Miracast is a wireless communications standard created by the

Wi-Fi Alliance The Wi-Fi Alliance is a non-profit organization that owns the Wi-Fi trademark. Manufacturers may use the trademark to brand products certified for Wi-Fi interoperability. It is based in Austin, Texas. History Early IEEE 802.11, 802.11 product ...

which is designed to transmit video and sound from devices (such as laptops or smartphones) to display receivers (such as TVs, monitors, or projectors). It uses

Wi-Fi Direct Wi-Fi Direct is a Wi-Fi standard for wireless connections that allows two devices to establish a direct Wi-Fi connection without an intermediary wireless access point, Router (computing), router, or Internet connection. Wi-Fi Direct is single-hop ...

to create an

ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...

encrypted wireless connection and can roughly be described as "

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary digital interface used to transmit high-quality video and audio signals between devices. It is commonly used to connect devices such as televisions, computer monitors, projectors, gam ...

over

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

", replacing cables in favor of wireless.On Wifi-Display, Democratic Republics and Miracles
Patrick Herrmann, on the development of Miraclecast, 2014-02-17. Miracast is utilised in many devices and is used or branded under various names by different manufacturers, including Smart View (by Samsung), SmartShare (by LG), screen mirroring (by Sony), Cast (in Windows 11) and Connect (in Windows 10), wireless display and screen casting. A related enterprise protocol named Miracast over Infrastructure (MS-MICE) functions using a central

local area network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, campus, or building, and has its network equipment and interconnects locally managed. LANs facilitate the distribution of da ...

instead, and is supported in

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Development

The Wi-Fi Alliance launched the Miracast certification program at the end of 2012. Devices that are Miracast-certified can communicate with each other, regardless of manufacturer.

Nvidia Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

announced support in 2012 for their Tegra 3 platform, and

Freescale Semiconductor Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. was an American semiconductor manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. Freescale focused their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embedde ...

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...

Qualcomm Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...

Marvell Technology Group Marvell Technology, Inc. is an American company, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, which develops and produces semiconductors and related technology. Founded in 1995, the company had more than 6,500 employees as of 2024, with over 10,000 ...

and other chip vendors have also announced their plans to support the Miracast standard. The

maintains a list of certified device models, which numbered over 13,200

Technical details

Miracast is based on the

peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...

standard. It allows sending up to

1080p 1080p (1920 × 1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the sc ...

HD video ( H.264 codec) and 5.1 surround sound (

AAC AAC may refer to: Aviation * Advanced Aircraft, a company from Carlsbad, California * Airborne aircraft carrier, a type of aircraft * Alaskan Air Command, a radar network * American Aeronautical Corporation, a company from Port Washington, New ...

and AC3 are optional codecs, mandated codec is

linear pulse-code modulation Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the amplitude o ...

16 bits 48 kHz 2 channels). The connection is created via WPS and therefore is secured with

WPA2 Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) (Wireless Protected Access), Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2), and Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) are the three security certification programs developed after 2000 by the Wi-Fi Alliance to secure wireless computer n ...

. IPv4 is used on the

Internet layer The internet layer is a group of internetworking methods, protocols, and specifications in the Internet protocol suite that are used to transport network packets from the originating host across network boundaries; if necessary, to the desti ...

. On the transport layer, TCP or UDP are used. On the

application layer An application layer is an abstraction layer that specifies the shared communication protocols and interface methods used by hosts in a communications network. An ''application layer'' abstraction is specified in both the Internet Protocol Su ...

, the stream is initiated and controlled via RTSP, RTP for the data transfer."Miracast unter Linux ist schrecklich"
golem.de, 2014-02-02.

Version history

Functionality

The technology was promoted to work across devices, regardless of brand. Miracast devices negotiate settings for each connection, which simplifies the process for the users. In particular, it obviates having to worry about format or

codec A codec is a computer hardware or software component that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. ''Codec'' is a portmanteau of coder/decoder. In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder o ...

details. Miracast is "effectively a wireless HDMI cable, copying everything from one screen to another using the H.264 codec and its own

digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...

