Forks

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Home icon grey.png   ▶ XBMC Foundation ▶ Kodi ▶ Forks

This is a list of various forks of Kodi. Forks are often created whenever a different group or organization needs to make customizations to the program. In some cases, these changes are minor and are made for the purposes of supporting certain hardware, or adding in special features. The Kodi project welcomes and encourages forks in the spirit of the GPL.

Stop hand.png The XBMC Foundation requires that all forks of Kodi/XBMC must be rebranded, unless otherwise granted permission from the XBMC Foundation. In other words, they cannot be called Kodi or XBMC, and may not include the Kodi or XBMC graphics. While it is okay to say that the fork is based on Kodi/XBMC, such a statement must not be made in such a way that suggests any kind of endorsement or official status from the Kodi project or XBMC Foundation.

For more information please see Official:Trademark Policy.


Forks active as of 2016

Emblem-important-yellow.png NOTICE:
  • Like nearly all wiki pages, this list is maintained by the Kodi community. If something is missing, feel free to add it.
  • Forks are normally considered unofficial and are not endorsed by the Kodi project or XBMC Foundation.
  • Please only list forks that have some notable difference from the normal Kodi install. (i.e., don't list your fork that only changes the Kodi logo into a pony. Unless it's a pretty pony. That might be okay. Maybe.)
  • Forks listed here should not come pre-installed with any pirate/bootleg add-ons/streams/content, or otherwise make it easy to install such add-ons/streams/content (see Forum rules, which also apply to the wiki).
  • Forks listed here must comply with the GPL license, and any other applicable open source software licenses.

MrMC

MrMC is an open source (GPL), multiple platform, software media player for digital media, Based on Kodi.

OpenELEC

OpenELEC

OSMC

OSMC (short for Open Source Media Center) is a Linux distribution based on Debian that brings Kodi to a variety of devices. It is the successor to Raspbmc and Crystalbuntu.

RasPlex

RasPlex is an Linux-based OS distribution designed and optimized for the Raspberry Pi, and comes with a forked version of XBMC. RasPlex's XBMC has been modified to look and feel like Plex Home Theater. It is primarily designed to be a third-party client for Plex Media Server, but it can be used as a stand-alone media player as well. RasPlex uses software firmware image which is fork of OpenELEC.

SPMC

SPMC

XBian

XBian is an another Linux distribution based on Raspbian which comes with a pre-configured version of XBMC and is optimized for embedded computers such as the Raspberry Pi


Vender or device-specific forks

TOFU Media Center by Pivos
TOFU Media Platform by Pivos Technology Group, Inc. is a development framework and software platform centered around XBMC for Android, designed for both first-parties (ei. media player devices from Pivos themselves) and licensed to third parties (OEM) and other commercial partners. Marked as a "entertainment ecosystem" derived from XBMC Media Center, that build on top of underlying embedded operating system such as Android or Linux variants.
TOFU Media Platform itself consists of "TOFU Media Center" which is a fork of XBMC, and the current version of "TOFU Media OS" is a fork of Android 4.2 (Jellybean). The first commercial third-party device to have official ToFu Media Center (Android version) application support was the GameStick video game console developed by PlayJam. Pivos's own first device that comes with the complete TOFU Media Platform (TOFU Media OS and TOFU Media Center) preloaded is their Pivos XIOS XS media player.


XBMC4Xbox
XBMC4Xbox


ZDMC
ZDMC is an unofficial fork of Kodi for Android created by the Zidoo Device Manufacturers. While technically unofficial, it contains various RK3368 (RockChip) fixes and settings that can sometimes help users when the normal Kodi for Android doesn't work on RK3368 specific hardware.

Old list of forks

Emblem-important-yellow.png NOTICE:
Many of these forks are no longer maintained, but are listed for historical tracking. If a fork is still active then feel free to move it to the active section on this pace.


9x9 Player for 9x9CloudTV
9x9 Player (by Santa Clara, CA based 9x9Network) is an open source software media player client for 9x9Network's 9x9CloudTV peer-to-peer TV delivery network over internet. The frontend of this media player client uses XBMC's source code as its application framework platform, and 9x9Network as a company is also an official sponsor of XBMC.


Boxee
Boxee, was a freeware and partially open source software cross-platform media center and entertainment hub with social networking features that is a commercial fork of XBMC software. Boxee supported Windows, Linux, and OSX, with the first Alpha made available on 16 June 2008. Later, Boxee released their own set-top-box, the Boxee Box, and shortly after discontinued support for desktop OSes in order to focus on their new hardware. After the Boxee Box, Boxee abandoned their software completely, ending their fork of XBMC, with new hardware known as Boxee TV which used closed source software. In 2013, Boxee was bought by Samsung.


Crystalbuntu
An Apple TV 1 specific linux distro for XBMC/Kodi. This project has now evolved into OSMC.


DVDFab Media Player
DVDFab Media Player by Fengtao Software Inc. is a media player software for Windows, based on the XBMC source code. DVDFab Media Player can play encrypted and DRM-protected Blu-ray Discs for 60-days for free before it has to be licensed to enable that feature again. It can however playback unencrypted and Blu-ray ISO-images, folders, and other DRM-free media files without a license.


