How to Stream Kodi to Chromecast From Android or PC

Google Chromecast is a wonderful media streaming device and while Google media apps like YouTube support the device, media center apps like Kodi don’t. So, if you love watching content on Kodi and would love to stream Kodi to Chromecast, there’s no native way. However, you are not totally out of luck, as there are ways to stream Kodi on Chromecast. You can do it through an Android smartphone or tablet or even your PC or Mac. There are three ways to stream Kodi to Chromecast and we are listing down all the ways, so you can choose whatever suits you best. So, without any further ado, here are the ways:

Best Method: Using an Android device running Kodi in the background

This is the best method to stream Kodi’s content to Chromecast because it’s light on your Android device’s battery. In this method, the streaming video plays on your Chromecast device even when the device is locked, unlike the other methods we have listed below. Moreover, the video streaming on the Chromecast connected TV is flawless in this method. So, here’s how to do it:

1. Firstly, you will have to install a few apps on your Android device: Kodi, LocalCast and ES File Explorer (or any file manager app that lets you view hidden files).

2. After you’ve installed all these apps, download this .xml file dubbed PlayerFactoryCore. Once downloaded, open ES File Explorer and go to its hamburger navigation drawer and tap “Settings”. In “Display Settings“, enable “Show hidden files“.

ES File Explorer display settings

3. Then, go to the “Downloads” folder and find & copy the PlayerFactoryCore.xml file you downloaded. Paste the file in Android->Data->org.xbmc.kodi->files->.kodi->userdata folder.

Kodi Chromecast Best Method ES File Explorer

4. After you have pasted the file, open the Kodi app and play any video. If you have more casting apps installed, Android will ask you to choose an app, choose “LocalCast”. If you don’t have any casting app other than LocalCast, it will automatically load up the Kodi video you selected.

Play Video Kodi Chromecast

5. Then, select your Chromecast device and then hit Play, which should play your Kodi video on the Chromecast connected TV.

Kodi Chromecast LocalCast

Note: To add more videos to the playing list, just use the “Add to Queue” option.

Kodi Chromecast streaming LocalCast

You can then easily minimize the LocalCast app and lock your Android device while watching the video with ease on your Chromecast device. Pretty easy, right?

Method 2: Using the Chromecast app on your Android device

Another very easy method to stream Kodi to Chromecast is by using the Google Cast app’s screen mirror feature on your Android smartphone. Here’s how you can do it:

1. You will have to install Kodi and the official Google Cast app on your Android device for this method.

2. Open the Google Cast app and tap the hamburger menu on the top left and hit the “Cast screen/audio” option. You should then get a prompt saying “Screen casting is not optimized for this device; your experience may vary”. Ignore it and select “OK“.

Google Cast mirror stream Kodi Chromecast

3. Then, the app will search for Chromecast devices, select your Chromecast device and your device’s interface should be mirrored to your Chromecast connected TV.

4. Now, open up Kodi and play any video you want. The video should then start playing on both your Android device and your TV.

Note: While this method works and lets you stream Kodi to Chromecast, it’s not really feasible, considering you can’t lock your phone or take any calls or do anything for that matter on your Android device. Also, in our testing, the video playback was perfectly smooth on our Android device but the stream to Chromecast was pretty laggy.

Method 3: Using the Chromecast app on your PC or Mac

This method is very similar to the previous method, as you can use the Google Cast extension on Chrome to mirror your PC’s entire screen to a Chromecast connected TV or display. So, here’s how to stream Kodi to Chromecast using a PC:

1. Install the Kodi client on your PC or Mac. Also, make sure to install Chrome along with Google Cast Chrome extension.

Note: Windows users might have to install the Chromecast setup client, if you are connecting to Chromecast for the first time. 

2. Then, fire up Chrome and click on the Google Cast extension and you should see an option dubbed “Cast this tab to…”. Alongside you will see a very small drop-down button, click that. In the menu, click the option to “Cast screen/window (experimental)“.

