There’s nothing quite like watching a movie or a TV show completely offline — there’s no buffering, there’s no lagging, and there’s no need to worry about bandwidth constrains and the like. While optical-based media provides the most pure offline audiovisual experience possible, it isn’t the only option available. In fact, you can watch your content totally offline using one of several media server or media locker applications, too.
This list features both media server and media locker applications. Somewhat similar in concept, the former refers to apps that let you access your local content via a personal server, while the latter refers to apps that stitch together your digital purchases under a single banner. Both types of apps can be used to watch movies and TV shows in an offline capacity.
There are a variety of excellent movie and show services out there that can help facilitate the offline content consumption experience. Each option comes with its own set of pros and cons, as you’d expect, but you honestly can’t go wrong with any of them. Here are five of my personal favorite options that I use to watch my films completely offline — no Wi-Fi or Ethernet required.
Movies Anywhere
Option #1
Movies Anywhere is a Disney-owned personal media locker service that pulls together your digital downloads from a variety of sources, including Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate Films, Google Play / YouTube, and, of course, Walt Disney Studios. Serving as a centralized location for all your films, you can download Movies Anywhere content directly to your devices for offline playback. The service works like a charm, though it does lose out on access to content from Paramount and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios.
Apple TV
Option #2
- Price
-
$13 per month
- Free trial
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7 day free trial and 3 months free if you buy an Apple device
- Simultaneous streams
-
6
- # of profiles
-
6
- Originals
-
Yes
- Live TV:
-
Limited (There are live sports and some add-on channels offer live TV)
Apple TV is a global streaming service which offers on-demand access to a growing list of exclusive content, including Severance, Ted Lasso, Slow Horses, and much more.
If content from the latter two studios of Paramount and MGM is important to you, then Apple TV might just be the personal media locker to spring for. In addition to access to the entire Apple TV (formerly Apple TV+) library of original content, which itself can be downloaded for offline playback, you can also link and download your other digital purchases together for offline playback directly from within the application. If you’re in the Apple ecosystem, then syncing across iDevices is a major perk of going for Apple TV as opposed to Movies Anywhere, but Apple TV is also cross-platform these days, too.
Emby
Option #3
Emby is a personal media server application that lets you store all your local movie and show files within a dedicated space, which can then be accessed remotely using an internet connection. Like other media server solutions, Emby allows for offline playback across any device by simply downloading the content right from your server, allowing you to enjoy your content while disconnected from the grid. Emby is powerful in that it can automatically convert your media for optimized playback on your devices, with parental controls, sharing functions, and DVR integration all included as well.
Plex
Option #4
- notable shows
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Broadchurch, The Kids in the Hall, The Fall
- notable movies
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Warrior, A Walk to Remember, Heat, Halloween
- Premium Subscription
-
No
- Originals
-
No
- Live TV
-
250+ channels
Plex offers a customizable streaming service for your own media library, making your favorite content accessible on-the-go worldwide.
Arguably the most well-known personal media server application of them all, Plex works similarly to Emby in a lot of respects. You can upload your locally-owned films directly onto a dedicated and private server, allowing you to access the contents from anywhere in the world. From here, you can download your files for offline playback without a hitch, so long as you have an active internet connection during the actual download process. Plex also features its own native streaming service within its interface, with standard download options also present and accounted for.
Jellyfin
Option #5
Jellyfin has made a name for itself in recent years as a free and open-source (FOSS) alternative to Plex, and it shares some common ancestry with Emby. In fact, Jellyfin is essentially a fork of Emby, using its previously open-source codebase as a starting point. Like Emby and Plex, Jellyfin allows for easy offline access to content stored on your personal media server, making it a great choice for anyone looking to watch their movies without an active internet connection. A variety of purpose-built Jellyfin clients are also available on the market, each offering their own strengths and weaknesses.
