Kodi: Difference between revisions

From Official Kodi Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Update wikilink targets following User:Yol's Foundation subjectpage move)
(325 intermediate revisions by 65 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Mininav|[[Kodi Foundation]]}}
{{Infobox software
{{Infobox software
| name = XBMC Media Center
| logo                 = [[File:Logo-transparent bare 256px.png|220px]]
| logo = [[File:XBMC logo.svg|200px]]
| screenshot           = [[File:Kodi.gif|300px|link=|Confluence skin home screen]]
| screenshot = [[File:xbmc 911.png|250px]]
| caption             = [[Confluence]] skin home screen
| caption = XBMC Media Center Home Screen
| developer           = [[Kodi Foundation]]
| developer = [http://xbmc.org/about/team/ Team XBMC]
| released            = June 29, 2004
| latest release version = {{Latest stable software release/XBMC}}<!-- Release version update? Don't edit this version, just click on the version number and go to that page to edit it instead! -->
| Stable release       = {{Current version}}
| frequently_updated    = yes<!-- Release version update? Don't edit this page, just click on the version number! -->
| Preview release      = {{Future_version}}
| latest preview version = [[Neutral build]] from [[Git (software)|Git]]
| programming language = ''Core:'' C++<br />''Add-ons:'' Python v3
| latest preview date    = [[Nightly build|Nightly]] (codename: "''Eden''")
| operating system     = [[Windows]], [[Mac OS X|macOS]], [[Linux]], [[Android]], [[iOS]]/[[tvOS]], [[BSD]]
| programming language = [[C++]] (and with [[Python (programming language)|Python Scripts]] as [[Plug-in (computing)|plugins]])
| platform             = [[wikipedia:x86|x86]], [[wikipedia:ARM architecture family|ARM]]
| operating system = [[Linux]], [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]], [[Mac OS X]], [[Apple TV|Apple TV OS]], [[Windows]], [[iOS (Apple)|iOS]], and first-generation [[Xbox]], (plus [[MeeGo]] support is in development)
| language             = 72 languages<ref name="weblate_lang_list" />
| platform = [[ARM architecture|ARM]], [[PowerPC|PPC (PowerPC)]], [[x86 architecture|x86]] / [[IA-32]], and [[x86-64]], (plus [[MIPS architecture]] support is in development)
| status              = Active
| status = Active
| license             = [https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html GPL-2.0-or-later]<ref name="licenses-dir_readme" />
| released = 2003
| website             = [https://kodi.tv/ kodi.tv]
| language = [[Internationalization and localization|International (30+ languages to date)]]
| genre = [[Home theater PC|Media Center]], [[media player (application software)|Media Player]], [[Digital media receiver]]
| license = [[GNU General Public License|GNU GPL]] ([[GNU General Public License Version 2|GPLv2 or later]])
| website = [http://xbmc.org xbmc.org]
}}
}}
'''Kodi'''® (formerly known as <span style="font-weight: 600;">XBMC</span> or <span style="font-weight: 600;">Xbox Media Center</span>) is an award-winning, free and open source media player/entertainment hub application that runs on an exhaustive list of computers, mobile devices and HTPCs (Home theater PCs) which natively use no less than seven (7) different operating systems. It follows a [[wikipedia:10-foot user interface|10-foot user interface]] design specification which targets usage as a media player in a living room setting—or any other space where groups of people consume media without having someone seated near the player controls—using a handheld remote control as the primary input device. Its graphical user interface allows the user to easily browse and view videos, photos, podcasts, and music from local file storage, optical discs, the local network or the internet using only a few buttons. The Kodi project is managed by the non-profit '''[[Kodi Foundation]]''' and developed by volunteers located around the world. As of Summer 2022, more than 1,600 software developers have contributed to Kodi (in the form of 111,800+ individual changes to the codebase, which opened in 2003),<ref name="openhub" /> with roughly 60 core developers whose regular participation helps to steer it. Now, thanks to the generosity and dedication of over [[Translations|200 volunteer translators]], Kodi is available in 72 languages and useful no matter which continent you're on.


'''XBMC Media Center''' (formerly '''[[Xbox]] Media Center''') is a [[free and open source software|free and open source]] [[cross-platform]] [[digital media hub]] and [[Home theater PC|HTPC (Home theater PC)]] [[application software|software]] with a [[10-foot user interface]] designed to be a [[media player (application software)|media player]] for the living-room [[Television|TV]]. Its [[graphical user interface]] (GUI) allows the user to easily manage video, photos, podcasts, and music from a computer, optical disc, local network, and the internet using a [[remote control]].<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web|url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |work=instant fundas}}</ref><ref name="XboxMediaCenter Review">{{cite web|url=http://www.tvharmony.com/blog/archives/2004/09/xboxmediacenter.html |title=XboxMediaCenter Review |date=2004-09-16 |author=Timmeh |work=TVHarmony.com, Inc.}}</ref><ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web|url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |work=Tom's Hardware}}</ref><ref>http://xbmcmediacenter.com xbmcmediacenter.com an unofficial fan site for XBMC</ref> The XBMC project is managed by the [[Non-profit organization|non-profit]] technology [[consortium]] '''XBMC Foundation'''.<ref>http://xbmc.org/prae5/2010/12/10/the-xbmc-foundation/ The XBMC Foundation</ref><ref>http://xbmc.org/about/ About XBMC</ref><ref>http://xbmc.org/about/friends-and-sponsors/ XBMC Friends And Sponsors</ref>
Kodi® ''(then called "Xbox Media Center")'' was originally created as a media center application for the first-generation Xbox game console (no longer supported) but is now officially available as a native application for [[Android]], [[BSD]], [[Linux]], [[Mac OS X|macOS]], [[iOS]]/[[tvOS]], and [[Windows]] operating systems, running on most common processor architectures.


It is a popular alternative to [[Microsoft]]'s [[Windows Media Center]] and [[Apple Inc.|Apple]]'s [[Front Row (software)|Front Row]] for [[Home Theater PC|HTPC (Home Theater PC)]] use.<ref>[http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/guides/2010/12/htpc-guide-1 Ars Technica HTPC Guide: December 2010]</ref><ref name="Hive Five Winner for Best Media Center Application: XBMC">{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5105649/hive-five-winner-for-best-media-center-application-xbmc |title=Hive Five Winner for Best Media Center Application: XBMC |date=2008-12-09 |author=Adam Pash |work=Lifehacker}}</ref><ref name="Five Best Media Center Applications">{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5103464/five-best-media-center-applications |title=Hive Five Best Media Center Applications |date=2008-12-07 |author=Adam Pash |work=Lifehacker}}</ref><ref name="Most Popular Free Mac Downloads of 2008">{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5111727/most-popular-free-mac-downloads-of-2008 |title=Most Popular Free Mac Downloads of 2008 |date=2008-12-16 |author=Adam Pash |work=Lifehacker}}</ref><ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience">{{cite web|url=http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/05/xbmc-904-delivers-impressive-media-center-experience.ars |title=XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience |date=2009-05-10 |author=Ryan Paul |work=Ars Technica}}</ref><ref name="Which Media Center Is Right for You: Boxee, XBMC, and Windows Media Center Compared">{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5462275/which-media-center-is-right-for-you-boxee-xbmc-and-windows-media-center-compared |title=Which Media Center Is Right for You: Boxee, XBMC, and Windows Media Center Compared |date=2010-02-02 |author=Jason Fitzpatrick & Kevin Purdy |work=Lifehacker}}</ref> Similar to competing software like [[MediaPortal]] and [[MythTV]], it has a [[skin (computing)|skinnable]] as well as user-configurable interface and [[Plug-in (computing)|plugin]] support.<ref name="Customize XBMC with These Five Awesome Skins">{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5198009/customize-xbmc-with-these-five-awesome-skins |title=Customize XBMC with These Five Awesome Skins |date=2009-04-05 |author=Jason Fitzpatrick |work=Lifehacker}}</ref><ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier">{{cite web|url=http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2009/12/xbmc-911-makes-your-open-source-home-theater-look-shinier.ars |title=XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier |date=2009-12-29 |author=Ryan Paul |work=Ars Technica}}</ref><ref>[http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/09/07/guide-getting-started-with-xbmc/ Guide: Getting Started With XBMC]</ref> The latest stable release of XBMC also have an integrated [[digital distribution]] platform 'app store' / 'app market' called "''Addons Manager''" that has a growing list of community driven addon [[Plug-in (computing)|plugins]] for online content like [[YouTube]], [[Hulu]], [[Netflix]], [[Grooveshark]], [[Pandora Radio]], as well and [[Theme (computing)|themes (skins)]] and more available from a common official [[Repository Open Service Interface Definition|repository]], while still enabling third-party developers to also host their own unofficial repositories for addon plugins that any user can choose to add themselves if they like.<ref>[http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/12/18/xbmc-10-0/ XBMC 10.0]</ref><ref>[http://lifehacker.com/5715145/xbmc-10-dharma-makes-installing-add+ons-and-skins-much-easier XBMC 10 Dharma Makes Installing Add-Ons and Skins Much Easier]</ref><ref>[http://lifehacker.com/5714949/xbmc-updates-to-100-dharma-rocks-awesome-add+on-support-and-improved-graphic-acceleration XBMC Updates to 10.0 Dharma, Rocks Awesome Add-on Support and Improved Graphic Acceleration]</ref><ref>[http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/19/xmbc-10-0-dharma-now-available-to-download-with-improvements-g/ XBMC 10.0 'Dharma' now available to download with improvements galore, add-on manager and Apple TV support]</ref>
== Introduction ==
=== Overview of features ===
:{{Main|Features and supported formats}}
{{#lst:Features_and_supported_formats|intro}}


XBMC was originally created as a media center application for the first-generation Xbox game console<ref name="XboxMediaCenter Review"/><ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref> but is now, since 2010, officially available as a native application for [[iOS (Apple)|iOS]] ([[iDevice]]s (must be jailbroken)), [[Linux]], [[Mac OS X]] ([[Mac OS X v10.6|Snow Leopard]], [[Mac OS X v10.5|Leopard]], [[Mac OS X v10.4|Tiger]], [[Apple TV]]), and [[Microsoft Windows]] operating systems, running on most common [[processor architecture]]s.<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art">{{cite web|url=http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-softmod-your-xbox...for-FREE/ |title=How to softmod your xbox...for FREE |date=2007-01-18 |author=VzjrZ |work=Instructables}}</ref> Also available is a bootable [[Live CD]] and [[Live USB]] standalone version referred to as "''[[XBMC Live]]''" which is made for easy setup on [[Bare-metal restore|bare-metal installation]]s and to be used for [[Demo (marketing)|interactive demonstrations]].<ref name="XBMC Live 9.11">{{cite web|url=http://linux.softpedia.com/get/System/Operating-Systems/Linux-Distributions/XBMC-Live-53804.shtml |title=XBMC Live 9.11 |date=2010-01-19 |work=Softpedia}}</ref><ref name="XBMC Live Atlantis Beta1!">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/lcapriotti/2008/09/18/xbmc-live-atlantis-beta1/ |title=XBMC Live Atlantis Beta1! |author=Luigi Capriotti |date=2008-09-18 |work=xbmc.org}}</ref><ref name="XBMC Live 8.10 (Atlantis) released">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/lcapriotti/2008/11/15/xbmc-live-810-atlantis-released/ |title=XBMC Live 8.10 (Atlantis) released |author=Luigi Capriotti |date=2008-11-15 |work=xbmc.org}}</ref>
=== Add-ons ===
:{{Main|Add-ons}}
{{#lst:Add-ons|intro}}


