Set Plex Desktop seek to 5 seconds

Plex Desktop hardcodes the on-screen skip buttons to 10 seconds back and 30 seconds forward. There is no plex.ini setting for this. Keyboard and remote seek can still be changed through Plex's mpv/input configuration.

Restart Plex Desktop after editing these files.

Config files (both platforms)

Two files control seek behavior:

Windows

Config directory: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex\

C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\Plex\
├── plex.ini
├── input.conf
├── inputmaps\
│   └── keyboard.json
└── Logs\Plex.log

Windowed playback

Create %LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex\inputmaps\keyboard.json:

{
  "name": "Keyboard Generic (5s seek)",
  "idmatcher": "Keyboard.*",
  "mapping": {
    "ArrowLeft": "mpv:seek -5",
    ",": "mpv:seek -5",
    "ArrowRight": "mpv:seek 5",
    ".": "mpv:seek 5",
    "Media Rewind": "mpv:seek -5",
    "Media Fast Forward": "mpv:seek 5"
  }
}

Fullscreen playback

Edit %LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex\input.conf:

LEFT seek -5
RIGHT seek 5
, seek -5
. seek 5

Verify (Windows)

Check %LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex\Logs\Plex.log for:

Loading inputmaps from: C:/Users/<you>/AppData/Local/Plex/inputmaps

Linux (Flatpak)

Package: tv.plex.PlexDesktop
Config directory: ~/.var/app/tv.plex.PlexDesktop/data/plex/

~/.var/app/tv.plex.PlexDesktop/data/plex/
├── plex.ini
├── input.conf
├── inputmaps/
│   └── keyboard.json
└── Logs/Plex.log

Windowed playback

Create ~/.var/app/tv.plex.PlexDesktop/data/plex/inputmaps/keyboard.json — same JSON as the Windows section above.

Fullscreen playback

Edit ~/.var/app/tv.plex.PlexDesktop/data/plex/input.conf — same bindings as the Windows section above.

Verify (Linux)

Check ~/.var/app/tv.plex.PlexDesktop/data/plex/Logs/Plex.log for Loading inputmaps from:.

Test

1. Fully quit Plex Desktop (system tray → Quit on Windows).
2. Start Plex Desktop again.
3. Play a video.
4. Press ←/→ or ,/. and confirm the position changes by 5 seconds.

Notes

Plex Desktop's web client constants are 10 seconds back, 30 seconds forward, and 600 seconds for step actions. The input overrides only affect the keys you bind.

References

• Plex HTPC input maps
• mpv input.conf manual