(DRM) layer emulating the HDMI system". The Wi-Fi Alliance suggested that Miracast could also be used by a

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also known as a cable converter box, cable box, receiver, or simply box, and historically television decoder or a converter, is an information appliance device that generally contains a Tuner (radio)#Television, TV tuner inpu ...

wanting to

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

content to a TV or tablet. Both devices (the sender and the receiver) need to be Miracast certified for the technology to work. However, to stream music and movies to a non-certified device, Miracast adapters are available that plug into

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

ports. Certification does not mandate a maximum latency (i.e. the time between the display of pictures on the source and display of the mirrored image on the sync display). Even with certification, it is possible an underpowered device will be constrained in performance or bandwidth.

Types of media streamed

Miracast can stream videos that are in

, media with DRM such as

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

s, as well as protected premium content streaming, enabling devices to stream feature films and other copy-protected materials. This is accomplished by using a Wi-Fi version of the same trusted content mechanisms used on cable-based HDMI and

DisplayPort DisplayPort (DP) is a digital interface used to connect a video source, such as a Personal computer, computer, to a display device like a Computer monitor, monitor. Developed by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), it can also car ...

connections.

Display resolution

* 27 Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) formats, from 640 × 480 up to 4096 × 2160 pixels, and from 24 to 60 frames per second (fps) * 34 Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) formats, from 800 × 600 up to 2560 × 1600 pixels, and from 30 to 60 fps * 12 handheld formats, from 640 × 360 up to 960 × 540 pixels, and from 30 to 60 fps * Mandatory: 1280 × 720p30 (HD) * Optional: 3840 × 2160p60 (4K Ultra HD)

Video

Mandatory: ITU-T H.264 (

Advanced Video Coding Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, is a video compression standard based on block-oriented, motion-compensated coding. It is by far the most commonly used format for the recording, compression, and d ...

VC for HD and Ultra HD video; supports several profiles in transcoding and non-transcoding modes, including Constrained Baseline Profile (CBP), at levels ranging from 3.1 to 5.2 Optional: ITU-T H.265 (

High Efficiency Video Coding High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2, is a video compression standard designed as part of the MPEG-H project as a successor to the widely used Advanced Video Coding (AVC, H.264, or MPEG-4 Part 10). In compa ...

EVC for HD and Ultra HD video; supports several profiles in transcoding and non-transcoding modes, including Main Profile, Main 444, SCC-8 bit 444, Main 444 10, at levels ranging from 3.1 to 5.1

Audio

Mandated audio codec: Linear Pulse-Code Modulation (LPCM) 16 bits, 48 kHz sampling, 2 channels Optional audio codecs, including: * LPCM mode 16 bits, 44.1 kHz sampling, 2 channels * Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) modes * Dolby Advanced Codec 3 (AC3) modes * E-AC-3 * Dolby TrueHD, Dolby MAT modes * DTS-HD mode * MPEG-4 AAC and MPEG-H 3D Audio modes * AAC-ELDv2

Hardware and software support

A device's wireless network adapter must support

and Virtual Wi-Fi for it to work with Miracast; generally most adapters built since 2013 should meet the criteria. In Windows computers this can be checked by looking at the adapter's NDIS version which must be 6.3 or above. However Miracast support also depends on the software implementation by manufacturers. Most modern devices support Miracast, with notable exceptions being products from

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

Windows and Linux PCs

Microsoft also added support for Miracast in Windows 8.1 (announced in June 2013) and available on hardware with supported Miracast drivers from hardware (GPU) manufacturers.

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was Software release cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 2 ...

and

Windows 11 Windows 11 is a version of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, released on October 5, 2021, as the successor to Windows 10 (2015). It is available as a free upgrade for devices running Windows 10 that meet the #System requirements, Windo ...

support Miracast transmitting along with User Input Back Channel (UIBC) support to allow for human interface devices (touch screens, mouse, keyboard) abbreviated as HID, to also have wireless connectivity (provided the host hardware also supports this). The transmit feature is built-in from launch for all Miracast devices with no additional setup past using the WIN+K keystroke to pair with a compatible display sink (including Microsoft's own Wireless Display Adapter). Developers can also implement Miracast on top of the built-in

support in

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

and

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, made available for download via Microsoft ...

