In the past, I’ve sat down to watch something on Plex, only to be met with endless buffering — and it turns out I’m not alone. A quick check on Reddit revealed scores of posts dating back years seeking help with this very issue. It’s especially annoying, as streaming apps are supposed to “just work” straight out of the box with minimal tweaking, regardless of the device or network conditions (although a few handy setup tips never hurt). However, as I found out, this lies at the root of the problem. It turns out that, by default, my Plex server seemed overly cautious by lowering quality, forcing unnecessary transcoding, or using safe network settings, so while my hardware was perfectly capable and my internet was fast enough, my streams still stuttered. Thankfully, with a few small tweaks to the settings, I saw an immediate difference, with smoother playback, faster start times, and no buffering. OS MacOS, Linux, Windows, iOS, Android Plex is a powerful media management and streaming service that centralizes your personal media—like movies, …