In addition, as a leader in [[niche market]] of media center software, the [[source code]] from XBMC is used as an [[Software framework|application framework]] and [[technological convergence]] platform for others projects to base their [[Smart TV]] entertainment system, [[set-top box]]es, or [[Home theater PC|media center]] software on for [[over-the-top content]] use and more, and today at least [[Boxee]], [[MediaPortal]], [[Plexapp|Plex]], 9x9 Player, and [[Voddler]] are separate [[derivative work|derivative products]] that are all openly known to initially have [[fork (software development)|forked]] the GUI engine and media player core parts of their [[Computer software|software]] from XBMC's source code. While still using their own brand and customized interface, a few like [[Boxee]] and 9x9 Player, are also [[affiliate marketing]] their software/devices as "'''''Designed for XBMC'''''" and "'''''Powered by XBMC'''''" with official XBMC [[logo]] by certified approval from the Team-XBMC developers and the XBMC Foundation.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/><ref name="Voddler använder XBMC">{{cite web|url=http://www.xbmc.nu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=177:voddler-anvaender-xbmc&catid=37&Itemid=2 |title=Voddler använder XBMC (Bekräftat!) |author=Richard Skalsky (a.k.a. GrandAnse) | language=Swedish |date=2009-07-02 |work=xbmc.nu}}</ref><ref name="CrunchGear Interview: We talk to the lead developer of Plex Media Center for Mac OS X: It was doing Boxee-like stuff before Boxee was cool">{{cite web|url=http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/01/15/interview-we-talk-to-the-lead-developer-of-plex-media-center-for-mac-os-x-it-was-doing-boxee-like-stuff-before-boxee-was-cool/ |title=CrunchGear Interview: We talk to the lead developer of Plex Media Center for Mac OS X: It was doing Boxee-like stuff before Boxee was cool |date=2010-01-15 |author=Nicholas Deleon |work=CrunchGear}}</ref><ref name="Thinking inside the box">{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/07/boxee-web-video-software |title=Thinking inside the box |date=2009-10-07 |author=Kevin Anderson |work=Guardian}}</ref>
For additional information about specific add-ons, see the '''[[:Category:All add-ons|All add-ons]]''' category.


==Overview==
=== Video demos ===
XBMC (which has officially been [[Rebranding|rebranded]] to simply "''XBMC''" from its previous old name; "''Xbox Media Center''") supports most common audio, video, and image formats, playlists, audio visualizations, slideshows, [[weather forecasts]] reporting, and third-party plugins. It is network-capable (internet and [[Local area network|LAN]] shares). Unlike [[proprietary software|proprietary]] [[Home theater PC|media center]] applications like [[Windows Media Center]] from [[Microsoft]], or other free-software media center applications such as [[MediaPortal]] and [[MythTV]], XBMC Media Center does not yet include native [[Digital video recorder|DVR/PVR TV-recording functionality]] or an [[Electronic program guide|EPG TV-Guide interface]] of its own, it does however offer the possibility to integrate such functionality through third-party plugins.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/><ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier"/><ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art">{{cite web|url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/flossmediacenter |title=10 most prominent FLOSS projects compared |date=2008-09-18 |work=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref>
Check out this excellent introduction video (1m 36s) by Lifehacker:<ref name="lifehacker" /><br />
::{{YouTube|T970YM3w1LY}}


Through its [[Plug-in (computing)|plugin]] system, which is based on the [[Python (programming language)|Python programming language]], XBMC is expandable via add-ons that include features such as television program guides, YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, [[Veoh]], online movie trailer support, and [[Pandora Radio]] and [[Podcast]] streaming. XBMC also functions as a gaming platform by allowing users to play mini-games developed with [[Python (programming language)|Python]], on any operating system.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/><ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/><ref name="XBMC-Addons on Google Code">http://code.google.com/p/xbmc-addons/ XBMC-Addons on Google Code (Addon plugins for XBMC)</ref><ref name="XBMC Zone">http://www.xbmczone.com/ XBMC Zone (third-party Addon extensions for XBMC)</ref><ref name="Passion XBMC">http://passion-xbmc.org/ Passion XBMC (third-party Addon extensions for XBMC)</ref>
A Kodi beginners guide (13m 27s) by forum user fredphoesh:<ref name="fredphoesh" /><br />
::{{YouTube|2O4fCGrwrqw}}


XBMC [[source code]] is distributed as open source under [[GNU General Public License|GPL (GNU General Public License)]],<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/> it is sponsored via the [[Tax exemption|tax-exempt]] registred [[non-profit organization]], '''XBMC [[Foundation (non-profit)|Foundation]]''', and is developed by a global [[free software community]] of [[volunteering]] people working on XBMC for free in their [[spare time]] without being motivated by financial or material gain.<ref name="XBMC Zone"/><ref name="Passion XBMC"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/forum |title=XBMC official community forum |work=xbmc.org |date= |accessdate=2010-02-13}}</ref><ref>http://xbmc.nu xbmc.nu - Swedish XBMC fan site and community</ref><ref>http://xbmc.fr xbmc.fr - French XBMC fan site and community</ref><ref>http://xbmc.de xbmc.de - German XBMC fan site and community</ref><ref>http://xbmcfreak.nl xbmcfreak.nl - Dutch XBMC fan site and community</ref><ref>http://xbmcsvn.com xbmcsvn.com - Nightly Unofficial Builds from SVN All Branches</ref>
=== Language support ===
{{See|Language portal}}
Kodi includes full support for many different languages by default. Kodi's structure is such that if the language is not available, or not up-to-date, it can be created by signing up at the [https://kodi.weblate.cloud/accounts/register/ Kodi Translations Project].


Even though the original XBMC project no longer develops or supports XBMC for the Xbox, XBMC on the Xbox is still available via the [[third-party developer]] [[Brand extension|spin-off]] project "[[XBMC4Xbox]]", who have completely taken over the development and support of XBMC for the old Xbox. The ending of Xbox support by the original project is also the reason that it has officially been renamed to simply "''XBMC''" from the old from "''Xbox Media Center''" name.<ref name="Farewell XBOX">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/05/27/farewell-xbox/ |title=Farewell XBOX |date=2010-05-27 |author=theuni |work=xbmc.org}}</ref><ref name="XBMC Discontinues Xbox Support">{{cite web|url=http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/05/28/043243/XBMC-Discontinues-Xbox-Support?art_pos=1 |title=XBMC Discontinues Xbox Support |date=2010-05-28 |author=Timothy |work=Slashdot}}</ref><ref name="XBMC Drops Support for the Original Xbox">{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5550225/xbmc-drops-support-for-the-original-xbox |title=XBMC Drops Support for the Original Xbox |date=2010-05-28 |author=Adam Pash |work=Lifehacker}}</ref><ref name="XBMC4Xbox">{{cite web|url=http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/31/xmbc-bids-farewell-to-its-progenitor-the-original-xbox/ |title=XBMC bids farewell to its progenitor: the original Xbox |date=2010-05-31 |author= Sean Hollister |work=Engadget}}</ref> The Xbox version of XBMC also had the ability to launch console games, and [[homebrew (video games)|homebrew]] applications such as [[Console emulator|emulators]]. Since the XBMC for Xbox version was never distributed, endorsed, or supported by [[Microsoft]], it means that XBMC for Xbox has always required a [[modchip]] or [[softmod|softmod exploit]] to be able to run on the Xbox game-console.<ref name="XboxMediaCenter Review"/><ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine"/><ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/>
Currently the existing supported languages are: Acadian French, Afrikaans, Albanian, American English, Amharic, Argentinian Spanish, Armenian, Asturian, Australian English, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bosnian, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, European Portuguese, Faroese, Finnish, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malayam, Malay, Maltese, Maori, Metropolitan French, Mexican Spanish, Mongolian, New Zealand English, Norwegian, Ossetian, Peninsular Arabic, Peninsular Spanish, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic), Serbian (Latin), Silesian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Vietnamese and Welsh.


===User interface screenshots from XBMC===
== Hardware requirements ==
:{{Main|Supported hardware}}
{{#lst:Supported hardware|intro}}


<gallery>
== Official versions ==
Image:xbmc_911.png|Home Screen of the "Confluence" skin.
{{See|Releases}}
Image:Screenshot000.png|Home screen of the "PM3.HD" skin.
Full featured versions of Kodi are available on a number of operating system platforms. Team Kodi strives to keep a consistent feature set and include the full Kodi experience for all versions, even those on low-powered devices.
Image:Mc360-screenshot-1.jpg|MC360 skin (Xbox 360 Blades replica).
</gallery>


===Hardware requirements===
=== Windows ===
:{{Main|Windows}}
''Kodi for Windows'' runs natively on Windows Vista and higher. It is a 32-bit application but runs on 64-bit Windows and hardware as well, however it is not yet optimized for that architecture so there is no performance gain when running on 64-bit Windows. 1080p playback can be achieved on Windows based computers either via software decoding on the CPU if it's powerful enough, or by hardware accelerated video decoding.


XBMC has greater basic hardware requirements than traditional 2D style software applications: it needs a [[3D computer graphics|3D]] capable [[GPU|GPU graphics hardware controller]] for all rendering. Powerful 3D GPU chips are common today in most modern computers, and even some [[set-top box]]es and XBMC is designed to otherwise be resource efficient.  It runs well on what (by [[Intel Atom]] standards) are relatively underpowered [[OpenGL|OpenGL 1.3]] (with [[GLSL]] support), [[OpenGL ES|OpenGL ES 2.0]] or [[Direct3D|Direct3D (DirectX) 9.0]] capable systems that are [[IA-32]]/[[x86]], [[x86-64]], [[ARM architecture|ARM]], or [[PowerPC]] [[CPU]] based.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/>
=== Android ===
:{{Main|Android}}
''Kodi for Android'' is a full port of the complete Kodi application to Google's Android operating-system, was first announced and its source code released publicly on 13 June 2012. This is a full port of Kodi's C++ and C source code with all its dependencies to Android with a build-system that was designed to handle multiple processor architectures, like ARM, MIPS, and x86 with the Android NDK (Native Development Kit for Android) without using a single line of Java, and the Kodi.APK is running natively under Android as a Native Activity application.  


