Top VLC Streamer Alternatives for Seamless Media Streaming
VLC Streamer has long been a go-to application for users who want to stream movies and TV shows from their computer to their mobile devices, allowing them to “Sit anywhere in your house and watch movies or TV shows on your iPhone, iPod or iPad.” While it’s a convenient solution, users often look for a VLC Streamer alternative that offers broader platform support, more features, or a different user experience. This guide explores the best alternatives to enhance your media streaming setup.
Discovering the Best VLC Streamer Alternatives
Whether you're seeking more robust features, wider device compatibility, or simply a fresh interface, there are many excellent options available. Let's dive into some of the top contenders that can elevate your home media streaming.
Kodi
Kodi, formerly XBMC, is a free and open-source media player and entertainment center. It's an excellent VLC Streamer alternative due to its extensive platform support (Linux, Mac, Windows, Android, iPhone, Android Tablet, iPad, Raspberry Pi, Fire TV) and rich features, including media streaming, TV shows metadata support, video and music libraries, AirPlay support, and automatic subtitle downloads. Its extensibility via plugins makes it incredibly versatile.
Plex
Plex is a popular freemium media server that beautifully organizes your media library and streams it to virtually any device. It's a fantastic VLC Streamer alternative for its seamless user interface and broad platform support (Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, Apple TV, Roku, Kodi, etc.). Key features include media transcoding, remote media access, self-hosted streaming, and offline sync of media files, making it perfect for both local and remote viewing.
Stremio
Stremio is a media center that allows instant watching of movies, series, and YouTube channels. As a freemium VLC Streamer alternative, it excels in ease of use and features like HD streaming with subtitles, casting to TV via DLNA or Chromecast, and cloud sync. It's available on Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, and Android Tablet, providing a smooth, ad-free streaming experience with no buffering.
Emby
Emby, a freemium media server, presents your media with a simple, intuitive, and fast interface. It's a strong VLC Streamer alternative offering media streaming and transcoding. Emby supports a wide array of platforms including Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, Apple TV, Roku, PlayStation, and Xbox, with features like Chromecast support, local server capabilities, and optimized mobile access.
Universal Media Server
Universal Media Server is a free and open-source DLNA-compliant UPnP Media Server. Based on PS3 Media Server, it's an excellent VLC Streamer alternative for those needing a dedicated, lightweight server. It supports Mac, Windows, and Linux, and features include configurability, DLNA support, IPTV support, and media transcoding, making it simple to stream to various devices.
OSMC
OSMC (Open Source Media Center) is a free and open-source media player based on Linux, designed specifically for TVs. It's an ideal VLC Streamer alternative for Raspberry Pi and Apple TV users, allowing playback from local networks or attached storage. Its features include an operating system, automatic video identification, and music player capabilities, making it a streamlined solution for living room media.
Ampache
Ampache is a free and open-source web-based audio streaming application and file manager. While primarily focused on music, it also offers video streaming, making it a viable VLC Streamer alternative for those who want self-hosted access to their media from anywhere. It runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iPhone, and is PHP-based, supporting Subsonic API and WebDAV for broad compatibility.
Subsonic
Subsonic is a freemium, web-based media streamer providing ubiquitous access to your music and video. It's a robust VLC Streamer alternative that allows you to share and stream your own media library from a local server to various devices, including Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone. Its focus on music collection and streaming makes it a solid choice for audio enthusiasts.
Infuse
Infuse is a beautiful freemium video player for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV that supports almost any video format without conversion. It's an excellent VLC Streamer alternative for Apple device users due to its vast format support, DLNA compatibility, metadata search, and subtitle features. Infuse simplifies watching your video content with a sleek interface and powerful capabilities.
MiniDLNA
MiniDLNA (aka ReadyDLNA) is free and open-source server software designed to be fully compliant with DLNA/UPnP-AV clients. Primarily for Linux users, it's a lightweight and efficient VLC Streamer alternative for setting up a simple media server. Its core features include DLNA and DNLA Server support, offering a straightforward solution for network media streaming.
With these diverse VLC Streamer alternative options, you're well-equipped to find the perfect media streaming solution for your specific needs. Consider your devices, desired features, and technical comfort level to choose the best fit for seamless home entertainment.