Chroma

Ideas.
People.
Progress.

Chroma Server

Your library. Your privacy. Your terms.

No streaming or VOD catalogs pushed on you. No collection or sale of your viewing data. Beautiful interfaces and a lean native engine, running on your own hardware. Free, with every stable feature included.

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FreeEvery stable feature

No limitsYour library and playback

$60 onceOptional Founding Membership

Use it first. Decide for yourself.

The original plan was to charge for Chroma to help fund future development. Then someone on Reddit went off on me, unjustly, in my opinion.

Underneath the internet trolling was a fair question: why should you trust that this isn't vaporware or a cash grab? It's a fair point, wrapped in vitriol and stupidity, but fair none-the-less.

So I changed the plan. Chroma is now free. No trial, feature gates or artificial limits. If you catch the vision and want to help fund future dev, the Founding Membership will still be available, until they're gone. After that there'll be the normal $60/yr option.

Why Build Chroma

I've used Plex from the beginning and have been a paying user since 2009. I've also explored Emby, Jellyfin, and a few other options. There's good work in all of those products, but I wanted a different combination of focus, privacy, design, and architecture.

So I decided to build it.

Chroma development started while I was building Genus. What began as a small side project for the features I actually needed grew into Chroma Server, ChromaTV, and the open-source engine underneath them.

When thinking of what I would build, I settled on:

  • Software that respects your attention
  • Keeps your viewing habits private
  • Deisgned with thoughtful interfaces
  • A small, modern engine media engine.

I'm building something I proudly use myself, hopefully others will find it good and useful as well.

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ChromaTV home screen
The home screen of ChromaTV, the viewing app being built for Apple TV.

What makes Chroma different

No streaming catalogs, video-on-demand storefronts, or subscription promotions shoved into your experience. Chroma is focused on your media. Optional services should be something you deliberately add, not something you have to keep getting out of the way.

We don't collect or sell data about your viewing habits or media library. Your library and viewing history stay on your hardware. Chroma is designed to run locally, without sending your activity through a central Chroma service. Tailscale provides remote access without routing your library through our servers.

I'm an artist and designer as well as an engineer. Good design means more than an attractive screenshot: clear navigation, understandable controls, and interfaces that feel at home on the device you're using. The web interface and native viewing apps deserve the same care as the playback engine.

I built Chroma Engine, an open-source Rust media engine, around modern codecs, containers, and hardware. It already handles probing, remuxing, HLS packaging, and supported transcoding paths. The aim is a clean, extensible foundation with explicit support boundaries, rather than carrying every old format at the expense of the experience.

Where things stand

The server has reached its first releasable milestone. I'm still working on the viewing apps, starting with Apple TV, and qualifying the hardware before the public launch.

The first release targets Chroma Server on macOS and Windows; ChromaTV on Apple TV; and remote access via Tailscale. Family accounts, Google TV, Roku, DVR / live television, and NAS support come later, depending on funding.

I'm testing the complete server and viewing app together before the public launch. The roadmap separates the first release from what comes next.

The road ahead

Accounts, permissions, and access should be first-class parts of Chroma: flexible and secure without being confusing to manage. Household accounts and separate viewing histories are on the roadmap.

To support social features and connections to other services, a clear API with useful documentation and examples is in the works. Extensibility should let you add what you want while keeping the core experience focused.

The server should be small, nimble, and careful with resources. Playback demands depend on your media, hardware, and whether transcoding is needed. I'll publish support based on actual testing on macOS and Windows.

Free software. All the features.

Chroma is free. Chroma Server and the first-party ChromaTV apps include every stable feature. That commitment applies to future stable releases, too.

Membership is optional. It helps fund the work and lets members get early access to new releases. Founding Members can also try preview builds and experimental features. When those features are ready for general release, everyone gets them.

Helping me keep building

Building and maintaining Chroma takes time, testing hardware, and infrastructure, which means money. Membership helps fund that work. Try Chroma first; if you love it and want to help me keep building, you can join.

Two ways to support Chroma

  • Founding Membership — $60 once. Limited to 10,000 members. Lifetime membership with no annual renewal, plus permanent founder recognition and a founder badge.
  • Standard Membership — $60/year. Available after the Founding Memberships are gone. An annual way to support ongoing development, with member benefits while your membership is active.

What both memberships give you

  • Early access. Get new releases and viewing apps ahead of their general rollout.
  • Development updates. Follow the progress, decisions, and work your membership helps fund.

For lifetime Founding Members

Preview builds and experimental features. Explore work in progress and help improve it with your feedback. This access is exclusive to lifetime Founding Members.

Roadmap participation. Join founder discussions, share ideas, and vote on priorities. Your input helps shape what comes next. This benefit is exclusive to lifetime Founding Memberships.

Memberships aren't open yet, but you can leave your email below and I'll let you know when Chroma is ready.

Read the membership details, or get in touch if you have questions.