When the decoding of [[1080p]] [[high-definition video]] is performed by the system's [[CPU]], an [[Intel Core 2 Duo]] 2 [[GHz]] or better CPU is required in order to allow for smooth playback without dropping [[Film frame|frames]] and giving playback a jerky appearance. XBMC can also offload most of the video decoding processor onto a [[GPU|GPU graphics hardware controller]] that supports one of the following types of hardware-accelerated [[video decoding]]:<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation">{{cite web|url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/2009/10/28/xbmc-architecture-summary |title=XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation |date=2009-10-28 |work=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref> Nvidia's [[VDPAU]] (supported from XBMC version 9.04), Microsoft's [[DXVA]], Apple's VDADecoder, Intel's [[VAAPI]], [[OpenMAX]], and [[Broadcom#Products|Broadcom Crystal HD Enhanced Media Accelerator]]. By taking advantage of such hardware acceleration, XBMC can run well on inexpensive, low-power systems which contain GPUs.
=== iOS ===
:{{Main|iOS}}
''Kodi for iOS'', which is a full port of Kodi to Apple's [[iOS]] operating-system, was first announced and released publicly on 20 January 2011. It supports both 720p and 1080p hardware accelerated video decoding of H.264 videos, and is compatible several Apple's [[IOS|iDevice]]s that uses Apple A4 or higher SoC processors with a jailbroken iOS operating-system.


===Language support===
=== Mac ===
:{{Main|Mac OS X}}
''Kodi for Mac'' runs natively on [[Mac OS X]] with Intel processors with hardware video decoding for H.264.


XBMC includes full support for many different languages by default.  XBMC's structure is such that if the language is not available, or not up-to-date, it can be made by editing simple [[String (computer science)|strings]] in an [[XML]]-file, which can then be submitted to XBMC's [[project management]] and [[bug tracking system]] tool for use by others. Currently the existing supported languages are [[Afrikaans]], [[Basque language|Basque]], [[Brazilian Portuguese]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[Simplified Chinese]], [[Traditional Chinese]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[English language|English]], [[American English]], [[Esperanto]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Hebrew]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Maltese language|Maltese]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Slovene language|Slovenian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Mexican Spanish]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]] and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]].<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/><ref>http://trac.xbmc.org/browser/trunk/language</ref>
=== Linux ===
:{{Main|Linux}}
''Kodi for Linux'' is primarily developed for Ubuntu Linux. Third-party packages for most other Linux distributions are however available, and it is also possible to compile Kodi from scratch for any Linux distribution as long as the pre-required dependency libraries are installed first.  


==Features==
== Third-party forks and derivative work of Kodi ==
===XBMC's Addons Manager and addons===
:{{Main|Forks}}
XBMC features several open [[Application programming interface|APIs]] to enable [[third-party developer]]s to create capabilities which extend XBMC with a multitude of [[Plug-in (computing)|addons]], such as plugins, scripts, skins/themes, visualizations, screensavers, web scrapers, web interfaces, and more. XBMC developers encourages users to make and submit their own addons to add additional content accessible from within XBMC.


XBMC's latest point-release, (codename: "''Dharma''"), features a new Addons Framework architecture and Addons Manager GUI client that connects to a [[decentralized]] [[digital distribution]] service [[Platform (computing)|platform]] that serves add-on apps and [[Plug-in (computing)|plug-ins]] which among other things provide online content to XBMC, the "''Addons Manager''" (or "''Addons Browser''") inside XBMC allows users to browse and download new addons directly from XBMC's GUI.
== History ==
:{{Main|History of Kodi}}


Many of these online content sources are in [[over-the-top content]] high definition services and use video streaming sites, such as [[Adobe Flash]] based content. XBMC has extensibility and integration with online sources for both free and premium streaming content, and offers content from everything from commercial video, to free educational programming, and media from individuals and small businesses.
== Kodi Foundation ==
:{{Main|Kodi Foundation}}
{{#lst:Kodi Foundation|intro}}


====Plugins and scripts (apps/gadgets/widgets)====
== Awards ==
XBMC features a [[Python (programming language)|Python Scripts Engine]] for addon extensions, WindowXML [[application framework]] (a [[XML]]-based [[widget toolkit]] for creating a GUI for apps / [[widget (computing)|widgets]]) in a similar fashion to Apple Mac OS X [[Dashboard (software)|Dashboard Widgets]] and [[Microsoft Gadgets]] in [[Windows Sidebar]]. Python [[widget (computing)|widget]] scripts allow normal users to add new functionality to XBMC themselves, (using the easy to learn [[Python (programming language)|Python programming language]]), without knowledge of the complex [[C++|C/C++ programming language]]. Current [[plugins|plugin]] scripts include functions like [[Internet television|Internet-TV]] and [[trailer (film)|movie-trailer]] browsers, [[weather forecasting|weather forecast]] and [[Movie theater|cinema]]guides, [[Over-the-top content]] video streaming services like YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, [[Veoh]], Internet-radio-station browsers (example [[Pandora Radio]], [[Xm radio]], [[Sirius Satellite Radio]]), [[Electronic program guide|TV-guides (EPG)]], e-mail clients, [[instant messaging]], train-timetables, scripts to [[Front-end and back-end|front-end]] control [[Personal video recorder|PVR]] software and hardware (like: MediaPortal, MythTV, [[TiVo]], [[ReplayTV]], [[Dreambox]]/[[DBox2]]), [[Peer-to-peer|P2P]] file-sharing downloaders ([[BitTorrent (protocol)|BitTorrent]]), [[IRC]], also [[casual games]] (sometimes also referred to as [[Minigame|mini-games]] or [[party game|party-games]]) such as [[Tetris]], [[Snake (video game)|Snake]], [[Space Invaders]], [[Sudoku]], and much more.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/><ref name="XBMC-Addons on Google Code"/><ref name="XBMC Zone"/><ref name="Passion XBMC"/>
{{See|SourceForge Community Choice Awards}}
 
{| style="border-collapse: collapse; float: right; vertical-align: top;"
====Skins (themes)====
  | style="padding: 1rem; text-align: center;" | [[File:Cca.gif|frameless|link=]]
Same as the majority of most applications that originated from a '[[homebrew (video games)|homebrew]]' scene, is [[skin (computing)|skin]]-ability in the tradition of modifications and customization very popular among XBMC users. "Confluence" and "Project Mayhem" are the two official [[skin (computing)|skin]]s; "Confluence" is the default since version 9.11, and "Project Mayhem"  was the previous default which is now in its third version, commonly known as "PM3.HD" (''PM III High-Definition'').<ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier"/>
|-
 
| style="padding: 1rem; text-align: center;" | [[File:Sourceforge CCAs 2007.png|frameless|link=]]
Users can also create their own skin (or simply modify an existing skin) and share it with others via public websites that are used for XBMC skins trading and development.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="Passion XBMC"/><ref name="XBMC Skinng Project">{{cite web|url=http://sourceforge.net/projects/xboxmediacenter |title=XBMC Skinng Project |work=Sourceforge.net |date= |accessdate=2010-02-13}}</ref><ref name="XBMC Black Market">{{cite web|url=http://blackmarket.ictcsc.net |title=XBMC Black Market |work=Blackmarket.ictcsc.net |date= |accessdate=2010-02-13}}</ref><ref name="teamrazorfish.co.uk">http://www.teamrazorfish.co.uk MediaStream</ref><ref name="blackbolt.x-scene.com">http://blackbolt.x-scene.com Team Blackbolt</ref> Many such third-party skins exist that are well maintained by the community, and while some skins are originals with unique designs, most initially begin as a [[clone (video games)|clones]] or an exact [[replica]] of other multimedia software interfaces, such as DivX Connected, [[Apple Front Row]], [[Windows XP Media Center Edition|Windows Media Center Edition (MCE)]], [[MediaPortal]], [[Meedio]]/MeediOS, HDeeTV, [[Kaleidescape]], [[Wii Menu|Wii Channel Menu (Xii)]], [[Xbox360#Software|Xbox 360 Blades (MC360)]], [[Xbox360#Software|Xbox 360 New Xbox Experience (Xperience)]], and others.<ref name="Customize XBMC with These Five Awesome Skins"/>
 
====Scrapers (web scraping for metadata)====
XBMC has the built-in optional function to automatically download [[metadata]] information, [[cover art]] and other related media artwork online through its [[web scraping|scrapers]].
 
Scrapers use sites like themoviedb.org or [[imdb.com]] to obtain [[thumbnails]] and reviews on movies, thetvdb.com for [[TV show]] posters and episode plots, [[CDDB]] (via [[freedb]] and [[Discogs]], etc.) for audio CD track listings, and [[Allmusic|AMG]] for album [[thumbnails]].<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/>
 
====Web Interfaces====
Web Interface addons for XBMC normally allow browsing a media library remotely, to handle music playlists from a computer instead of television. Others allow remotely controlling the navigation of XBMC like a remote for [[Touchscreen remote control|remote controlling]] of an installed and concurrently-active XBMC session running on a computer if it runs on an internet tablet or similar device with a touch interface. And yet other still acts like a media manager to allow modifying metadata and artwork in XBMC's video and music libraries.
 
====Application launcher====
XBMC has a "My Programs" section which is meant to function as an application launcher for third-party [[application software|software]] such as [[computer games]] and [[List of emulators|video game emulator]]s, all from a nice [[GUI]] with [[thumbnail]] and different listings options. However while this feature is fully functioning on the Xbox version of XBMC, it is still in its infant stage on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows, thus currently requiring third-party launcher plugins to function properly.<ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine"/>
 
===Audio, video, and pictures playback and handling===
XBMC can play media from CD/DVD media using an internal [[DVD-ROM]] drive. It can also play media from an internal built-in [[hard disk|hard disk drive]] and [[Server Message Block|SMB/SAMBA/CIFS]] shares (Windows File-Sharing), or stream them over [[ReplayTV]] [[digital video recorder|DVRs/PVRs]], [[Universal Plug and Play|UPnP (Universal Plug and Play)]] shares, or stream [[iTunes]]-shares via [[Digital Audio Access Protocol|DAAP]]. XBMC can also take advantage of a broadband Internet connection if available to stream Internet-video-streams live YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, and [[Veoh]], and play Internet-radio-stations (such as [[Pandora Radio]]). XBMC also includes the option to submit music usage statistics to [[Last.fm]] and [[Libre.fm]] plus a weather-forecast (via [[weather.com]]). It also has music/video-playlist features, picture/image-[[slideshow]] functions, an MP3+CDG [[karaoke]] function and many [[Music visualization|audio-visualizations]] and [[screensaver]]s. XBMC can in addition [[Upscaling DVD|upscale/upconvert]] all [[SDTV|standard-definition (480i/480p/576i/576p)]] resolution videos and output them to [[HDTV|720p, 1080i, and 1080p high-definition]] resolutions.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/><ref name="Turbo Charge Your New XBMC Installation">{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5393227/turbo-charge-your-new-xbmc-installation |title=Turbo Charge Your New XBMC Installation |date=2009-10-30 |author=Jason Fitzpatrick |work=Lifehacker}}</ref>
 
====Format support====
XBMC can be used to play/view all common [[multimedia]] formats. It can decode these in software and optionally pass-through [[Dolby Digital|AC3]]/[[DTS Coherent Acoustics|DTS]] audio, or encode to AC3 in real time from movies directly to [[S/PDIF]] digital output to an external audio-[[Audio amplifier|amplifier]]/[[Audio receiver#Hi-Fi / Home theater|receiver]] for decoding.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/>
 