. Windows 8.1 supports broadcasting/sending the screen via Miracast. Another way to support Miracast in Windows is with Intel's proprietary WiDi (v3.5 or higher). While Linux does not feature native support, several add-on software solutions exist. In the

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

ecosystem, the GNOME Network Displays application has allowed for Miracast screen sharing. As part of the 2023

Google Summer of Code The Google Summer of Code, often abbreviated to GSoC, is an international annual program in which Google awards stipends to contributors who successfully complete a free and open-source software coding project during the summer. , the program is ...

, an effort to integrate this as a feature in the GNOME Settings was announced, which would mean functionality would be had out of the box with that desktop environment.

Windows Wireless Display

Windows 11 and Windows 10 (since Windows 10 version 2004) also have the ability to use Miracast to make a monitor display (of a computer running Windows) act as a secondary screen of another device. This feature can be set up in the ''Projecting to this PC'' setting. It requires the downloading of the optional Wireless Display add-in feature in Windows, which adds the UWP-based Wireless Display app (known as Connect before Windows 11 version 22H2) and is launched on the receiving device.

Android

Miracast support was built into stock Android as of version 4.2 (

Android Jelly Bean Android Jelly Bean (Android 4.1, 4.2, 4.3) is the codename given to the tenth version of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google, spanning three major point releases (versions 4.1 through 4.3.1). Among the devices that launched ...

) - as of January 2013, the LG Nexus 4 and

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Xperia is a series of and the sole brand name of smartphones marketed by Sony. It also includes various related mobile hardware such as tablet computer, tablets as well as software. Xperia was originally developed by Sony Ericsson before becoming So ...

Z, ZL, T and V officially supported the function, as did

HTC HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t), or High Tech Computer Corporation (abbreviated and trading as HTC), is a Taiwanese consumer electronics corporatio ...

One,

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

in their Droid Maxx and Droid Ultra flagships, and

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

in its Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II under the moniker ''AllShare Cast''. The Galaxy S4 uses Samsung Link for its implementation. Some devices such as the Nexus 7 don't support it due to hardware limitations. Since Android 6.0 Marshmallow released in 2015, Google dropped Miracast support in favor of their own proprietary Google Cast protocol which was introduced with their

Chromecast Chromecast is a discontinued line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streaming media, streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system. The u ...

device. Despite this there are third-party Miracast apps for Android available. Many device manufacturers have retained Miracast support through their customized versions of Android (for example: Smart View on Samsung's

One UI One UI is a user interface (UI) developed by Samsung Electronics for its smart devices, including Android (operating system), Android devices from at least late 2016 or early 2017 running Android Pie, Android 9 (Pie) and later. Succeeding Samsu ...

, Cast on Xiaomi's

MIUI MIUI is a deprecated mobile operating system by Xiaomi for its smartphones and devices, from 2010 to 2023, prior to the launch of its successor Xiaomi HyperOS. MIUI was Fork (software development), based on the Android (operating system), Andro ...

, Screencast on Oppo's ColorOS, Wireless Projection on Huawei's

EMUI EMUI (formerly known as Emotion UI) is an interface based on Android (operating system) developed by Chinese technology company Huawei, used on the company's smartphones primarily globally. Instead of Google Mobile Services, EMUI devices have ...

, HTC Sense, LG UX, Asus ZenUI,

Sony Xperia is a series of and the sole brand name of smartphones marketed by Sony. It also includes various related mobile hardware such as tablets as well as software. Xperia was originally developed by Sony Ericsson before becoming Sony Mobile as a r ...

devices, OnePlus's OxygenOS etc.). The performance and quality of the streamed video is dependent on the device's hardware.

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

devices, which ran a near-stock version of Android, originally did not support Miracast. However, Nokia 7 Plus, 8, 8 Sirocco, and 8.1 smartphones that have been upgraded to Android 9 or 10 are able to support Miracast, after enabling Wireless Display Certification in Developer Options. Devices such as Nokia 2.3, 2.4, 3.4, 5.4, and 8.3 5G have Miracast support enabled by default. The same option is present to stock Android as well, with Google describing it as based on the "Wi-Fi Alliance Wi-Fi Display Specification", but it tends to be useless as Miracast code was removed.

