How to uninstall Jellyfin Media Player on Mac

Jellyfin Media Player is a client: your movies, shows and music stay on your Jellyfin server, and removing the app from this Mac does not touch them or your server account. What it keeps locally is its configuration, including any mpv.conf you wrote to tune playback, plus caches and logs. Copy a hand-written mpv.conf somewhere safe before you remove the app. This guide covers Jellyfin Media Player 1.12.0 from the project's GitHub releases and the Homebrew cask jellyfin-media-player; both install Jellyfin Media Player.app with the bundle ID tv.jellyfin.player.

Which Jellyfin client you have

The project has since been renamed Jellyfin Desktop, and its current builds keep data in different folders, ~/Library/Application Support/Jellyfin Desktop/profiles/<profile-id>/ for configuration, with matching Caches and Logs folders named Jellyfin Desktop (Jellyfin Desktop README). If your app is called Jellyfin Desktop, look in those folders instead; the rest of this guide describes the tested Jellyfin Media Player.app.

Quit the app and remove it

  1. Stop playback and quit Jellyfin Media Player from its menu.
  2. Check Activity Monitor that no Jellyfin Media Player process is left.
  3. Move Jellyfin Media Player.app from Applications to the Trash.

Where Jellyfin Media Player keeps its data

Location What it holds What to do
~/Library/Application Support/Jellyfin Media Player Configuration: jellyfinmediaplayer.conf, an optional mpv.conf and the app's other local data, 795 KB after one launch in an earlier test Back up mpv.conf if you wrote one; remove the folder once you no longer use the app
~/Library/Logs/Jellyfin Media Player App logs Remove with the app
~/Library/Caches/Jellyfin Media Player App cache Remove with the app

The configuration and log locations come from the 1.12.0 README; the cache folder was observed in the test and is in the Homebrew zap list.

Check the result

After the app is in the Trash, run these read-only commands:

pgrep -lf "Jellyfin Media Player.app"
ls -d "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Jellyfin Media Player" "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Jellyfin Desktop"
  • No output from pgrep means the app is not running. A listed process means it is still open.
  • ls -d prints each folder that still exists and reports "No such file or directory" for the rest. Jellyfin Media Player still being there is what a Mole uninstall with the default selection leaves. Jellyfin Desktop printing means the renamed client has also been used on this Mac.

If you installed it with Homebrew

Mole skips --zap when the zap list reaches data you left unchecked, a path another installed app uses, or anything Mole cannot check, and it still cleans the leftovers you selected.

The jellyfin-media-player cask's zap list covers ~/Library/Application Support/Jellyfin Media Player, ~/Library/Caches/Jellyfin Media Player, ~/Library/Logs/Jellyfin Media Player, a preferences file named org.jellyfin.Jellyfin Media Player.plist and the saved state under tv.jellyfin.player. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap jellyfin-media-player yourself moves them to the Trash, including any mpv.conf, whatever you ticked in Mole. To remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask jellyfin-media-player

Homebrew's jellyfin-media-player cask

What Mole lists

For Jellyfin Media Player downloaded from GitHub:

  • ~/Library/Application Support/Jellyfin Media Player is listed but not selected, because it holds your configuration.
  • ~/Library/Caches/Jellyfin Media Player, ~/Library/Logs/Jellyfin Media Player and the temporary caches under tv.jellyfin.player are selected by default.
  • Media on your Jellyfin server is never listed.

What this test covered

On September 26, 2026, Jellyfin Media Player 1.12.0 for Apple silicon was downloaded from the GitHub releases, installed and uninstalled with a development build of Mole with every listed row ticked. The first launch stopped at macOS's confirmation for an app downloaded from the internet, so it was run again after that was cleared. This time only the main process started, at about 32 MB, too small to be among the rows Mole's Status page export captures, and the brief launch left no data folders, so the uninstall listed only the app, which went to the Trash. An earlier test on September 21, 2026 with the same version from the same source got further: the app started two processes, itself and its web engine, and with every listed row ticked the app, the 795 KB Application Support folder, caches, logs, preferences and temporary caches all went to the Trash. No login item or background task appeared in either run. No server was connected, so saved servers and sign-in were not tested.