Discover the Best OSMC Alternatives for Your Media Center Needs
OSMC (Open Source Media Center) is a highly regarded, free, and open-source media player based on Linux, built upon the powerful Kodi project. Since its founding in 2014 as the successor to Raspbmc, OSMC has offered a robust solution for playing media from local networks, attached storage, and the Internet. With features like an improved update system, a faster experience, and an integrated App Store, OSMC provides a comprehensive media center experience. However, whether you're seeking different platform support, a more specialized feature set, or simply exploring other options, there are several excellent OSMC alternative solutions available that might better suit your specific needs.
Top OSMC Alternatives
If you're looking to branch out from OSMC, or perhaps it doesn't quite meet all your requirements, these alternatives offer diverse functionalities and cater to various user preferences, from simple media playback to extensive home theater setups.
Kodi
Kodi, formerly XBMC, is a free and open-source media player and entertainment center that serves as the foundation for OSMC itself. It's a fantastic OSMC alternative, available across a wide range of platforms including Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, Raspberry Pi, and Fire TV. Kodi is known for its extensive features like media streaming, detailed TV show metadata support, a robust video library, and a highly customizable interface through plugins and extensions. Being the underlying project for OSMC, Kodi offers a similar core experience with even greater flexibility for advanced users.
Plex
Plex is a popular freemium media server and client ecosystem that excels at organizing and streaming your media collection across all your devices, making it a strong OSMC alternative for those who prioritize remote access and media sharing. Available on Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, Apple TV, and many more, Plex automatically organizes your content with rich metadata. Its key features include media transcoding, remote media access, self-hosted server capabilities, and offline sync for media files, offering a more managed and less DIY approach compared to OSMC or Kodi.
Universal Media Server
Universal Media Server is a free and open-source DLNA-compliant UPnP Media Server, making it an excellent OSMC alternative for users focused on streaming media to DLNA-enabled devices. Available on Mac, Windows, and Linux, it's a powerful tool for transcoding and streaming various media formats. Its lightweight nature and simple installation are notable features, along with robust support for DLNA and IPTV, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of devices like Playstations and smart TVs.
Splash
Splash is a free video player available exclusively for Windows that prides itself on smooth video playback and advanced features, making it a dedicated OSMC alternative for PC users who prioritize video quality. It boasts support for NVIDIA CUDA and Intel Quick Sync acceleration, hardware-accelerated decoding, motion smoothing, and an audio boosting feature. While not a full media center like OSMC, Splash excels in providing a high-quality viewing experience for local video files.
OpenELEC
OpenELEC (Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center) is a free and open-source 'Just Enough Operating System' (JeOS) built specifically for running Kodi, similar to OSMC, but with a different philosophy regarding its build. Available for Linux and Raspberry Pi, OpenELEC focuses on being incredibly lean and efficient. It's an excellent OSMC alternative for those who want a minimal OS dedicated solely to media playback, with features like plugin extensibility, IPTV support, and a robust music player.
Infuse
Infuse is a freemium video player specifically designed for Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. As an OSMC alternative for the Apple ecosystem, Infuse stands out with its vast format support, eliminating the need to convert video files. Key features include DLNA support, automatic metadata searching, and comprehensive subtitle capabilities, making it a beautiful and powerful choice for Apple users looking to consume various video content seamlessly.
MiniDLNA
MiniDLNA, also known as ReadyDLNA, is a free and open-source server software for Linux that aims to be fully compliant with DLNA/UPnP-AV clients. It serves as a lightweight and efficient OSMC alternative for users who primarily need to serve media files to DLNA-enabled devices on their network. Its focus on simplicity and compliance makes it ideal for a dedicated, low-resource media server.
Serviio
Serviio is a freemium media server available on Mac, Windows, and Linux, designed to stream your music, video, and image files to any DLNA-certified renderer device. It's a robust OSMC alternative for those needing cross-platform DLNA streaming, offering features like playlist creation, support for subtitles, raw photo processing, and compatibility with Playstations and Xboxes. Serviio provides a comprehensive solution for network-based media sharing.
MediaPortal
MediaPortal is a free and open-source media solution that transforms your Windows PC into a complete media center. As an OSMC alternative for Windows users, it excels in integrated features like DVB-T support for live TV, Internet Radio, a music player, and extensive extensibility through plugins. MediaPortal allows users to manage and display TV series, movies, and photos directly from their PC to their TV, offering a highly customizable experience.
LibreELEC
LibreELEC is an evolution of OpenELEC and another 'Just enough OS' for Kodi, serving as a direct OSMC alternative that focuses on stability and community development. This free and open-source Linux distribution is purpose-built to run Kodi efficiently on current mediacentre hardware. While its primary feature is its optimized music player, LibreELEC's strength lies in providing a highly stable and streamlined environment for Kodi, making it ideal for users who want a simple, dedicated media appliance.
Choosing the best media center software depends heavily on your specific hardware, technical comfort level, and desired features. Whether you prioritize deep customization, cross-device streaming, or a simple plug-and-play experience, exploring these OSMC alternatives will help you find the perfect fit for your home entertainment setup.