:'''Supported formats:'''
:* '''Physical media''': [[compact disc|CDs]], DVDs, [[DVD-Video]], [[Video CD]]s (including VCD/SVCD/XVCD), Audio-CD (CDDA), [[USB Flash Drive]]s, and [[Hard Disk Drive]]s
:* '''Network/Internet protocols''': [[UPnP]], [[Server Message Block|SMB/SAMBA/CIFS]], [[Digital Audio Access Protocol|DAAP]], [[HTTP]], [[HTTPS]], [[FTP]], [[Real Time Streaming Protocol|RTSP]] (RTSPU, RTSPT), [[Microsoft Media Services|MMS]] (MMSU, MMST), [[Real Time Messaging Protocol|RTMP]], [[Podcasting]], [[Transmission Control Protocol|TCP]], [[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]], [[SSH file transfer protocol|SFTP]], [[Real-time Transport Protocol|RTP]]
:* '''[[Container format (digital)|Container format]]s''': [[Audio Video Interleave|AVI]], [[Moving Picture Experts Group|MPEG]], [[Windows Media Video|WMV]], [[Advanced Systems Format|ASF]], [[Flash Video|FLV]], [[Matroska]], [[QuickTime File Format|QuickTime]], [[MPEG-4 Part 14|MP4]], M4A, [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]], NUT, [[Ogg]], [[Ogg Media|OGM]], [[RealMedia]] RAM/RM/RV/RA/RMVB, [[3gp]], VIVO, PVA, [[NuppelVideo|NUV]], [[Nullsoft Streaming Video|NSV]], [[Nullsoft Streaming Audio|NSA]], [[Autodesk|FLI]], [[Autodesk|FLC]], and [[DVR-MS]]
:*'''[[Video format]]s''': [[MPEG-1]], [[MPEG-2]], [[H.263]], MPEG-4 [[MPEG-4 Part 2#Simple Profile (SP)|SP]] and [[Advanced Simple Profile|ASP]], [[H.264/MPEG-4 AVC|MPEG-4 AVC]] ([[H.264]]), [[HuffYUV]], [[Indeo]], [[Motion JPEG|MJPEG]], [[RealVideo]], [[RMVB]], [[Sorenson codec|Sorenson]], [[Windows Media Video|WMV]], [[Cinepak]].
:*'''[[Audio format]]s''': [[MIDI]], [[Audio Interchange File Format|AIFF]], [[WAV|WAV/WAVE]], [[AIFF]], [[MPEG-1 Audio Layer II|MP2]], [[MP3]], [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]], [[HE-AAC|AACplus (AAC+)]], [[Vorbis]], [[Dolby Digital|AC3]], [[DTS Coherent Acoustics|DTS]], [[Apple Lossless|ALAC]], [[Adaptive Multi-Rate|AMR]], [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]], [[Monkey's Audio]] (APE), [[RealAudio]], [[Shorten|SHN]], [[WavPack]], [[Musepack|MPC/Musepack/Mpeg+]], [[Shorten]], [[Speex]], [[Windows Media Audio|WMA]], [[Impulse Tracker|IT]], [[ScreamTracker|S3M]], [[MOD (file format)|MOD]] (Amiga Module), [[XM (file format)|XM]], NSF ([[NES Sound Format]]), [[SPC700 sound format|SPC]] ([[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]]), [[GYM]] ([[Mega Drive|Genesis]]), [[MOS Technology SID|SID]] ([[Commodore 64]]), [[Adlib]], [[YM2149|YM]] ([[Atari ST]]), [[ADPCM]] ([[Nintendo GameCube]]), and [[Compact Disc Digital Audio|CDDA]].
:* '''[[Digital camera|Digital picture/image formats]]''': RAW image formats, [[BMP file format|BMP]], [[JPEG]], [[Graphics Interchange Format|GIF]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[Tagged Image File Format|TIFF]], [[Multiple-image Network Graphics|MNG]], [[ICO (icon image file format)|ICO]], [[PCX]] and [[Truevision TGA|Targa/TGA]]
:*'''[[Subtitles|Subtitle formats]]''': AQTitle, [[SubStation Alpha|ASS/SSA]], [[Closed captioning|CC]], JACOsub, [[MicroDVD]], MPsub, [[Ogg Media|OGM]], PJS, RT, [[SAMI|SMI]], [[SubRip|SRT]], [[SubViewer|SUB]], [[VSFilter|VOBsub]], VPlayer
:*'''[[Tag (metadata)|Metadata tags]]''': APEv1, [[APEv2 tag|APEv2]], [[ID3]] ([[ID3]]v1 and [[ID3v2]]), ID666 and [[Vorbis comment]]s for [[audio file format]]s, [[Exif]] and [[IPTC Information Interchange Model|IPTC]] (including [[GeoTagging]]) for [[image file format]]s
 
====Video playback in detail====
=====Video Library=====
The Video Library, one of the XBMC [[metadata]] [[databases]], is a key feature of XBMC. It allows the organization of video content by information associated with the video files (e.g. movies and recorded [[Television program|TV Shows]]) themselves. This information can be obtained in various ways, like through scrapers (i.e. [[web scraping]] sites like IMDb, TheMovieDB, TheTVDB, etc.), and [[.nfo|nfo]] files. Automatically downloading and displaying movie posters and [[fan art]] backdrops as background wallpapers. The Library Mode view allows users to browse their video content by categories; [[Genre]], Title, Year, Actors and [[Film director|Directors]].<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier"/>
 
=====Video player cores=====
XBMC uses two different [[multimedia]] video player 'cores' for video-playback. The first video-player 'core' for video-playback is an [[in-house]] developed [[cross-platform]] media player, "''DVDPlayer''", originally designed to playback [[DVD-Video]] movies, and this includes support native for DVD menus, (based on the free [[open source]] [[library (computing)|libraries]] code [[libdvdcss]] and libdvdnav).<ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/> This [[FFmpeg]] based video-player 'core' today supports all widespread mainstream formats. One relatively unusual feature of this DVD-player core is the capability to [[on-the-fly]] pause and play DVD-Video movies that are stored in [[ISO image|ISO and IMG]] DVD-images, DVD-Video movies that are stored as DVD-Video ([[IFO]]/[[VOB]]/[[BUP]]) files on a harddrive or network-share, and also [[ISO image|ISO and IMG]] DVD-images directly from uncompressed [[RAR]] and [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]] archives.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier"/>
 
The second video-player 'core' for video-playback is another [[in-house]] developed [[open source]] player, "''DSPlayer''", which today is only used as a experimental video player in a [[Git (software)|Git]] development branch of XBMC for Windows and not in any other versions of XBMC. This "''DSPlayer''" is a [[Direct Show]] based media player which with the help of [[FFmpeg]] can play practically all common media formats and in addition also make XBMC for Windows handle all formats and [[container format (digital)|containers]] normally supported in Windows with the help of third-party proprietary [[Direct Show]] filters installed on the system.
 
====Audio playback in detail====
=====Music Library=====
The Music Library, one of the XBMC [[metadata]] [[databases]], is another key feature of XBMC. It allows the organization of a music collection to allow searching, and creating smart playlists by information stored in music file [[ID3|ID meta tags]], like title, artist, album, production year, [[genre]], and popularity. Automatically downloading and displaying album covers and [[fan art]] backdrops as background wallpapers.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier"/>
 
=====Audio player cores=====
For music playback, XBMC includes its own [[in-house]] developed audio-player, "''PAPlayer''" (which stands for "''Psycho-Acoustic Audio Player''"), and this audio-player core's most notable features are [[on-the-fly]] [[resampling (audio)|resampling]] of the audio frequency, [[gapless playback]], [[Fade (audio engineering)|crossfading]], [[Replay Gain]], [[cue sheet (music software)|cue sheet]] and [[Ogg]] Chapter support.
The "''PAPlayer''" audio-player handles a very large variety of audio file-formats, and it also supports most different tagging standards. XBMC also have support for most popular [[karaoke]] computer file formats, and is able to play and display timed song lyrics graphics/text from [[CD+G]], [[LRC (file format)|LRC]], and [[Karaoke|KAR]] files.<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/>
 
====Digital picture/image display in detail====
XBMC handles all common [[digital camera|digital picture/image formats]] with the options of [[Ken burns effect|panning/zooming]] and [[slideshow]] with "[[Ken Burns Effect]]", with the use of [http://www.codeproject.com/bitmap/cximage.asp CxImage] open source [[library (computing)|library]] code. XBMC can also handle [[Comic Book Archive file|CBZ (ZIP) and CBR (RAR) comic book archive files]], this feature lets users view/read, browse and [[Digital zoom|zoom]] the pictures of [[comics]] pages these contain without uncompressing them first.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/>
 
==Mobile remote control software associated with XBMC==
"XBMC Remote for Android" is a free and open source [[official]] app released by Team-XBMC on the [[Android Market]] for [[Android (operating system)|Android]] devices, It also allows for browsing the media library, and allows for [[Touchscreen remote control|remote controlling]] of an installed and concurrently-active XBMC session running on a computer via the Android's device touchscreen user interface.<ref>[http://code.google.com/p/android-xbmcremote/ Official XBMC Remote for Android]</ref><ref>[http://www.swedishtechreport.se/?p=3696 Official XBMC Remote for Android released]</ref><ref>[http://www.talkandroid.com/6960-xbmc-remote-for-android-now-official/ XBMC Remote for Android now official]</ref>
 
Several third-party developers have also released multiple [[unofficial]] XBMC remote control apps for [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[Symbian]], [[Windows Mobile]], and [[Windows Phone]] devices, as well [[iOS (Apple)|Apple iOS]] devices such as [[iPad]], [[iPod Touch]], and [[iPhone]]. Some of these remote control apps are made specifically for controlling XBMC, while some universal remote control apps are capable of controlling many different media center and media player applications, and some of these third-party remote apps cost money while others are free.<ref>[http://lifehacker.com/5501010/enhance-your-xbmc-experience-with-remote-controls-for-any-device Enhance Your XBMC Experience with Remote Controls for Any Device]</ref><ref>[http://www.collect3.com.au/xbmc-remote/ XBMC Remote by Collect3]</ref><ref>http://www.devices.com/iphone-xbmc-remote-control.html http://www.devices.com/iphone-xbmc-remote-control.html</ref><ref>[http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xbmc-remote-hd/id364270422?mt=8 XBMC Remote HD By Netwalk]</ref><ref>[http://wmpoweruser.com/xbmc-remote7great-remote-control-for-xbox-media-center/ XBMC Remote7–Great remote control for Xbox Media Center]</ref>
 
==Official Team-XBMC ports of XBMC==
Due to the dated hardware of the Xbox and a desire to expand the project's end-user and developer-base many official [[porting|ports]] of XBMC to computer operating-systems and hardware platforms now exist. Through the processing power of modern computer hardware, XBMC is able to decode [[high-definition video]] up to and beyond [[1080p]] resolutions, bypassing hardware limitations of the original Xbox version of XBMC.
 