E2BMC
E2BMC is a XBMC-based software platform for DVR/PVR set-top boxes on-top embedded Linux hardware systems, designed as a hybrid integration between XBMC media center software and Dreambox's Enigma2 PVR software scripts, with OpenPLi (OpenEmbedded based Linux operating system for embedded systems) open source set-top box firmware images. "MK-Digital Cube" and "D-Cube R2" were the two first E2BMC based set-to boxes announced, and both was released in Q1 in 2014.
OpenATV Team, a team of independent developers of long popular community driven firmware images for Enigma2 based set top-boxes like those from Dreambox and Vu+, have also promised that they will develop and release third-party OpenATV (also OpenEmbedded based) firmware images with XBMC for E2BMC compatible set-top boxes.


Element OS
Element OS is a free embedded operating system designed for use on a Home Theater PC (HTPC) which is connected to a HDTV. Element OS is a Linux based distribution similar to that of the XBMC Live distro, however it comes preloaded with dozens of applications for listening to, viewing, and managing music, videos, photos, and internet media. XBMC is the pre-installed default media center, but Boxee and Hulu Desktop are also installable.


GeeXboX
GeeXboX


Horizon TV by Liberty Global
Horizon TV by Liberty Global, (first-generation Horizon TV only), is a cross-platform media platform and DVB-S2 Dual Tuner high-definition DVR/PVR set-top-box, (with hardware manufactured by Samsung as model "SMT-G7400"), which runs native XBMC as its main media center GUI interface on-top of Linux for embedded systems, together with a hidden proprietary middle-ware framework for video on demand and handling DRM for streaming multimedia.[58] It was first announced in September 2012, and it is also available from Dutch cable operation UPC Netherlands under the brand name "UPC Horizon TV".
Liberty Global (branded as "UPC" in Europe and worldwide better known as just "Liberty") is since 2013 the worlds largest international cable company, with operations in 14 countries, with Horizon TV being its flagship platform with more than 10 million first-generation Horizon TV devices sold. The second-generation Horizon TV platform is however no longer based on XBMC, it instead is uses ActiveVideo's CloudTV platform.


iConsole
iConsole (formerly known under the project codename "Full Circle"), produced by startup company MechaWorks, is a freeware and partially open source media center and entertainment hub with video game console features that is initially a fork of XBMC and Boxee software. The first public Alpha release will be as a Linux based distribution, primarily designed to be installed on a computer's empty harddive to make a computer in to a dedicated HTPC, similar to that of the XBMC Live distro but specifically targeted to a minimum set-top box hardware setup.


MediaPortal
MediaPortal is free and open source software media center written for Microsoft Windows that is initially based on forked XBMC source code by Erwin Beckers (a.k.a. Frodo, who was also one of the original founders of XBMC) in February 2004. The reason for this fork to Microsoft Windows was to get away from hardware and software platform limitations of the Xbox game-console platform that XBMC development started on, mainly because of the Xbox inability to support TV-tuner adapters natively as Erwin wanted PVR functionality. Now after several years and innumerable feature changes there has been almost a complete re-design of the source code, however the skinning engine of MediaPortal 1.X.X still remains very similar to that of the original XBMC software making it relatively easy for people to port skins/themes back and forth between the two projects, something that is done quite frequently.


MeeGo TV
MeeGo TV was the MeeGo TV stack SDK (Software Development Kit) for Smart TV developing platform, as a specialized branch of the MeeGo (Linux-based) open source mobile operating system. This Meego TV stack provided a GPLv2 compatible "OBS Light" (openSUSE's Open Build Service for clients) based SDK that used a derivative fork of XBMC media center software for embedded systems appliance devices. MeeGo and its Smart TV development platform was founded by the Linux Foundation, Intel, and AMD.


ONEvision by at-visions
ONEvision by at-visions Informationstechnologie GmbH, (an international system integration and IT soutsourcing firm for hotels), ONEvision is a commercial fork of XBMC for use as hotel television system software in hotel environments and in the hospitality industry for in-room entertainment. It offers a platform for in-room service bookings and an IPTV interface, with custom theme branding. ONEvision is currently used throughout Europe and Asia at hotels such as Hyatt EMEA, Ramada Vienna, RIMC International, DWA Bratanki, Rogner International, EH&A, Heritage Hotel Hallstatt, St. Martins Therme, and Heiltherme Bad Waltersdorf. at-visions has previously been a major sponsor of the Kodi/XBMC project.


OpenBricks
OpenBricks is a free and open source Linux framework, tools, and build system, similar to that of the competing OpenEmbedded and Yocto projects, it provides easy creation of custom embedded Linux operating system distributions for embedded devices. It features a complete embedded development kit for rapid deployment of embedded software on x86, ARM, PowerPC, and MIPS system architectures.[32] Primarily designed to be used to create distributions for DVR/PVR set-top boxes and media player appliance boxes, it does prove complete media center software suites as options, with the choice of pre-configured versions of XBMC, MythTV, and more.[33]
GeeXboX and OpenPCTV are probably the two best known Linux distro for XBMC that is based on the OpenBricks framework.


