All About Chromecast

Comparison of 5 methods for streaming local media files to Chromecast

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Update 1: Now there are six methods. The new approach is to use Android screen cast.

Update 2: Added the image illustrating the differences of the six methods to stream local media files with Chromecast from the book: Chromecast 101: How to stream local media files with Chromecast (Kindle Edition, released November 2014, ASIN: B00Q7TSL3G).

Update 3: with the release of VLC 3.0 on February 9, 2018, Chromecast is now supported.

You can use VLC media player to stream local media files from a PC or an Android phone without using any additional apps or servers.  On Android phones, you may check this guide on how to use VLC for Android to stream local media files to Chromecast device.

Chromecast can not only stream internet contents, e.g., YouTube, Netflix, but also can it stream local contents, your videos, music, and photos to your  TV. It can also turn your TV into your remote monitor for your PC!

There are several methods for streaming local media files to Chromecast.  Each has its strength and weakness.

A lot of Chromecast owners get confused on these methods after we illustrated different possible ways.

The purpose of this comparison is to guide you to choose the most suitable methods for you to stream local media files to Chromecast.

What are the 5 6 8 different methods for streaming local media files to Chromecast

To stream local media file to Chromecast, in All About Chromecast, we have released step-by-step guide for the following eight methods:

  1. Stream local media files (videos, music, and photos) to Chromecast through a tab of Chrome browser.
  2. Share PC’s desktop to Chromecast. This essentially streams all contents to Chromecast. Your TV becomes a remote screen of your PC.
  3. Use Chrome browser extension (Videostream) to stream local media files (video and music) to Chromecast.
  4. Use Plex media server (and a free web app) to stream all media files (video, music, and photos) to Chromecast.
  5. Use Android apps to stream local media files to Chromecast. The local media can be on your Android devices or in your local media server.
  6. Use Android screen cast with Chromecast. You can mirror everything on your Android devices to the TV!
  7. Use VLC for Android to stream local media files to Chromecast and Chromecast Audio.
  8. Use VLC media player to stream local media files on your PC to Chromecast and Chromecast Audio.

We will add more guides for streaming local media files once they are tested.

You may check these guides individually for the detailed steps to use the corresponding approaches.

Please also note, Google Home, Google Home Mini, and Google Home Max are all Chromecast enabled. You can stream local audio to these devices just like streaming to Chromecast Audio.

So, for local music files, all these guides apply to Google Home as well.

Comparison of 5 6 methods for streaming local media files to Chromecast

Please note,  Chromecast Ultra can offer 4K streaming for methods of 2, 3 and 4.

In addition, for method 3, VLC for Android now supports Chromecast. So, using VLC or Android to stream local media is the best streaming option in Android.

Besides, with VLC media player 3.0, Chromecast is officially supported. You can stream all your videos and music on your PC to Chromecast directly.

Among all these methods, only VLC media player supports HDR 10 when streaming to Chromecast.

Advantages and disadvantages of local media file streaming methods for Chromecast
FeaturesMethod 1: Chrome Tab castingMethod 5: Desktop
sharing		Method 2: Videostream appMethod 4: Plex Media serverMethod 3: Android appsMethod 6: Android screen cast
Easy to use  *************************
Reliability and stability***********************
Supported media typevideo, music and photo everythingvideo and music, no photovideo, music and photovideo, music and photovideo, music and photo
Video formats limited to those supported by Chromecast nativelyyesno,
only limited
by your PC		with some extensionsalmost no limitations yesno,
limited
by your device
Stream quality (up to) 720p 720p1080p1080p1080p1080p
Remote controlnonoyesyesyesyes
Recommended usage (user) scenariooccasional users, without a large collection of local media filesspecial usage
for desktop sharing, 
not
recommended
for videos		occasional to regular users, with small to large local media collectionsregular and heavy users, with large local media collectionsoccasional user,  or regular users with own media serversonly works on selected devices

Advantages and disadvantages of local media file streaming methods for Chromecast_website

Do you have any questions on these methods for streaming local media files to Chromecast?

Please leave your questions, comments, and feedback in the comment box below, if you have anything on streaming local media files to Chromecast to share with other Chromecast owners.

For Chromecast Audio guides, please visit Chromecast Audio guide page.

If your question is on Chromecast including both 1st generation Chromecast, and new Chromecast (aka Chromecast 2015), please visit Chromecast how-to guides page.

Happy casting!

