VuIO Media Server

A cross-platform DLNA/UPnP media server written in Rust. Streams video, audio, and images to any DLNA-compatible device (smart TVs, receivers, game consoles).

Built with Tokio, Axum, and Redb for high performance and reliability.

Supported platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS, Docker (x64 and ARM64)

git clone https://github.com/vuiodev/vuio.git
cd vuio
cargo build --release
./target/release/vuio /path/to/media

Features

DLNA/UPnP Media Server - Stream to any DLNA device with SSDP discovery
HTTP Range Streaming - Seek support for large media files
Multi-format Support - MKV, MP4, AVI, MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC, OGG, JPEG, PNG, and more
Audio Metadata - Automatic extraction of artist, album, genre, year from tags
Music Browsing - Browse by Artists, Albums, Genres, Years via DLNA
Playlist Support - Auto-imports M3U/PLS playlists from media directories
Real-time Monitoring - Detects file changes and updates database automatically
Cross-platform - Native integration for Windows, macOS, Linux
Redb Database - Embedded ACID-compliant database with crash recovery

Quick Start

# Run with default settings (scans ~/Videos, ~/Music, ~/Pictures)
./vuio

# Specify media directory
./vuio /path/to/media

# Custom port and name
./vuio -p 9090 -n "My Media Server" /path/to/media

# Multiple directories
./vuio /movies --media-dir /music --media-dir /photos

Command Line Options

Usage: vuio [OPTIONS] [MEDIA_DIR]

Arguments:
  [MEDIA_DIR]  Directory containing media files

Options:
  -p, --port <PORT>        Port to listen on [default: 8080]
  -n, --name <NAME>        DLNA server name
  -c, --config <CONFIG>    Path to config file
      --media-dir <DIR>    Additional media directories
      --debug              Enable debug logging
  -h, --help               Print help
  -V, --version            Print version

Docker

Docker does not work on macOS due to multicast limitations.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/vuiodev/vuio.git
cd vuio
docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml up

Docker Compose

services:
  vuio:
    image: vuio:latest
    container_name: vuio-server
    restart: unless-stopped
    network_mode: host  # Required for DLNA multicast
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
      - NET_RAW
    volumes:
      - ./vuio-config:/config
      - /path/to/media:/media:ro
    environment:
      - VUIO_IP=192.168.1.100      # Your host IP (required)
      - VUIO_PORT=8080
      - VUIO_MEDIA_DIRS=/media
      - VUIO_SERVER_NAME=VuIO
      - VUIO_DB_PATH=/data/vuio.redb

Docker Volume Mounting

Single directory:

volumes:
  - ./vuio-config:/config
  - /path/to/media:/media:ro

Multiple directories:

volumes:
  - ./vuio-config:/config
  - /home/user/Movies:/media/movies:ro
  - /home/user/Music:/media/music:ro
  - /home/user/Pictures:/media/pictures:ro
  - /mnt/nas/media:/media/nas:ro
environment:
  - VUIO_MEDIA_DIRS=/media/movies,/media/music,/media/pictures,/media/nas

Network storage (NFS/SMB):

volumes:
  - type: bind
    source: /mnt/nas/media
    target: /media
    read_only: true

Docker Run

docker run -d \
  --name vuio-server \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  --network host \
  --cap-add NET_ADMIN \
  --cap-add NET_RAW \
  -v /path/to/media:/media:ro \
  -v ./vuio-config:/config \
  -e VUIO_IP=192.168.1.100 \
  -e VUIO_PORT=8080 \
  -e VUIO_MEDIA_DIRS=/media \
  -e VUIO_DB_PATH=/data/vuio.redb \
  vuio:latest

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
`VUIO_IP`	-	Required. Host IP for DLNA announcements
`VUIO_PORT`	8080	HTTP server port
`VUIO_SERVER_NAME`	VuIO	DLNA server name
`VUIO_UUID`	random	Device UUID (set for persistence)
`VUIO_MEDIA_DIRS`	/media	Comma-separated media paths
`VUIO_SCAN_ON_STARTUP`	true	Scan media on startup
`VUIO_WATCH_CHANGES`	true	Monitor for file changes
`VUIO_CLEANUP_DELETED`	true	Remove deleted files from DB
`VUIO_SCAN_PLAYLISTS`	true	Import M3U/PLS playlists
`VUIO_DB_PATH`	/data/vuio.redb	Database file path
`VUIO_MULTICAST_TTL`	4	Multicast TTL
`VUIO_ANNOUNCE_INTERVAL`	30	SSDP announce interval (seconds)

Find your host IP:

# Linux
ip route get 1.1.1.1 | grep -oP 'src \K[0-9.]+'

# macOS
ipconfig getifaddr en0

# Windows
ipconfig | findstr "IPv4"

Generate UUID for multiple instances:

uuidgen  # Linux/macOS
[System.Guid]::NewGuid()  # Windows PowerShell

Configuration

Native (TOML Config)

VuIO uses TOML configuration files on native platforms. Config location: ./config/config.toml

[server]
port = 8080
interface = "0.0.0.0"
name = "VuIO Server"
uuid = "auto-generated"

[network]
interface_selection = "Auto"
multicast_ttl = 4
announce_interval_seconds = 30

