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addozhang/leancast

Ad-free DLNA/UPnP cast receiver for Android TV that plays videos sent from phone apps with hardware decoding.

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Last commit
6 days ago

What is it?

LeanCast turns an Android TV or Fire TV box into a DLNA/UPnP media renderer. Any phone app with a cast button can discover the receiver over SSDP, send it a video URL through SOAP AVTransport commands, and the video plays fullscreen. Playback uses ExoPlayer (Media3) with the device's MediaCodec hardware decoding, and supports HLS, progressive MP4, Matroska and HTTP-FLV.

The TV-side controls are handled with the remote: OK pauses or resumes, the left and right keys seek with an accelerating fast-forward step, and Back exits. An on-screen display shows progress, the media title and seek feedback, in English or Chinese. The receiver name is user-editable, and the app can start on boot.

The APK is pure Kotlin with no native libraries, so one build runs on common 32-bit and 64-bit Android TV hardware. The project includes a domain layer with unit tests for the protocol logic and a Python control point script for end-to-end testing against a device.

Key features

  • 01Discovers the receiver from DLNA/UPnP phone apps via SSDP
  • 02Plays HLS, progressive MP4, Matroska and HTTP-FLV streams with hardware decoding
  • 03Remote-driven controls with accelerating seek and on-screen progress display
  • 04Pure-Kotlin APK with no native libraries, covering four CPU architectures
  • 05No analytics and no non-LAN network calls

Use cases

  • Casting videos from Chinese streaming apps to a TV without their ads
  • Watching LAN-hosted video files from a phone on a living-room TV
  • Turning an older Fire TV or Android TV box into a dedicated cast target

Quick start

  1. 1

    Build the debug APK with Gradle

    ./gradlew assembleDebug
  2. 2

    Connect to the TV over ADB

    adb connect <TV-IP>:5555
  3. 3

    Install the built APK on the TV

    adb install -r app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk
  4. 4

    Launch the app once to start the receiver service

    adb shell am start -n io.leancast/io.leancast.app.MainActivity

Things to know

  • Requires JDK 17+ and Android SDK platform 34 to build from source.
  • Casting is DLNA/UPnP only; phone system Miracast casting is not supported.
  • Samsung, LG, and Huawei TVs are unsupported because they lack an Android app runtime.
  • Some CN smart TVs and YunOS boxes are experimental.

Topics

#dlna#upnp#android-tv#media-renderer#kotlin#exoplayer#screen-casting#fire-tv

FAQ

What is leancast?
Ad-free DLNA/UPnP cast receiver for Android TV that plays videos sent from phone apps with hardware decoding. LeanCast turns an Android TV or Fire TV box into a DLNA/UPnP media renderer. Any phone app with a cast button can discover the receiver over SSDP, send it a video URL through SOAP AVTransport commands, and the video plays fullscreen. Playback uses ExoPlayer (Media3) with the device's MediaCodec hardware decoding, and supports HLS, progressive MP4, Matroska and HTTP-FLV.
Is leancast free to use? What license does it have?
leancast is open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is leancast still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to leancast was on Nov 1, 2026.
What can I use leancast for?
Casting videos from Chinese streaming apps to a TV without their ads Watching LAN-hosted video files from a phone on a living-room TV Turning an older Fire TV or Android TV box into a dedicated cast target
How do I install leancast?
Build the debug APK with Gradle: ./gradlew assembleDebug Connect to the TV over ADB: adb connect <TV-IP>:5555 Install the built APK on the TV: adb install -r app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk Launch the app once to start the receiver service: adb shell am start -n io.leancast/io.leancast.app.MainActivity
Where can I get leancast?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/addozhang/leancast

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