However in the latest official release of XBMC there is [[Video Acceleration API|hardware accelerated video decoding]] for [[DXVA]], [[VDPAU]], [[VAAPI]] GPU hardware video decoding, as well as hardware accelerated video decoding via [[ARM NEON]], and [[OpenMAX]], Broadcom Crystal HD.<ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/><ref name="Broadcom Crystal HD">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/davilla/2009/12/29/broadcom-crystal-hd-its-magic/ |title=Broadcom Crystal HD, It’s Magic |author=Scott Davilla |date=2009-12-29 |work=xbmc.org}}</ref><ref name="XBMC & Broadcom Bring 1080p Decode Upgrade to ill-equipped netbooks, nettops, Apple TVs">{{cite web|url=http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3701 |title=XBMC & Broadcom Bring 1080p Decode Upgrade to ill-equipped netbooks, nettops, Apple TVs |author=Anand Lal Shimpi |date=2009-12-29 |work=AnandTech}}</ref> The source code for XBMC is constantly updated on a daily basis by developers in a public subversion repository, this public subversion repository does therefore always contain more features and function than the most recent 'stable' releases.
 
===XBMC platforms===
* [[XBMC Live]]
**Compatible with [[IA-32]]/[[x86]] and [[x86-64]] based computers, no prerequisite of an operating-system since this is bundled with XBMC Live.
* [[XBMC#XBMC for iOS|XBMC for iOS]]
**Compatible with [[Apple Inc]]'s [[iDevice]]'s that uses [[Apple A4]] or [[Apple A5]] ([[ARM architecture|ARM]]-based processor) have a [[iOS jailbreaking|jailbroken]] [[iOS (Apple)|iOS]] operating-system, these devices include the second-generation [[Apple TV]] (a.k.a. ''Apple TV 2''), [[iPhone 4]], fourth-generation [[iPod Touch]], and the [[iPad]].
* [[XBMC#XBMC for Linux|XBMC for Linux]]
**Compatible with IA-32/x86, x86-64, [[PowerPC]], and ARM-based computers or [[System-on-a-chip|SoC (System-on-a-Chip)]] with supported Linux operating-systems that has all the required hardware resources and software dependencies installed.
* [[XBMC#XBMC for Mac|XBMC for Mac]]
**Compatible with PowerPC, IA-32/x86 and x86-64 based [[Macintosh|Mac computers]] running Mac OS X ([[Mac OS X v10.6|Snow Leopard]], [[Mac OS X v10.5|Leopard]] or [[Mac OS X v10.4|Tiger]]), and the Apple TV.
* [[XBMC#XBMC for Windows|XBMC for Windows]]
**Compatible with [[Windows XP]], [[Windows Vista]], and [[Windows 7]].
* [[XBMC#XBMC for Xbox|XBMC for Xbox]]
**Compatible with the original first-generation Xbox game-console from Microsoft. The Xbox version is no longer a supported platform by Team-XBMC, it had its [[End-of-life (product)|EOL]] on the 27 May 2010, so see the [[XBMC4Xbox]] fork instead.
 
====XBMC Live====
[[XBMC Live]] is a free [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]]-based [[Linux distribution]] with [[XBMC#XBMC for Linux|XBMC for Linux]] already installed and pre-configured, providing a complete packaged [[Home theater PC|media center]] software suite for all IA-32/x86-based [[personal computer]]s. XBMC Live uses [[XBMC Media Center]] for all media playback and is implemented as a bootable [[Live CD]] primarily designed for [[Bare-metal restore|bare-metal installation]]s to achieve [[instant on]] type [[Booting|boot]], as well as for [[Demo (marketing)|interactive demonstrations]].<ref name="XBMC Live 9.11"/><ref name="XBMC Live Atlantis Beta1!"/><ref name="XBMC Live 8.10 (Atlantis) released"/>
 
As a Live CD, the system does not need to be permanently installed to a [[hard disk drive]], as most [[operating system]]s would. Instead, the computer can simply be booted with the XBMC Live CD when media playback is desired. This is a reasonable approach for those who do not need media playback services while performing other tasks with the same computer, or for users who wish to repurpose older computers as media center, and for those seeking a free alternative to [[Windows Media Center]], or for those who simply want to try out the XBMC Media Center software for the first time without having to install anything. The Microsoft MCE Remote and IR-receiver dongle for [[Windows Media Center]] works with XBMC Live directly [[out of the box]], which mean that Windows Media Center users with these can try out the XBMC Live without requiring any additional hardware.<ref name="XBMC Live 9.11"/><ref name="XBMC Live Atlantis Beta1!"/><ref name="XBMC Live 8.10 (Atlantis) released"/>
 
Following the principles of [[Mythbuntu]], [[KnoppMyth]], [[Mythdora]], and [[GeeXboX]], XBMC Live is also designed to simplify a permanent installation of XBMC Media Center onto a computer to be used as a dedicated [[Home Theater PC|HTPC (Home Theater PC)]] in the living-room, as such the user can directly install XBMC Media Center from the bootable XBMC Live CD to either a [[USB flash drive]] or to an internal [[hard disk drive]] as it comes with a complete [[instant on]] ([[Embedded Linux|Linux based]]) [[embedded operating system]]. When installed onto a USB flash drive or internal hard disk drive, XBMC Live has the ability to save settings and make updates to XBMC Media Center and the operating-system back onto the USB flash drive or hard disk drive that it is installed onto. This is not possible when running XBMC Live off a CD-ROM as they are read-only and any changes to settings are only temporary meaning that they get reset back to defaults once the system is rebooted.<ref name="XBMC Live 9.11"/><ref name="XBMC Live Atlantis Beta1!"/><ref name="XBMC Live 8.10 (Atlantis) released"/>
 
====XBMC for iOS====
'''XBMC for iOS''', which is a full port of XBMC to Apple's iOS operating-system, was first announced and released publicly on the 20 January 2011. It supports both 720p and 1080p hardware accelerated video decoding of [[H.264]] videos, and is compatible with all [[Apple Inc]]'s [[iDevice]]'s that uses [[Apple A4]] or [[Apple A5]] (ARM-based) processors with a jailbroken iOS operating-system. These iDevices include the second-generation [[Apple TV]] (a.k.a. ''Apple TV 2''), iPhone 4, fourth-generation iPod Touch, and the iPad.<ref>[http://www.tuaw.com/2011/01/20/xbmc-for-ios-and-atv2-now-available/ XBMC for iOS and Apple TV now available]</ref><ref>[http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/01/20/xbmc_ported_to_a4_based_apple_tv_ipad_iphone_4_brings_apps_1080p.html XBMC ported to A4-based Apple TV, iPad, iPhone 4, brings apps, 1080p]</ref><ref>[http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/xbmc-hack-transforms-your-apple-tv-into-a-1080p-media-centre-video-21-01-2011/ XBMC Hack Transforms Your Apple TV Into A 1080p Media Centre]</ref><ref>[http://www.tektok.ca/2011/01/xbmc-for-ios-devices-is-now-available-via-cydia/ XBMC for iOS devices is now available via Cydia]</ref><ref>[http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/20/xbmc-comes-to-the-new-apple-tv/ XBMC comes to the new Apple TV, we go hands-on]</ref><ref>[http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/20/xbmc-comes-to-the-ipad/ XBMC comes to the iPad]</ref><ref>http://lifehacker.com/5739364/how-to-install-xbmc-on-your-apple-tv-2 http://lifehacker.com/5739364/how-to-install-xbmc-on-your-apple-tv-2</ref><ref>[http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/01/xbmc-apple-tv-hack/ Open Source Hack Unlocks Apple TV’s Potential]</ref><ref>[http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/01/xbmc-on-appletv-ios-jailbreak XBMC now running on jailbroken Apple TV or iDevice]</ref><ref>[http://www.toptechreviews.net/tech-news/xbmc-now-works-on-jailbroken-apple-tv-or-idevice/ XBMC now works on jailbroken Apple TV or iDevice]</ref>
 
====XBMC for Linux====
'''XBMC for Linux''' is primarily developed for [[Ubuntu Linux]] and XBMC's developers' own "''[[XBMC Live]]''" (Live CD Linux distribution prepackaged with XBMC as a preconfigured media center [[software appliance]] operating-system). Third-party packages for most other Linux distributions are however available, and it is also possible to compile XBMC Media Center from scratch for any Linux distribution as long as the prerequired dependency libraries are installed first. XBMC for Linux is currently the only stable version of XBMC to support hardware accelerated video decoding, and this is achieved via the [[VDPAU]] API on Nvidia's GPUs, and via the [[VAAPI]] API for [[AMD Radeon|AMD/ATI Radeon]], [[S3 Graphics]], and [[Intel]]'s newer [[Integrated Graphics Processor]]s, as well as hardware accelerated video decoding via [[OpenMAX]], [[ARM NEON]], Broadcom Crystal HD on systems with supporting hardware.<ref name="Broadcom Crystal HD"/><ref name="XBMC & Broadcom Bring 1080p Decode Upgrade to ill-equipped netbooks, nettops, Apple TVs"/> Development version of XBMC for Linux is available at [[Launchpad (website)|Launchpad]] as [[Personal Package Archive|PPA (Personal Package Archive)]] for the standard [[Ubuntu Desktop]] version 8.04 and later, as well as [[deb (file format)|DEB packages]] for [[Debian]].
 
====XBMC for Mac====
'''XBMC for Mac''' runs natively on [[Mac OS X]] ([[Mac OS X v10.6|Snow Leopard]], [[Mac OS X v10.5|Leopard]], [[Mac OS X v10.4|Tiger]]), as well as on the Apple TV. 1080p playback can be achieved on [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] computers either via software decoding on the CPU if it is powerful enough, or by hardware accelerated video decoding via Broadcom Crystal HD.<ref name="Broadcom Crystal HD"/><ref name="XBMC & Broadcom Bring 1080p Decode Upgrade to ill-equipped netbooks, nettops, Apple TVs"/>
 
1080p playback on the Apple TV (a.k.a. "ATV") can only be achieved by hardware accelerated video decoding via Broadcom Crystal HD, the user must replace the ATV's internal WiFi adapter with a Broadcom Crystal HD [[PCI Express Mini Card|PCI Express Mini (mini-PCIe) card]] in order to activate this functionality.<ref name="Broadcom Crystal HD"/><ref name="XBMC & Broadcom Bring 1080p Decode Upgrade to ill-equipped netbooks, nettops, Apple TVs"/>
 
====XBMC for Windows====
'''XBMC for Windows''' runs natively on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, it is a [[32-bit]] application but runs on [[64-bit]] Windows and hardware as well, however it is not yet optimized for that architecture so there is no performance gain when running on 64-bit Windows. 1080p playback can be achieved on Windows based computers either via software decoding on the CPU if it's powerful enough, or by hardware accelerated video decoding.
 