[media]
scan_on_startup = true
watch_for_changes = true
cleanup_deleted_files = true
scan_playlists = true
supported_extensions = ["mp4", "mkv", "avi", "mp3", "flac", "wav", "jpg", "png"]

[[media.directories]]
path = "/home/user/Videos"
recursive = true
extensions = ["mp4", "mkv", "avi", "mov", "wmv", "webm"]
exclude_patterns = ["*.tmp", ".*"]
validation_mode = "Warn"  # Strict, Warn, or Skip

[[media.directories]]
path = "/home/user/Music"
recursive = true
extensions = ["mp3", "flac", "wav", "aac", "ogg", "wma", "m4a", "opus"]
exclude_patterns = ["*.tmp", ".*"]

[[media.directories]]
path = "/home/user/Pictures"
recursive = true
extensions = ["jpg", "jpeg", "png", "gif", "bmp", "webp"]
exclude_patterns = ["*.tmp", ".*"]

[database]
path = "~/.local/share/vuio/media.redb"
vacuum_on_startup = false
backup_enabled = true

Configuration Options

Server:

port - HTTP server port
interface - Network interface to bind (0.0.0.0 for all)
name - DLNA server friendly name
uuid - Device UUID (auto-generated if not set)
ip - Specific IP for DLNA announcements (optional)

Network:

interface_selection - "Auto", "All", or specific interface name
multicast_ttl - Multicast time-to-live
announce_interval_seconds - SSDP announcement interval

Media:

scan_on_startup - Scan directories on startup
watch_for_changes - Real-time file monitoring
cleanup_deleted_files - Auto-remove deleted files from database
scan_playlists - Import M3U/PLS playlist files
supported_extensions - Global list of media extensions

Media Directories:

path - Directory path
recursive - Scan subdirectories
extensions - Override extensions for this directory
exclude_patterns - Patterns to exclude (e.g., ".tmp", ".")
validation_mode - Path validation: "Strict" (fail if missing), "Warn" (log warning), "Skip" (no validation)

Database:

path - Database file location
vacuum_on_startup - Compact database on startup
backup_enabled - Enable automatic backups

Audio Features

Metadata Extraction

VuIO automatically extracts metadata from audio files:

Title, Artist, Album, Album Artist
Genre, Year, Track Number
Duration
Falls back to filename parsing when tags are missing

Supported Audio Formats

Lossless: FLAC, WAV, AIFF
Lossy: MP3, AAC, OGG, WMA, OPUS, M4A

Playlist Support

VuIO automatically discovers and imports playlist files:

M3U/M3U8 - Most common format
PLS - WinAmp/iTunes compatible

Playlists are scanned from media directories on startup and made available to DLNA clients.

Configure: scan_playlists = true or VUIO_SCAN_PLAYLISTS=true

Music Organization

Recommended directory structure:

/music/
├── Artist Name/
│   └── Album Name (Year)/
│       ├── 01 - Track.flac
│       └── folder.jpg
└── playlists/
    ├── favorites.m3u
    └── workout.pls

Database

VuIO uses Redb, an embedded ACID-compliant database.

Reset Database

# Linux/macOS
rm -f ./data/vuio.redb

# Windows
Remove-Item -Force .\data\vuio.redb

# Docker
docker exec vuio-server rm -f /data/vuio.redb

VuIO will create a new database and rescan media on next startup.

Platform Notes

Windows

Supports UNC paths (\\server\share)
Auto-excludes Thumbs.db, desktop.ini

macOS

Supports network volumes under /Volumes
Auto-excludes .DS_Store, .AppleDouble

Linux

Supports mounts under /media, /mnt
Auto-excludes lost+found, .Trash-*

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────┐
│   Web Server    │    │  SSDP Service   │    │ File Watcher    │
│   (Axum/HTTP)   │    │  (Discovery)    │    │ (Real-time)     │
└────────┬────────┘    └────────┬────────┘    └────────┬────────┘
         │                      │                      │
         └──────────────────────┼──────────────────────┘
                                │
         ┌──────────────────────┴──────────────────────┐
         │              Application Core               │
         │  ┌─────────┐  ┌─────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  │
         │  │ Config  │  │ Database│  │  Platform   │  │
         │  │ Manager │  │ (Redb)  │  │ Abstraction │  │
         │  └─────────┘  └─────────┘  └─────────────┘  │
         └──────────────────────┬──────────────────────┘
                                │
         ┌──────────────────────┴──────────────────────┐
         │            Platform Layer                   │
         │  ┌─────────┐  ┌─────────┐  ┌─────────┐      │
         │  │ Windows │  │  macOS  │  │  Linux  │      │
         │  └─────────┘  └─────────┘  └─────────┘      │
         └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Testing

cargo test

Debug logging:

RUST_LOG=debug ./vuio 2>&1 | tee vuio-debug.log

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please ensure cross-platform compatibility is maintained.

License

Dual-licensed under:

vuio 0.0.20

VuIO Media Server

Features

Quick Start

Command Line Options

Docker

Quick Start

Docker Compose

Docker Volume Mounting

Docker Run

Environment Variables

Configuration

Native (TOML Config)

Configuration Options

Audio Features

Metadata Extraction

Supported Audio Formats

Playlist Support

Music Organization

Database

Reset Database

Platform Notes

Windows

macOS

Linux

Architecture

Testing

Contributing

License