OpenPCTV
OpenPCTV is a XBMC-based open source Linux distribution for personal computers and embedded system to be used as DVR/PVR set-top boxes and media player appliance boxes. Just like E2BMC, OpenPCTV is also designed as a hybrid integration between XBMC and Dreambox's Enigma2 PVR software scripts, using VDR (Video Disk Recorder) as the TV tuner backend server and OpenBricks based Linux operating system images for embedded systems.


Plex (old versions)
Note: New versions of the Plex client are entirely rewritten and are no longer Kodi/XBMC forks.
On 21 May 2008, XBMC developer Elan Feingold forked the source code of XBMC and started a new project called Plex, (previously this Mac OS X port of XBMC was informally known as the "OSXBMC" project). Feingold said that he would still try to collaborate with most Team-XBMC members behind the scenes and at least try to keep Plex skinning engine compatible with XBMC skins. While Plex began as a free software hobby project, since 2010 it is commercial software, and today parts of what Plex offers is closed source proprietary software.


PrismCube by Marusys
PrismCube by Marusys is a DVB-S2 Twin-Tuner high-definition DVR/PVR set-top-box running native XBMC as its main media center GUI interface on-top of Linux for embedded systems. Released in October 2013, this first hardware model is marketed as "PrismCube Ruby" in Europe, North Africa, and Middle East, and it is also sold under different brand names such as "Kasys Prismcube Ruby", "AB IPBox Prismcube Ruby", and "Openbox Prismcube Ruby".
PrismCube Ruby firmware image is based on OpenEmbedded-Linux, and uses Marusys's own PVR backend software that integrated itself into XBMC's GUI, so currently the PVR front-end GUI functions and features on PrismCube are not part of native XBMC core code, though they use the same skin texture elements to achieve some what similar look and feel interface, a ported fork which Marusys calls "XBMC4STB" (XBMC for Set-Top-Boxes), which is the same name that Vu+ have given to their XBMC port too. Third-party firmware images for PrismCube Ruby is also being developed by the Black Hole Team, a team of independent developers of long popular community driven firmware images for Vu+-based set top-boxes.


Qt Media Hub
Qt Media Hub (also known as QtMediaHub or Qt MediaHub), by Nokia, is a proof of concept port of XBMC to QML and Qt framework on ARM platforms for the MeeGo, Maemo, and Mer projects, to demonstrate the power and flexibility of using Qt/QML, and also to show the best practices when using Qt/QML.


Raspbmc
A Raspberry Pi specific linux distro for XBMC/Kodi. This project has now evolved into OSMC.


Rippl-TV
Rippl-TV by Rippl-TV Electronics is a development framework and software platform centered around XBMC for Android, (similar to TOFU Media Platform by Pivos). It is designed for both first-party (ei. media player devices from Rippl-TV Electronics themselves) and also licensed to third-parties (OEM/ODM) and other commercial partners for branding. Marketed as a "entertainment ecosystem" derived from XBMC Media Center, that build on top of underlying custom Android operating system. Rippl-TV platform itself consists of "XBMC Rippl-TV Edition" which is a fork of XBMC, and the current version of "UtilOS" is a fork of Android 4.4 (KitKat) firmware


Sabayon Linux
Sabayon Linux is a full Linux distribution that among other applications comes with a pre-installed and preconfigured "ready-to-use" version of XBMC Media Center.


The One from DitIsTV
DitIsTV is a Dutch company which uses the Raspberry Pi as the HTPC hardware. They include OpenELEC as operating system with XBMC and provide it with a custom skin and several add-ons included by default.


Voddler
Voddler is a commercial video-on-demand service and client software streaming movies and television programming, similar to Spotify and Grooveshark but for video. From its first release at 1 July 2009 up until 24 February 2010, Voddler's media player software was initially based on a fork of the XBMC open source code. Voddler violated the license for XBMC's source code by neglecting to release all of their modifications that they used in their application as required per the GPL, and they have been publicly criticized for this.


XBMC4STB project by Vu+
Vu+ (or VUplus), is produced by a Korean multimedia vendor, which is a manufacturer of Linux-powered DVB, satellite, terrestrial digital television receivers) that all currently uses Enigma2 for Dreambox based software as firmware.
In September 2011 Vu+ Day in Amsterdam it was announced that the next-generation Vu+ DVB satellite receivers to be released publicly in the end of 2012 will be using XBMC Media Center software for its GUI, a development project that they call "XBMC4STB" (XBMC for Set-Top-Boxes), with beta releases of both the software and hardware said to be made available to XBMC developers before then.


yaVDR
yaVDR (which name originated from the abbreviation "yet another VDR") is an Ubuntu-based Linux (i386) distribution designed for HTPCs with a TV tuner card for DVR (Digital Video Recorder) capabilities. yaVDR comes preinstalled and preconfigured "ready-to-use" version of XBMC Media Center from the "PVR" Subversion development branch as its primary front-end media player interface, with VDR (Video Disk Recorder) integrated as its PVR back-end server. It also features Xine as an alternative front-end media player interface to XBMC.