It's an older code sir, but it's still valid.
Transcoding is well within your reach, even on older hardware ...
Hardware transcoding unlike software transcoding, relies on the server’s CPU to convert media files into different formats, hardware transcoding offloads this intensive task to a dedicated component ...
Is there a way to force Plex to transcode particular audio-only files while playing remotely? It appears that it will transcode FLAC files to AAC if they're above a particular bitrate. e.g., stuff ...