Hardware video decoding via [[DirectX Video Acceleration]] <ref name="Initial native support for DXVA2 in SVN">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69306 |title=Initial native support for DXVA2 in SVN - Time to say goodbye to your firstborns  |author=Spiff |date=2010-02-02 |work=xbmc.org}}</ref><ref name="Changeset 27376">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/trac/changeset/27376 |title=Changeset 27376 |author=elupus |date=2010-02-01 |work=xbmc.org}}</ref> is now supported in the nightly builds although this enhancement currently only runs on Windows Vista and Windows 7 due to the author's currently using the DXVA 2.0 API which is not supported in Windows XP, this enhancement is likely to move into the stable release.<ref name="XBMC Roadmap">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/trac/roadmap |title=XBMC Roadmap |author=various |date=2010-02-08 |work=xbmc.org}}</ref>
 
====XBMC for Xbox====
{{See also|XBMC4Xbox}}
'''XBMC for Xbox'''. The 9.04 (codename: "''Babylon''") point-release version of XBMC for Xbox which was released on May 6, 2009 as the last 'stable' version of XBMC for Xbox. The original developers of XBMC have since issued a statement said that they will no longer develop or support XBMC for Xbox as part of the XBMC project as of the 27th of May 2010. The development of XBMC for Xbox ended because the focus for all Team XBMC developers has completely shifted to the Linux, Mac, and Windows versions of XBMC instead.
 
Even though the original XBMC project no longer develops or supports XBMC for the Xbox, an XBMC version for the Xbox is still available via the [[third-party developer]] [[Brand extension|spin-off]] project "[[XBMC4Xbox]]", who have completely taken over the development and support of XBMC for the old Xbox.<ref name="Farewell XBOX"/><ref name="XBMC Discontinues Xbox Support"/><ref name="XBMC Drops Support for the Original Xbox"/><ref name="XBMC4Xbox"/>
 
XBMC for Xbox was never an [[authorized|authorized/signed]] Microsoft product, therefore a [[Xbox#Modding|modification of the Xbox]] is required in order to run XBMC on a Xbox game-console. XBMC for Xbox can be run as an [[application software|application]] (like any Xbox game), or as a [[Xbox Dashboard|dashboard]] that appears directly when the Xbox is turned on.<ref name="XboxMediaCenter Review"/><ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine"/><ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/> Since XBMC for Xbox was part of an [[open source]] software program, its development [[source code]] was stored on a publicly accessible [[subversion (software)|subversion repository]]. Accordingly, unofficial [[executable]] builds from the subversion repository are often released by [[third-party developer|third-parties]] on sites unaffiliated with the official XBMC project. It should be noted, however, that [[executable]] builds from development versions typically contain bugs not present in the most recent 'stable' release versions of XBMC for Xbox.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine"/>
 
==Commercial XBMC Systems==
The developers of XBMC state that as long as the GPL licensing of the XBMC software is respected they would love for XBMC to run on as many third-party hardware platforms and [[operating system]]s as possible, as "'''''Powered by XBMC'''''" branded devices and systems. With XBMC being pre-installed as a [[third-party software component]] that commercial and non-commercial companies and [[Original design manufacturer|ODM]]/[[Original equipment manufacturer|OEM]]'s can use [[royalty-free]] on their own hardware, hardware such as [[set-top box]]es from [[Television station|cable-TV companies]], [[Blu-ray Disc]] and [[DVD player]]s, [[Video game console|game-consoles]], or [[Embedded system|embedded computers]] and [[System-on-a-chip|SoC (System-on-a-Chip)]] built-in to [[television set]]s for web-enabled TVs, and other entertainment devices for the living room entertainment system, [[home cinema]], or similar uses.<ref name="xbmc.org">http://xbmc.org/about/commercial-use/ Commercial use of XBMC</ref>
 
Below is a list of third-party companies who sell hardware bundled with XBMC Media Center or XBMC Live pre-install, or sell uninstalled systems that specifically claim to be XBMC-compatible. Many of these third-party companies help submit bug fixes and new features back upstream to the original XBMC project.<ref name="xbmc.org"/>
 
===AIRIS Telebision===
AIRIS Telebision, sold by Telebision in Spain and designed specifically for the Spanish market, is a [[nettop]] based on [[Nvidia Ion]] chipset, preinstalled [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]] base with XBMC for Linux and a customized AEON skin and Spanish plugins. Other than the modified skin, what is unique with the AIRIS Telebision's XBMC build is that it comes with a [[digital distribution]] service platform that they call their "App Store" which lets users download new Spanish plugins and updates for existing plugins. Telebision also lets users download a Live CD version of their software as [[freeware]], which lets users install their Telebision distribution on any Nvidia Ion based computer.
 
===Lucida TV II===
Lucida TV II, made by LUCIDQ inc, is a nettop based on Nvidia Ion chipset which can be ordered with [[Xubuntu]] and XBMC software installed.
 
===Marusys MS630S and MS850S===
Marusys MS630S and MS850S are high-definition PVR-ready set-top-boxes with the ability to run Linux-based media players like XBMC, and Marusys is advertising these two devices as compatible with XBMC.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/19/marusys-ms630s-and-ms850s-set-top-boxes-stream-straight-to-your/ |title=arusys MS630S and MS850S set-top boxes stream straight to your iPhone |work=Engadget |date=2010-04-19 |accessdate=2010-05-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marusys.com/brochure_v.01/MS630S.pdf |title=Marusys MS630S Brochure |work=Marusys.com |date= |accessdate=2010-05-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marusys.com/brochure_v.01/MS850S.pdf |title=Marusys MS850S Brochure |work=Marusys.com |date= |accessdate=2010-05-17}}</ref>
 
===Myka ION===
Myka ION is an fanless Nvidia Ion based set-top device designed to bring internet television and media stored on the home network to the living-room, it comes pre-installed with XBMC Media Center, [[Boxee]], and [[Hulu#Hulu Desktop|Hulu Desktop]] as applications that can be started from the main menu.<ref>[http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/2009/11/06/myka-ion-hd-player-features-hulu-boxee-xbmc/ Myka ION HD Player – Features Hulu, Boxee, XBMC]</ref><ref>[http://www.ionbased.com/2009/11/myka-ion-the-fanless-nettop/ Myka ION – The Fanless Nettop]</ref><ref>[http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/11/05/myka-ion-brings-the-atom-and-ion-graphics-into-the-living-room/ Myka ION brings Intel Atom and ION graphics into the living room]</ref><ref>[http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/2009/11/myka-ion-media-center/ Myka ION Media Center]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://myka.tv/myka-ion/software.html |title=Myka ION software |work=Myka.tv |date= |accessdate=2010-02-13}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref><ref>[http://myka.tv/myka-consumer.html Myka ION Overview]</ref><ref>[http://myka.tv/myka-consumer/software.html Myka ION Software]</ref>
 
===Modified Konstructs MK-X1===
The MK-X1 by Modified Konstructs is an Nvidia Ion based set-top device based on [[Acer Aspire Revo]] that comes pre-loaded with XBMC, and the device has a recommended retail price of $300(US).<ref>[http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/08/10/modified-konstructs-announces-custom-media-center/ Modified Konstructs Announces Custom Media Center]</ref>
 
===Neuros LINK===
{{Main|Neuros Technology#Neuros LINK}}
[[Neuros Technology#Neuros LINK|Neuros LINK]] made by [[Neuros Technology]] is an open Ubuntu-based set-top device and media extender designed to bring internet television and other video to the television, it comes pre-install with XBMC Media Center.<ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://wiki.neurostechnology.com/index.php/XBMCLive_On_Link |title=XBMC Live on Neuros LINK |work=Wiki.neurostechnology.com |date=2009-07-29 |accessdate=2010-02-13}}</ref>
 
===VeuBox===
VeuBox by CaptiveWorks Inc. is an Nvidia Ion based set-top device pre-installed with XBMC Media Center, Hulu Desktop, SopCast, [[TVUnetworks]], and [[Firefox]] as applications that can be started from the main menu. The underlying operating-system is [[Gentoo Linux]], and CaptiveWorks is marketing the VeuBox as an open platform.<ref>[http://www.veubox.com/about/ About VeuBox]</ref><ref>http://www.veubox.com/open-architecture/</ref><ref>[http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/10/10/p534313/captiveworks-inc-releases-its-new-hd-media-center-veubox CaptiveWorks Inc. Releases its New HD Media Center VeuBox]</ref>
 
===Zotac MAG and ZBOX series===
{{Main|Zotac#ZOTAC Boost XL software bundle}}
Since September 10 of 2010, ZOTAC is shipping a [[Product bundling|software bundle]] that they call "''ZOTAC Boost XL''" with all their new [[motherboard]]s and [[Mini-PC]]s, such as Zotac's "''ZBOX"'' and "''MAG''" series of Nettops which Zotac also does [[In-store demonstration|demo]]s of with XBMC.<ref>[http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=507&Itemid=100077&lang=en XBMC-Media Centre Video Podcast from ZOTAC]</ref><ref>[http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/05/04/zotac-shows-off-with-xbmc/ Zotac shows off with XBMC]</ref> This "''ZOTAC Boost XL''" software bundle consist of the [[software applications]]; [[Auslogics BoostSpeed]], [[Cooliris]], Kylo (HDTV-optimized Web Browser), and [[XBMC Media Center]].<ref>[http://www.bit-tech.net/news/industry/2010/09/11/zotac-announces-boost-xl-software-bundle-fo/1 ZOTAC Announces Boost XL Software Bundle for Platforms]</ref><ref>[http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=522%3Azotac-announces-boost-xl-software-bundle-for-platforms&catid=1&Itemid=268&lang=en ZOTAC Announces Boost XL Software Bundle for Platforms]</ref>
 
Zotac's "''ZBOX"'' and "''MAG''" series of small [[Mini-PC]]s are all NVIDIA Ion based Nettop, and they are all sold in both as complete ready-to-use computer and as [[barebone computer]]s (without memory and hard drive). Zotac Zbox ID33 and Zbox ID34 are specifically marketed towards the HTPC market, where Zbox ID33 is the barebone model and the Zbox ID34 comes with a [[slot-loading]] [[Blu-ray Disc]] [[optical disc drive]], 2&nbsp;GB RAM, and a 250&nbsp;GB hard drive with Windows 7 pre-installed, neither does however come with a [[remote control]].<ref>[http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/28/zotacs-zboxes-are-small-ion-fueled-and-cheap/ Zotac's Zboxes are small, Ion-fueled, and cheap]</ref><ref>[http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/08/zotac-introduces-id33-and-id34-zbox-mini-pcs-complete-with-atom/ Zotac introduces ID33 and ID34 Zbox mini PCs, complete with Atom D525 and Blu-ray]</ref>
 
==Third-party forks and derivative work of XBMC==
XBMC Media Center [[source code]] have over the years become a popular software to [[fork (software development)|fork]] and use as an [[Software framework|application framework platform]] for others to base their own [[Home theater PC|media center]] software on, as if XBMC were a [[GUI toolkit]], [[windowing system]], or [[window manager]]. Today at least [[Boxee]], [[MediaPortal]], [[Plexapp|Plex]], 9x9 Player, and [[Voddler]] are separate [[derivative work|derivative products]] that are all openly known to initially have [[fork (software development)|forked]] the [[Graphical user interface|GUI (Graphical User Interface)]] and media player part of their [[Computer software|software]] from XBMC's source code. Most of these third-party forks and derivative work of XBMC is said to still assist with submitting bug fixes [[upstream (software development)|upstream]] and sometimes help getting new features [[backporting|backported]] to the original XBMC project so that others can utilize it as well, shared from one main source.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="Thinking inside the box"/>
 