Televisions and dongles

televisions support Miracast where it is named ''Smart View'' (including all models made since 2016). Miracast is also supported on LG smart TV models, some

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

TVs, Sharp,

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

(''Wireless Screencasting''), and

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

televisions and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

players. Sony Bravia models of televisions released between 2013 and 2020 normally have Miracast. The feature is named ''screen mirroring''. Newer models with

Android TV Android TV is an operating system that runs on smart TVs and related entertainment devices including soundbars, set-top boxes, and digital media players. Developed by Google, it is a closed-source Android distribution. Android TV features a u ...

instead make use of the Google Cast protocol. On 23 September 2014, Microsoft announced the Microsoft Wireless Display Adaptor, a USB-powered HDMI

dongle A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality. In computing, the term was initially synony ...

for high definition televisions. Simple dongles such as these can be used to provide Miracast to a television (or other display) that lacks the feature built-in.

Miscellaneous

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

since 2019 using the optional downloadable Wireless Display app. * Windows Phone 8.1. *

BlackBerry 10 BlackBerry 10 (BB10) is a proprietary mobile operating system for the BlackBerry line of smartphones, both developed by BlackBerry Limited (formerly known as Research In Motion). Released in January 2013, BlackBerry 10 is a complete rework from t ...

devices since update 10.2.1 in 2013 (as of March 2015, the BlackBerry Q10, Q5, Z30, and later models support Miracast streaming). *

Ubuntu Touch Ubuntu Touch is a mobile version of the Ubuntu operating system, developed by the UBports community. Its user interface is written in Qt, and is designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Howev ...

-powered

Meizu Pro 5 The Meizu PRO 5 is a smartphone designed and produced by the China, Chinese manufacturer Meizu, which runs on Flyme OS, Meizu's modified Android (operating system), Android operating system. It is the company's first model of the flagship PRO ser ...

supported Miracast in OTA-11. * The

Roku Roku ( ) is a brand of consumer electronics that includes streaming players, smart TVs (and their operating systems), as well as a free TV streaming service. The brand is owned by Roku, Inc., an American company. As of 2024, Roku is the U ...

streaming stick and Roku TV (starting October 2014). * Most

Amazon Fire TV Amazon Fire TV (formerly stylized as amazon fireTV) is a line of digital media players and microconsoles developed by Amazon since November 2014. The devices are small network appliances that deliver digital audio and video content streamed v ...

models (except 2017 ''Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD and Alexa Voice Remote''). *

HTC Vive HTC Vive is a line of Virtual reality, virtual and mixed reality Virtual reality headset, headsets produced by HTC, HTC Corporation. The brand currently encompasses headsets designed for use with Personal computer, personal computers as well a ...

* ScreenBeam from Actiontec Electronics

Miracast over Infrastructure

Miracast over Infrastructure Connection Establishment Protocol (MS-MICE) allows the capabilities of Miracast but through a local network instead of directly. It has been supported in Microsoft Windows since

Windows 10, version 1703 Windows 10 Creators Update (also known as version 1703 and codenamed "Redstone 2") is the third major update to Windows 10 and the second in a series of updates under the Redstone codenames. It carries the build number 10.0.15063. PC version his ...

. MS-MICE connects with computers that are connected to the network via secure Wi-Fi or through

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

References

External links

*
Wi-Fi Alliance list of Miracast certified devices
* {{cite web , url= http://www.wi-fi.org/file/wi-fi-certified-miracast%E2%84%A2-extending-the-wi-fi-experience-to-seamless-video-display-industry , title= Wi-Fi Certified Miracast: Extending the Wi-Fi experience to seamless video display - Industry , date= 2012 , format= pdf , website=

, access-date= 2014-05-01 , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140502004434/http://www.wi-fi.org/file/wi-fi-certified-miracast%E2%84%A2-extending-the-wi-fi-experience-to-seamless-video-display-industry , archive-date= 2014-05-02 , url-status= dead Internet Standards Wi-Fi Wi-Fi Direct Wireless display technologies