Comments

  1. Hi,
    1. chromecast doesnot display the entire screen of my laptop. e.g.the bar where u type the url. though i use wireless key board i am forced to be nearer to the laptop for typing a new url for the tab i am using.
    2. Many of the web links automatically open in another tab, and i have to click the chromecast button every time to see the restults on the screen.

    Help to reolve this is much apprectiated

    Reply

  2. I’m waiting for the guide of method #5. I have a Synology server with movies but it doesn’t have power enough to stream HD videos to Chromecast. I was thinking to use another device to process and stream the video instead Synology server.

    Reply

  4. Chromecast will not play my already downloaded movies from my tablet to the tv I have tried several apps but it either stops or doesn’t stream at all?

    Reply

  8. Hi simon great work, nice manuals…

    I have a situation and wana test 1 chromecast to display several results of xl sheet on several tvs usingv one laptop. Is this possible using win7 laptop to mirror.
    Kindly adv as we aare using 10 laptops for 10 tvs for each department which is not very complicated to monitor.

    Thanks again
    Niaz

    Reply

  10. Hello! On My Chromecast, some mkv files are freezing, and playing only the audio on Plex.However, on my Nexus 4 and my Motorola Xyboard runs flawless. Any sugestions?

    Reply

  11. I would like to buy the nexus 9 and use it to download HD movies and play them on my big tv.
    Can I use chromecast to mirror the nexus 9 screen to watch the movies on my big tv.
    Currently I use my laptop and a hdmi cable for this. But I would like to have the same experience with a nexus 9 and no cables.
    Will the hd quality, size and audio all work well through the tv with chromecast mirroring function?

    Reply

  12. Plex looks good a nd went throught he initial set up easily. However, whem I went back to it I could not get the server to open from the desktop. So, i went to the browser and it said I had no media server — I had down loaded and installed so i tried a gain — sme result despite 4 attempts. Later I fired up my andriod tablet the music and photos i had put on plex were there — looked at several photos then it crashed sayong server was no longer available. It looks lie a really good app — but its not working.

    Reply

  13. While one CAN “mirror” their desktop onto a TV screen using Chromecast; the delay on video and an even longer delayed sound is intolerable. This makes my purchase worthless so far. I am hoping that the makers of Chromecast will FIX this once it comes out of “Beta” testing.

    I can not believe; in the age of the highest most advanced technological era since creation; that this very consistent problem on many websites would not have long since been remedied. But the facts are; it plagues Video and sound viewing in a myriad of applications.

    One of the most frustrating problems with the lag is using the mouse; making it almost impossible to use. So I will take it back and wait until Chromcast gets if fixed IF they ever do. My guess is: It is a very low priority and/or they do not even know it. In any case their ads are false I am sorry to say.

    Note: Even when mirroring one’s desk top, it will NOT mirror the Windows “Media Center”. A MAJOR flaw also. In other words: a simple HDMI cable can do MORE than a wireless connection, And with NO delays, and EVERY thing can be mirrored. Chromcast device simply does not get it IMHO. How sad indeed.

    WHY??????????????????????

    Oh well.

    Reply

  14. Thanks simon for the speedy reply. Afterwards I did a bit of research on various manufactured items like this. Sadly, I have not found a single one that does not have “delay”. I find this terribly dissapointed, like I said earlier, that there is apparently no way to stream video to a TV screen wirelessly. This to me seems ridiculous.

    Consider a wireless mouse or keyboard. How come they work instantly with not a noticeable bit of delay? And yet (again apparently) there is not a wireless HDMI device out there; except for a simple cable. Or if there is, I have not found one.

    So I am considering returning the Chromceast and wait til it happens. I believe it will, but not holding my breath.

    Thanks again friend for your response. I like your website.

    Reply

    • Thank you for sharing the info.

      I think the problem is that there is no “universal” solutions.

      For wireless mouse and keyboard, it requires: 1). a transmitter and 2) a receiver, and 3) system support. The technology (RF) is simple and most importantly, the support is built in the OS already.

      To mirror your desktop display (and audio) wirelessly, Miracast is the open standard. But Windows only supports it from Windows 8. Android supports it from Jelly Bean. But due to hardware limitations of mobile devices, most vendors disabled this feature. Miracast requires considerable processing power and resources. This is the reason there are a lot of complaints on Miracast. Most smart TVs are under-powered for Miracast

      Chromecast was NOT designed to fill this gap. Google wanted to make it to be a streaming stick for internet contents so that you can use your device for other stuffs.