Google Cast Extension Cast screen

3. You’ll then get the options to share your “Entire screen” or the different tabs open in Chrome. Select Entire screen.

Google Cast share screen options

4. Now, simply open up Kodi and play any video you want and it should play on both your PC and Chromecast connected TV with ease.

Like the previous method, you will have to keep the Kodi client running in the foreground on your PC. Also, you obviously cannot turn off or lock your PC or Mac. So, not the best method but it works if you have to showcase a presentation or something else to a larger audience.

Kodi Chromecast

SEE ALSO: 10 Best Chromecast Alternatives

All set to stream your favorite videos from Kodi to Chromecast?

While all of the above methods will work, we’d recommend the first method if you want to stream from an Android device because that’s the one where the playback is flawless and you can multitask on your Android device. So, try it out and let us know if you face any issues in the aforementioned methods, we’d be happy to help! Also, if you have an Amazon Fire Stick, check out our post on how to install Kodi on Amazon Fire Stick.

comment Comments 51
  • David says:

    Can’t get this to work if running vpn. Any one got any solution for this?

  • Tom says:

    I can’t seem to get the first option to work. I get the error msg “This Chromecast device does not support the video or can’t access it. Localcast can not fix this”

  • david price says:

    First method is the best, I often download and later drop file into google chrome browser, then cast. But this method is really working your computer hard it has decode and play on pc as well as upload thru wifi to chromecast.. I wish someone could come up with a kodi plug in or something..

  • Ben says:

    while casting the screen i can see kodi and a video but it’s pretty slow and annoying , anyway to improve the refresh rate? if i play a local video by dragging it to chrome it works really well and fast. i guess there has to be a dedicated app for streaming videos from kodi to get a proper refresh rate, any advise?

  • Amanda says:

    When I cast Kodi through Cromecast, is there any way of getting subtitles? Because I can only access Kodi through Localcast, I don’t get the opportunity to select subtitles
    Thanks

  • Fredrik Falk says:

    Hi. Hope to get some help – the only thing I can’t do; either on my Samsung S4 GT-I9505 and my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition SM-P605 is to have the video sent to my TV via Chromecast – Localhost does not send it and I can’t figure out why.

    I’ve put the correct file in the User data folder and I can start the films on the phone by choosing Videoplayer – but Kodi shuts down/crashes when I choose Localhost. And I then get a question if I want to send an error report and also the option to just accept the crash with “OK”; nothing else!

    Please advise.

    Thanks in advance

  • Megan Chatman says:

    I tried the screen mirror option before it was very bad and had a lag so I went with the first option. Except Chromecast is blocking the video from playing. Shows error message on my TV that it can not be played & is not compatible with device. Anyway around this please let me know.

    Thank you

  • Tom says:

    Hi all, method 1 works for me but I don’t get Dolby Digital 5.1 working. Only Stereo. Quality of both sound and video is great though but anyone knows how to add 5.1 to this solution?
    Sidenote; 5.1 sound does work on my Chromecast with for example Netflix so I would say my setup is just fine.

  • Ryan says:

    This workaround also works with Xbox One. Thanks for the great tip.

  • Kel77 says:

    Chromecast is now blocking kodi content. Anyway around this?

  • Mariana Côrte-Real says:

    1st method works perfectly! Thank you for this very helpful information. Is it possible not to lose the subtitles with any of the methods?

    • Rahul says:

      Did you get answer to your question? I’m also annoyed with losing the subtitles. Any solution?

  • Prateek says:

    Most of the videos available on KODI such as some live shows are not supported by local cast app. The same video plays fine on my android tablet. Is there any other app that supports all the available codecs?

  • K says:

    Is it some how possible to use that first method with the Xfinity app?

  • Umair Ahmed says:

    Codec error when plying kodi stream…

  • JY says:

    All you need to do is install Kodi, LocalCast and Switch for Kodi/LocalCast and done!

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