During the period from late [[2010]] and first half of [[2011]] different independent third-party developers also announced their development on ports of XBMC to [[MeeGo]]<ref>http://www.madeo.co.uk/?page_id=605 Meego repository</ref><ref>http://www.madeo.co.uk/?p=575 XBMC repo for Meego</ref><ref>http://www.madeo.co.uk/?p=546 XBMC on Meego 1.0</ref><ref>http://www.meegoexperts.com/2011/03/xbmc-arm-intel-based-meego-1-2-beta/ XBMC on ARM and Intel Based MeeGo 1.2 (Beta)</ref><ref>http://www.cybercomchannel.com/using-xbmc-meego-12 Using XBMC on MeeGo 1.2</ref><ref>http://www.meegoexperts.com/2011/05/xbmc-running-meego-meego-conference-san-francisco/ XBMC – Running on MeeGo at MeeGo Conference San Francisco</ref><ref>http://liliputing.com/2011/03/xbmc-media-center-running-on-arm-and-intel-based-meego-linux-devices.html XBMC media center running on ARM and Intel-based MeeGo Linux devices</ref>, [[FreeBSD]],<ref>[http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODkwMg XBMC 10 Is Imminent, XBMC 11 Is Already In Planning]</ref><ref>[http://www.bluelife.at/blog/articles/20101208-XBMC_Port_for_FreeBSD/ XBMC Port for FreeBSD]</ref><ref>[http://www.bluelife.at/blog/articles/20101229-XBMC_10.0_is_available_in_the_FreeBSD_ports_collection_now!/ XBMC 10.0 is available in the FreeBSD ports collection now!]</ref><ref>[http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-multimedia/2010-December/011423.html Call for Testers: XBMC 10.0 (FreeBSD Mailing List)]</ref><ref>http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/ports/multimedia/xbmc/ ports/multimedia/xbmc/</ref> [[OtherOS]] (for [[Cell (microprocessor)|Cell microprocessor]]),<ref name="PlayStation3 Port">{{cite web|url=http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/15/hacker-gets-xbmc-running-on-his-ps3-tells-you-how-video/ |title=Hacker gets XBMC running on his PS3, tells you how (video) |date=2010-05-15 |author=Tim Stevens |work=Engadget}}</ref> as well as to [[Networked Media Tank]]<ref name="NMT Port">{{cite web|url=http://networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=40300 |title=[XBMC] A Port By ejp |date=2010-05-11 |author=ejp}}</ref> and other [[Sigma Designs]] ([[MIPS architecture]]) based devices.<ref>http://xbmc.org/theuni/2011/01/05/xbmc-port-from-sigma/ XBMC Port From Sigma</ref><ref>http://xbmc.org/theuni/2011/01/12/more-about-sigma/ More About Sigma</ref><ref>http://www.sigmadesigns.com/uploads/library/press_releases/110104.pdf SIGMA DESIGNS UPGRADES THE FRONT OF SCREEN EXPERIENCE</ref><ref>http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/05/sigma-designs-announces-direct-xmbc-support-for-wild-next-gen-st/ Home Entertainment
Sigma Designs announces direct XBMC support for wild next-gen streamers</ref><ref>http://www.lunarsoft.net/frontpage/sigma-designs-will-have-direct-xbmc-support-for-next-gen-streamers Sigma Designs will have direct XBMC support for next-gen streamers</ref>
 
===9x9 Player for 9x9CloudTV===
 
9x9 Player (by [[China|Chinese]] 9x9Network) is a 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,<ref>[http://www.9x9network.com/us/en/what/cloudTV.html 9x9CloudTV Basics]</ref> and 9x9Network as a company is also an official sponsor of the XBMC development project.<ref name="9x9Network Sponsors XBMC">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/02/17/welcome-sponsor-9x9-networks/ |title=Welcome Sponsor: 9x9 Networks |author=theuni |date=2010-02-17 |work=XBMC}}</ref><ref name="9x9 an Official Sponsor of XBMC Media Center">{{cite web|url=http://9x9cloudtv.blogspot.com/2010/03/9x9-official-sponsor-of-xbmc-media.html |title=9x9 an Official Sponsor of XBMC Media Center |author=Jack Chang |date=2020-03-25 |work=9x9 Blog}}</ref>
 
===Boxee===
 
{{Main|Boxee}}
[[Boxee]], (produced by startup company ''Boxee Inc.''), is a [[freeware]] and partially open source software cross-platform media center and entertainment hub with [[social networking]] features that is a commercial [[fork (software development)|fork]] of XBMC software.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/396382/boxee-is-xbmc-with-newer-look-and-social-flair |title=Boxee Is XBMC with Newer Look and Social Flair |author=Adam Pash |date=2008-06-23 |work=lifehacker}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.boxee.tv/2008/06/25/why-we-made-boxee-social/ |title=boxee blog - why we made boxee social |author=Avner Ronen |date=2008-06-25 |work=Boxee}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.appletvhacks.net/2008/07/03/boxee-mini-review/55 |title=Boxee mini review |author=Apple TV Hacks |date=2008-07-03 |work=appletvhacks.net}}</ref> Boxee now supports Windows, Linux, and OSX, with the first Alpha made available on June 16, 2008. Boxee as a company is also an official sponsor of the XBMC development project.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="Thinking inside the box"/><ref name="blog.boxee.tv">{{cite web|url=http://blog.boxee.tv/2008/06/16/boxee-for-mac-is-available-for-download/ |title=boxee for Mac first alpha release is available for download |author=Avner Ronen |date=2008-06-18 |work=Boxee}}</ref><ref name="gizmodo.com.au">http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/10/history-of-boxee-1-starting-with-a-different-kind-of-box/ History Of Boxee: Starting With A Different Kind Of Box</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/10/history-of-boxee-xbmc-moves-beyond-the-console/ History Of Boxee: XBMC Moves Beyond The Console</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/10/history-of-boxee-and-boxee-was-born-slowly/ History Of Boxee: And Boxee Was Born, Slowly</ref><ref name="ReferenceC">http://www.gizmodo.com.au/tags/history-of-boxee/ History of boxee</ref><ref>[http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101028006118/en/Boxee-CEO-Demo-Boxee-Box-D-Link-Streaming Boxee CEO to Demo New Boxee Box by D-Link at Streaming Media West Conference]</ref>
 
===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 (software development)|fork]] of XBMC and [[Boxee]] software.<ref name="How Full Circle Got Started">{{cite web|url=http://www.christopherprice.net/thank-you-dreamcast-heres-a-console-in-your-honor-1338.html |title=How Full Circle Got Started |date=2009-09-10 |author=Christopher Price |work=christopherprice.net blog}}</ref><ref name="New Gaming Console On Its Way">{{cite web|url=http://origin.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=67013 |title=New Gaming Console On Its Way |date=2009-09-16 |author=Barry White |work=News10.net}}</ref><ref name="An Update on Full Circle">{{cite web|url=http://www.mechaworks.com/an-update-on-full-circle-432/ |title=An Update on Full Circle |date=2009-11-19 |author=Christopher Price |work=christopherprice.net blog}}</ref><ref name="HoAnnouncing Full Circle - The Open, Cross-Platform, Cloud Gaming Console">{{cite web|url=http://www.symbianone.com/content/view/6487/130/ |title=Announcing Full Circle - The Open, Cross-Platform, Cloud Gaming Console |date=2009-09-17 |author=MechaWorks |work=SymbianOne}}</ref><ref name="MechaWorks Full Circle">{{cite web|url=http://www.mechaworks.com/fullcircle/ |title=MechaWorks Full Circle Project Page}}</ref><ref name="iConsole">{{cite web|url=http://www.iconsole.vg |title=iConsole Official Website}}</ref> The first public Alpha release will be as a [[Linux|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.<ref name="How Full Circle Got Started"/><ref name="An Update on Full Circle"/><ref name="MechaWorks Full Circle"/><ref name="iConsole"/><ref name="iConsole Signups Are Live, Get in the First Wave">{{cite web|url=http://www.christopherprice.net/iconsole-signups-are-live-get-in-the-first-wave-1453.html |title=iConsole Signups Are Live, Get in the First Wave |date=2010-01-20 |author=Christopher Price |work=christopherprice.net blog}}</ref>
 
===MediaPortal===
 
{{Main|MediaPortal}}
[[MediaPortal]] is free and open source software media center written for Microsoft Windows that is initially based on [[fork (software development)|fork]]ed 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 limitations of the Xbox platform that XBMC development started on, mainly because of the Xbox inability to support TV-tuner adapters natively as Erwin wanted [[Personal Video Recorder|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.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="Thinking inside the box"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.team-mediaportal.com/about_mediaportal.html |title=MediaPortal History as told by Team-MediaPortal |author=Team-MediaPortal |date=2008-09-01 |work=Team-MediaPortal}}</ref>
 
===Plex===
 
{{Main|Plex (software)}}
On May 21, 2008, Elan Feingold (Plex founder) initially [[fork (software development)|fork]]ed 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). Elan 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.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="CrunchGear Interview: We talk to the lead developer of Plex Media Center for Mac OS X: It was doing Boxee-like stuff before Boxee was cool"/><ref name="Thinking inside the box"/><ref>{{cite web| last= | first=Elan | url=http://www.osxbmc.com/2008-05-21/exodus/ | title=Exodus | year= | work=Plex | date=2007-05-21 | accessdate=2008-07-22}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=186843&postcount=13|title=XBMC Community Forum: XBMC for Mac forked for a separate project called PLEX (formarly known as "OSXBMC")|date=2008-05-23|work=XBMC Community Forum|accessdate=2009-03-15}}</ref> While Plex began as a [[free software]] [[hobby|hobby project]] however since 2010 it is a [[commercial software]] ([[freeware]]) that is today owned and developed by a single for-profit [[startup company]], (''Plex, Inc.''), and today parts of what Plex offers is [[Proprietary software|closed source proprietary software]] for a cost.<ref>[http://elan.plexapp.com/2010/09/02/plex-and-the-future-of-television/ Plex and the Future of Television]</ref><ref>[http://plexapp.com/press_LG.php PLEX TO ENABLE NEXT GENERATION OF NETCAST™ CONNECTED TV’S]</ref><ref>[http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/03/plex-announces-paternship-with-lg-pledges-to-beat-boxee-box-and/ Plex announces partnership with LG, pledges to beat Boxee Box and Apple TV for free]</ref>
 
Elan Feingold (Plex founder and today [[Chief technology officer|CTO]] of ''Plex Inc.'') was actually part of the official XBMC development team for a short while as he then was the Team-XBMC member who first initiated the Mac OS X port of XBMC, but soon after he left the original XBMC project due to what was arguably a falling-out with rest of Team-XBMC's developer members over the team's majorities feeling that the XBMC project should aim for strict adherence to the [[GNU General Public License|GPL]] and always keep to an [[open-source software]] mindset, and this disagreement is claimed to be one of the main factors that led Elan to leave the XBMC project and create the Plex fork.<ref name="Thinking inside the box">{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/07/boxee-web-video-software |title=Thinking inside the box |date=2009-10-07 |author=Kevin Anderson |publisher=Guardian}}</ref><ref name="XBMC for Mac">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=186843&postcount=13|title=XBMC for Mac forked for a separate project called PLEX (formarly known as "OSXBMC")|date=2008-05-23|publisher=XBMC Community Forum|accessdate=2009-03-15}}</ref><ref name="CrunchGear Interview">{{cite web|url=http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/01/15/interview-we-talk-to-the-lead-developer-of-plex-media-center-for-mac-os-x-it-was-doing-boxee-like-stuff-before-boxee-was-cool/ |title=CrunchGear Interview: We talk to the lead developer of Plex Media Center for Mac OS X: It was doing Boxee-like stuff before Boxee was cool |date=2010-01-15 |author=Nicholas Deleon |publisher=CrunchGear}}</ref> Some Team-XBMC members are still quite vocal in the XBMC community forums about the fact that they still think that Plex developers continue to be on the border of violating the GPL and other open source licenses, not to mention that they often feel that Plex developers are violating the spirit and innate essence of [[open source software development]] when they do so.
 