      Of course, Google released the API for local contents later. So, you can “stream” local contents to TV. But this works best with an web app (although not required), for example, Plex. Actually this works very well.

      Mirroring the desktop is a totally different story. The technology used is webRTC, which is mainly designed for instant communications (like skype), not for transmitting videos. Google still regards this feature as “experimental”. It works ok for short presentations or demonstrations. Anyway, this is not the main feature of Chromecast.

      If you want to use Chromecast to mirror the desktop, it is not a good option. A cable is far better.

      But if you want use Chromecast to stream videos saved in your hard drive, you can should Plex (recommended) or videostream of even tab casting. All these 3 methods are better than desktop mirroring.

      To stream local media, please read this guide: Comparison of 5 methods for streaming local media files to Chromecast
      Chromecast or Miracast? Please read this guide: Chromecast VS Miracast: everything you need know about Chromecast, wireless display and screen mirroring || Galaxy S6 Guides || Galaxy S7 Guides || Android Oreo Guides || Galaxy S8 Guides || Galaxy S9 Guides || Google Home Guides || Galaxy S10 Guides .

      Reply

  15. What about Playon..it now has a cast ability, This works very well, can stream local media, has many content providers and scripts for other non supported streams. There is an Android app

    Reply

  16. when i use videostream to cast local videos/movies to TV, they often get stuck. I even try to run them on 360p but they still get stuck very often. What am i doing wrong?

    Reply

  17. Thank you for this great website. It would maybe be good to have an area where you indicate specific IOS / Android / Chrome browser (desktop/laptop) apps which are recommended. I did find a nice list of all kind of apps on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apps_with_Google_Cast_support

    If you have a NAS that doesn’t support Plex and use iOS devices then i can really recommend to use Infuse 3 Pro iOS app (it’s expensive – 9,99 euro/dollar but worth the money in my opinion).

    The current Infuse app version still has the Chromecast feature in Beta but it works really well with most of my MP4 and even MKV and AVI files with both AC3 audio support and opensubtitles (online) /srt (local).

    Unfortunately the current version doesn’t support to close the app (background playback) and/or put your iDevice in standby modus. It seems an odd limitation of the Cast SDK as Infuse is saying although a similar (less good – doesn’t support AVI/MKV like Infuse 3 can but is great for photos) AllCast app is able to keep casting to the Chromecast also when you put your device in standby modus and/or leave the app and do something else on your iDevice. Hopefully Infuse will soon release a revised version where this background playback is supported.

    A few other nice free video iOS apps which support Chromecast are:

    Access e.g. NAS via DLNA/UPNP and in the case of Remote Media also SMB protocol.
    These apps do have limitations as far as support for opensubtitles.org, download of metadata (video/tv)

    – Remote Media Manager: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id953763607?mt=8
    – VideoCast https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/videocast-for-chromecast-dlna/id948888932?mt=8

    A nice app that i’ve used for live streams on websites is the one below.
    I didn’t buy any in-app purchases. They do have quite expensive in app-purchases to e.g. remove adds or save bookmarks.

    – Video & TV Cast https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/video-tv-cast-browser-for/id907405413?mt=8

    Reply

  18. My goal is to be able to transmit a URL to the ChromeCast and leave it playing the MP3 stream indefinitely, until interrupted.
    I’ve found an App that almost does this; “Dashboard Cast”. It works fine with internet streams. You can initiate the stream from your phone, and then quit the App or even leave the house. It continues to play forever.
    However, I haven’t been able to stream from my Linux NAS. If I enter the following URL into i.e. VLC or WinAmp ; http://192.168.0.3:9000/stream.mp3 it works just fine. But entering the same URL into the Dashboard Cast App doesn’tn work. This may be because this feature is still in Beta.
    Does anyone know of another way to transfer a URL to a ChormeCast ?

    Reply

  19. Does that mean that LMS is sending a file (mp3)
    to VLC when I use the URL ; 9000/stream.mp3 ?
    I thought it was streaming the audio as an mp3 stream…. (as the URL suggests).

    Reply

  20. It seems easier to stream illegal files than legitimate ones. Seriously I don’t know any legit films that are all in one neat file. If you have the folder of a DVD for instance the Video and Audio are in sub folders and even then there is about 10,000 other files in them. You cant stream them to your telly but if you take ten seconds to illegally download it then bang! its on your telly quick as a flash.

