied by an up-to-date Mac version - Pavtube Video Converter for Mac for macOS Sierra or its previous version. The program is very easy to use, no matter experienced user or fresh could handle it very well. In addition, it offers 300%-500% real time converting speed which will save you a lot of time. What's more, the program supports to produce high quality results, the quality of the converted file is almost identical to the original source 4K video.

Step by Step to Convert and Compress 4K Video for Fire TV 2 Streaming via Plex

Step 1: Load 4K video.

Download the free trial version of the program. Launch it on your computer. Click "File" menu and select "Add Video/Audio" or click the "Add Video" button on the top tool bar to import source 4K video files into the program.

Load 4K video

Tips: The program supports batch conversion mode, so that you can load multiple 4K video into the program at one time for conversion.

Step 2: Define the output format.

Clicking the Format bar, from its drop-down list, if you persist on streaming 4K video to Fire TV 2 via Plex, just output the "H.265 Video(*.mp4)" under "Common Video" main category.

Output Fire TV 2 Plex app supported 4K formats

To get Fire TV 2 Plex app compatible audio codec, just click "Settings" to open "Profile Settings" window, in audio section, from "Codec" drop-down list, select "AAC", you can also adjust other profile settings such as video bit rate, frame rate, audio codec, bit rate, sample rate, etc according to your own needs.

If you wish to get a smooth and perfect media streaming experience, it would be much ideal for you to compress 4K to 1080p by outputting Fire TV 2 plex app compatible HD file formats such as "H.264 HD Video(*.mp4)" or "H.265 HD Video(*.mp4)" under "HD Video" main category.

Output Fire TV 2 plex app compatible HD file formats

Then adjust the output file size as "1980*1020" or "1080*720" in the program's "Profile Settings" window from "Size(pix)" drop-down list.

Step 3: Begin the conversion process.

After all setting is completed, hit the "Convert" button at the right bottom of the main interface to begin the conversion and compression process from 4K video to Amazon Fire TV 2 plex app compatible file format or profile parameters conversion process.

When the conversion is finished, click "Open Output Folder" icon on the main interface to open the folder with generated files. Then feel free to add converted files to Plex library for streaming to Amazon Fire TV 2.

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