[opensourcedex]

Kodi is a free, open source media & streaming project written in C++ and released under a custom open-source licence. It has 21,229 GitHub stars, 6,598 forks and 466 open issues, and was last pushed 5 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #5 of 27 tracked projects in Media & Streaming, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 19 stars over the last 6 tracked days.

What is Kodi?

What it is

Kodi is a free and open-source home theater and media center application, also described as an entertainment hub for digital media. It is written mainly in C++ and distributed as a native application for Android, BSD, Linux, macOS, iOS, tvOS, and Windows, with support for many common processor architectures. The project began in 2003 and is run by the XBMC Foundation, with development and support carried out by volunteers worldwide.

Kodi solves the problem of turning a computer, phone, or home theater PC into a living-room media player that can be operated from the couch with a remote control. Instead of relying only on a desktop media player, it scans local and network media, builds a browsable library with metadata such as box covers, descriptions, and fanart, and plays audio and video from local storage, network shares, or internet sources.

Key capabilities

  • Plays many popular audio and video formats, including files stored on local devices, network locations, or the internet.
  • Supports network playback over practically any available protocol, allowing media to be streamed from elsewhere in the house or from online sources.
  • Scans media locations and creates a personalized library with artwork, descriptions, and fanart.
  • Provides a skinning engine and remote-friendly interface designed for home theater use.
  • Includes playlists, slideshows, weather forecasts, and audio visualizations as built-in features.
  • Extends functionality through add-ons, which are mainly written in Python and XML.

Who uses it and how

  • Home theater users install Kodi on a PC, mobile device, or HTPC and use it as a couch-facing media player with a remote control.
  • Users with local media libraries point Kodi at media locations or network shares so it can scan, organize, and stream the content.
  • Add-on developers build Python and XML add-ons to extend Kodi's functionality.
  • Translators use the project's translation workflow to translate Kodi, add-ons, and skins into other languages.
  • Volunteers contribute by fixing bugs, answering questions in support forums, and improving the wiki documentation.

Getting started

Users install Kodi by selecting their platform from the official downloads page, where final and development builds are provided. A quick start guide in the Kodi wiki explains the basic setup.

When to use it — and when not to

Kodi is a good fit when users want a free, open-source media center that runs natively on many platforms and can be customized through skins and add-ons. It is less suitable when users need a hosted service or commercial support, because Kodi is a volunteer-run project with forum-based help and no paid support personnel. Users must supply their own media files, network storage, devices, and add-ons, then maintain the player and its library locally.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

Kodi Logo

website • docs • community • add-ons

License Documentation PRs Welcome Contributions Welcome Build Commits

Welcome to Kodi Home Theater Software!

Kodi is an award-winning free and open source software media player and entertainment hub for digital media. Available as a native application for Android, Linux, BSD, macOS, iOS, tvOS and Windows operating systems, Kodi runs on most common processor architectures.

Created in 2003 by a group of like minded programmers, Kodi is a non-profit project run by the XBMC Foundation and developed by volunteers located around the world. More than 500 software developers have contributed to Kodi to date, and 100-plus translators have worked to expand its reach, making it available in more than 70 languages.

While Kodi functions very well as a standard media player application for your computer, it has been designed to be the perfect companion for your HTPC. With its beautiful interface and powerful skinning engine, Kodi feels very natural to use from the couch with a remote control and is the ideal solution for your home theater.

Give your media the love it deserves

Kodi can be used to play almost all popular audio and video formats around. It was designed for network playback, so you can stream your multimedia from anywhere in the house or directly from the internet using practically any protocol available.

Point Kodi to your media and watch it scan and automagically create a personalized library complete with box covers, descriptions, and fanart. There are playlist and slideshow functions, a weather forecast feature and many audio visualizations. Once installed, your computer or HTPC will become a fully functional multimedia jukebox.

Getting Started

Kodi's developers work hard to make it support a large range of devices and operating systems. We provide final as well as development builds. To get started, head over to the downloads section and simply select the platform that you want to install it on. A quick start guide to help you get acquainted with Kodi is available in our wiki.

How to Contribute

Kodi is created by users for users and we welcome every contribution. There are no highly paid developers or poorly paid support personnel on the phones ready to take your call. There are only users who have seen a problem and done their best to fix it. This means Kodi will always need the contributions of users like you. How can you get involved?

  • Coding: Developers can help Kodi by fixing a bug, adding new features, making our technology smaller and faster and making development easier for others. Kodi's codebase consists mainly of C++ with small parts written in a variety of coding languages. Our add-ons mainly consist of python and XML. For more information, please have a look at our contributing guide.
  • Helping users: Our support process relies on enthusiastic contributors like you to help others get the most out of Kodi. The #1 priority is always answering questions in our support forums. Everyday new people discover Kodi, and everyday they are virtually guaranteed to have questions.
  • Localization: Translate Kodi, add-ons, skins etc. into your native language.
  • Add-ons: Add-ons are what make Kodi the most extensible and customizable entertainment hub available. Get started building an add-on.
  • Documentation: Kodi's wiki pages are the hub for information about Kodi and surrounding ecosystem. Help make our documentation better by writing new content or correcting existing material.

Not enough free time? No problem! There are other ways to help Kodi.

  • Spread the word: Share Kodi with the world! Tell your friends and family about how Kodi creates an amazing entertainment experience. Stay up to date on the latest stories about Kodi reading our news section, follow us on Twitter and Facebook, or star Kodi's repo if you want to follow development.
  • Donate: We are always happy to receive a donation. Donations are typically used for travel to attend conferences, any necessary paperwork and legal fees, and the yearly XBMC Foundation Developers Conference, where a great deal of coding and planning for the following year occurs. Donations may also be used to purchase necessary hardware and licenses for developers, along with t-shirts, stickers, and other accessories for conferences.
  • Buy Kodi merchandise: Purchasing Kodi gear helps just as much as a donation, and you get something in return! Checkout our store for Kodi branded gear. We regularly add new products so check back often.

Building

Kodi uses CMake as its building system but instructions are highly dependent on your operating system and target platform. Fortunately we've got you covered.

Acknowledgements

Kodi couldn't exist without

  • All the contributors. Big or small a change, it does make a difference.
  • All the developers that write the fantastic software and libraries that Kodi uses. We stand on the shoulders of giants.
  • Our fantastic community for the never ending support, inspiration, feedback, and for keeping us on our toes when we screw up!
  • Our sponsors. Without them, keeping a huge project like this alive would be next to impossible.

License

Kodi is GPLv2 licensed. You may use, distribute and copy it under the license terms.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kodi free to use?

Kodi is open source. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Kodi do?

Full-featured media center for your TV and beyond

What is Kodi written in?

Kodi is primarily written in C++. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc, and it has 21,229 GitHub stars.