    Reply

  21. I find that Videostream works much better than when it was originally released. I have setup a 1080p Monitor in my bedroom and have Videostream installed on my Nexus 6 and my Surface Pro. I also have a router which has a USB 3.0 port on it with a drive connected to it with both Music and Video files. I mapped a network drive to the drive connected to the router and added it as a media folder in Videostream on my surface pro, as well as local media on the surface pro. I am not able to watch movies on-demand in my bedroom using my Nexus 6 as a remote (Which controls Video and all play controls) This is the exact case scenario I’ve been waiting for to fully utilize my Chromecast – any video or Music on demand with full control – all without the need of a TV (As I purposefully do not own a TV).

    Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV) but I find this preferable to any of the other solutions. (And I have no lag/stuttering either).

    Reply

  22. I’m doing well with Videostream these days. It used to hang up my router, but after I changed to a new expensive one it seemed to do the trick. If I stick to standard MP4s I can run it all night with no hiccups. Android apps (like Bubble UPnP) work well, but I like using the PC as it saves me one more file transfer to the phone. I’m waiting for VLC Media Player to add Chromecast support, which they said will be there in the next version, but that’s taking an indefinite amount of time. I am surprised Videostream is the only (non-server) PC solution so far. I know Plex is the right way to go but I don’t want to install all that just to play a few files now and then

    Reply

  23. In all these methods of local file streaming to chromecast , it uses internet data while stream? Means while streaming it consume my internet data? or it just use wifi network for local streaming without any internet data uses?

    Reply

  25. My Chromecast donggle is not get connected thru Wi-Fi from my Mobile to TV as every time it says incorrect password after displaying “The Wi-Fi Network for your Chromecast and this device are different.

    Reply

  26. Really excellent article.. I came to this, after searching in google for many hours to verify if screen mirroring is limited to video formats, with no clear answer 🙂 I have finally found that there is no video format limitation in screen mirroring.. thanks a lot..

    Reply

  27. Hi have a HTC one M8 mobile which i cant mirror the screen as soon as i hit connect it says not optimized and disconnects … i turned off battery optimizer and AVG antivirus all to no avail … it even did a update …. i can cast youtube fine (actually thats all i can cast at the moment) …. Any suggestions

    Reply

  28. Is there a difference in quality of audio streamed if I use a Chromecast supported app to cast audio from my phone to the Chromecast audio or if I cast from an unsupported app through ‘Cast screen / audio’ functionality in the Chromecast app?

    Thanks!

    Reply

  29. Hello,

    I am planning on installing a Plex media server on my PC to stream local media.

    Is there a way to Pause a video that is casting to the chromecast / the TV without using having to use the PC? Or use a remote? By that I mean:

    The PC is not in the same room as the TV with the Chromecast I’m casting. I would prefer not to have to get up and go to the other room to pause a movie that’s streaming.

    Thank you in Advance!

    Reply

  30. I cannot get Plex to see the chromecast device. I have followed your very detailed advice and no chromecast symbol shows. I am using the latest Plex on Windows 10. When I run Plex it opens as a tab on Edge. The media server works, just no ability too cast. Any idea?

    Reply

  31. I do not have internet access but I do have a wireless network. Will chromecast still share what is on my computer screen with my TV?

    Reply

  32. Another method that you forgot to mention is to use younity(getyounity.com). younity is a more mobile-friendly alternative to Plex. It’s much simpler to install and set up than Plex or Kodi and it works with Android and iOS devices.

    Reply

  33. Great compilation! I’d add ArkMC app, which allows streaming all kinds of media from your phone or tablet to different devices, including TV. I use it and don’t have any problems with it, it streams wirelessly, without any cables or expensive adapters. I’m totally satisfied.

    Reply

  34. Have a Chromecast Ultra. Trying to cast 1080p MKVs. None of the methods above reliably supports subtitles — including VLC 3.0 and VideoStream. Also tried Soda Player. Have uninstalled all. Even if a method supports streaming, it’s definitely much slower to start and quality appears lower than video generated by streaming services, e.g. Netflix or Sling TV running on the Chromecast itself. For me, viewing local files on my laptop is still better than a Chromecast kludge. We need native Chromecast support for MKVs.

    Reply

  35. “It really depends on the video file format contained in the MKV container.”

    Not exactly actionable information. And even if something works, the speed and quality issues remain.

    “For VLC, you can always use external subtitles.”

    You’ve tested this casting MKVs with various file types? Regardless, they’re often unavailable when I download — or ever, depending on the show.

    I’ll stick with my laptop or HDMI.

    Reply

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