===Voddler===
 
{{Main|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. The service is only available in northern Europe. From its initial release at 1 July 2009 up until 24 February 2010, Voddler's media player software was based on a fork of the XBMC open source code.<ref name="Voddler använder XBMC"/><ref name="Thinking inside the box"/><ref>{{cite web| last= | first=GrandAnse | url=http://www.xbmc.nu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=177:voddler-anvaender-xbmc&catid=37&Itemid=2 | title=Voddler använder XBMC (Uppdaterad!) | work=xbmc.nu | language=Swedish | date=2009-07-02 | accessdate=2009-07-02}}</ref><ref name="ComputerSweden">{{cite web|url=http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.238079/premiar-for-ny-svensk-filmtjanst |title=Premiär för ny svensk filmtjänst |author=Daniel Goldberg | language=Swedish |date=2009-07-01 |work=Computer Sweden}}</ref><ref name="Bredbandsbolaget">{{cite web|url=http://www.bredbandsbolaget.se/wps/portal/privat/bredband?page=new&WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/kampanjer/voddler |title=Bredbandsbolaget Voddler Beta Kampanj |author=Bredbandsbolaget | language=Swedish |date=2009-07-01 |work=Bredbandsbolaget}}</ref><ref name="Voddler och tekniken">{{cite web|url=http://www.xbmc.nu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=184:exklusivt-voddler-och-tekniken&catid=49:voddler-allmaent&Itemid=2 |title=Exklusivt: Voddler och tekniken |author=Richard Skalsky (a.k.a. GrandAnse) | language=Swedish |date=2009-08-06 |work=xbmc.nu}}</ref> Voddler violated the [[GNU General Public License Version 2|license]] for XBMC's source code by neglecting to release all of their modifications that they used in their application, and they have been publicly criticized for this.<ref>{{cite web|title=voddler.com is in violation of GPL |url=http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2009-October/077547.html |accessdate=2010-01-04 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Niklas |last=Andersson |url=http://computersweden.idg.se/2.2683/1.280639/forbannade-voddlare-vill-se-koden |title=Förbannade Voddlare vill se koden |publisher=Computer Sweden |date=2009-12-18 |accessdate=2009-12-21 |language=Swedish}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Reply from XBMC developer in official XBMC Community Forum |url=http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=474680&postcount=21 |accessdate=2010-01-05 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.296192/voddler-anklagas-for-kodstold |title=Voddler anklagas för kodstöld |author= Andreas Jansson |publisher=Computer Sweden |date=2010-02-19 |language=Swedish}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Därför hackades filmsajten Voddler |url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/kultur/huvudartikel/article6687600.ab |accessdate=2010-02-28 |language=Svenska|author= Rasmus Fleischer |language=Swedish}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=voddler.com is in violation of GPL |url=http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2009-October/077547.html |accessdate=2010-01-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Niklas |last=Andersson |url=http://computersweden.idg.se/2.2683/1.280639/forbannade-voddlare-vill-se-koden |title=Förbannade Voddlare vill se koden |publisher=Computer Sweden |language=Swedish |date=2009-12-18 |accessdate=2009-12-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Reply from XBMC developer in official XBMC Community Forum |url=http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=474680&postcount=21 |accessdate=2010-01-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.296192/voddler-anklagas-for-kodstold |title=Voddler anklagas för kodstöld |author= Andreas Jansson |language=Swedish |publisher=Computer Sweden |date=2010-02-19}}</ref>
[[Voddler]]'s media player software since 8 March 2010 is a closed-source application on the [[Adobe Air]] platform.
 
===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 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|Hyatt EMEA]], [[Ramada|Ramada Vienna]], RIMC International, DWA Bratanki, Rogner International, EH&A, Heritage Hotel Hallstatt, St. Martins Therme, and Heiltherme Bad Waltersdorf. {{As of|2010|October}}, at-visions as a company is also an official sponsor of the XBMC development project.<ref>[http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/10/30/devcon-2010/ XBMC DevCon 2010]</ref><ref>[http://www.at-visions.com/at-visions-brings-XBMC-conference-to-Vienna.html XBMC conference in Vienna]</ref><ref>[http://www.at-visions.com/ONEVISION-EN.html ONEvision]</ref><ref>[http://www.at-visions.com/Testimonials-EN.html Testimonials]</ref><ref>[http://xbmc.org/prae5/2010/12/06/xbmc-devcon-2010-summary/ XBMC DevCon 2010 Summary]</ref>
 
===OpenELEC===
OpenELEC ("''Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center''" or "''OpenELEC.tv''") is a free [[embedded operating system]] providing a complete media center software suite that comes with a pre-configured version of XBMC and third-party addons with [[Retro style|retro]] [[video game console emulator]]s and [[Digital video recorder|PVR]] plugins. OpenELEC is an extremely small and very fast booting [[Linux|Linux based]] distribution, primarily designed to be booted from [[flash memory|flash]] [[memory card]] such as [[CompactFlash]] or a [[solid-state drive]], similar to that of the [[XBMC Live]] distro but specifically targeted to a minimum [[set-top box]] hardware setup based on an Intel x86 processor and graphics.<ref name="OpenELEC.tv">http://www.openelec.tv OpenELEC.tv Official Website</ref><ref name="OpenELEC Media Center Software on Launchpad">{{cite web|url=http://launchpad.net/openelec |title=OpenELEC Media Center Software on Launchpad}}</ref>
 
===Element OS===
 
{{Main|Element OS}}
[[Element OS]] is a free [[embedded operating system]] designed for use on a [[HTPC|Home Theater PC (HTPC)]] which is connected to a HDTV. Element OS is a [[Linux|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#Hulu Desktop|Hulu Desktop]] are also installable.<ref name="elementmypc.com">http://www.elementmypc.com Element OS Official Website</ref>
 
===Sabayon Linux===
 
{{Main|Sabayon Linux}}
[[Sabayon Linux]] is a full [[Linux]] distribution that among other applications comes with a preinstalled and preconfigured "''ready-to-use''" version of XBMC Media Center.<ref name="Review: Sabayon 4 Lite MCE (Media Centre Edition)">{{cite web|url=http://reddevil62-techhead.blogspot.com/2009/02/review-sabayon-4-lite-mce-media-center.html |title=Review: Sabayon 4 Lite MCE (Media Centre Edition) |date=2009-02-03 |author=Steven Lawson |work=The Red Devil Blog}}</ref>
 
===yaVDR===
 
yaVDR (which name originated from the abbreviation "''yet another VDR''") is an [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]]-based [[Linux]] (i386) distribution designed for [[HTPC|Home Theater PC (HTPC)]] with [[TV tuner card]] for [[Digital video recorder|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 [[Video Disk Recorder|VDR (Video Disk Recorder)]] integrated as its PVR back-end server. It also features [[xine]] as an alternative front-end media player inteface to XBMC.<ref>http://www.yavdr.org yaVDR - PVR for your HDTV with XBMC</ref><ref>[http://smart-home-blog.com/archives/2061 yaVDR brings XBMC and VDR to your HTPC]</ref><ref>[http://en.kendincos.net/video-vdrnrrtf-first-glance-at-yavdr-0-1-1.html Kendin Cos - First glance at yavdr 0.1.1 (video)]</ref>
 
===XBMC4XBox===
 
{{Main|XBMC4Xbox}}
[[XBMC4Xbox]] is a [[third-party developer]] [[Brand extension|spin-off]] project of XBMC, with still active development and support of the Xbox platform. This project was created as a fork of XBMC as a separate project to continue having a version of XBMC for the Xbox hardware platform. It was not started by official members of the official XBMC project, nor will it be suppoted by the Official Team XBMC in anyway. It started when support for the Xbox branch was officially dropped by Team XBMC, which was announced on the 27 of May 2010.<ref name="Farewell XBOX"/><ref name="XBMC Discontinues Xbox Support"/><ref name="XBMC Drops Support for the Original Xbox"/><ref name="XBMC4Xbox"/>
 
==Programming and developing==
XBMC is a [[non-profit]] and [[free software community]] driven [[open-source software]] project that is developed only by [[volunteer]]s in their [[spare time]] without any [[monetary]] gain. The team of developers leading the development of XBMC, "''Team-XBMC''", encourage anyone and everyone to submit their own [[patch (computing)|source code patches]] for new features and functions, improve existing ones, or fix [[software bug|bugs]] to the XBMC project.
 
The online [[User guide|user manual]] and is [[wiki]]-based and community driven, and it also works as a basic developers guide for getting an good overview of XBMC's architecture, however to as with most non-profit software project, to delve deeper into programming, looking at the actual source code and the comments in that code is needed.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/>
 
===Architecture===
[[Image:XBMC Architecture Overview Schematic.png|thumb|250px|XBMC Architecture Overview Schematic.]]
XBMC is a cross-platform software application programmed mainly in [[C++]], XBMC uses SDL ([[Simple DirectMedia Layer]]) multimedia [[Software framework|framework]] and [[OpenGL]] graphics [[rendering (computer graphics)|rendering]] under XBMC for Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows based operating system, however XBMC for Xbox instead uses [[DirectX|Microsoft DirectX]] multimedia framework and [[Direct3D]] rendering as the [[Xbox]] does not support [[OpenGL]]. Some of XBMC's own [[library (computing)|libraries]] as well as many third-party libraries that XBMC depend on are also written in [[C (programming language)|C programming-language]], but are then most of the time used with a C++ wrapper or loaded via XBMC's own [[Dynamic-link library|DLL]] loader.<ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/><ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/>
 
Because of XBMC's origin with the constraints on the hardware and environment of the old Xbox platform, all software development of XBMC has always been focused on reserving the limited resources that existed on the Xbox hardware and an [[embedded system]], (which was only a 733Mhz [[Intel Pentium III]] and 64MB of RAM in total as [[shared memory]]), the main hindrance of which has been the amount of available system [[random access memory|RAM]] and graphics memory at any one time. Due to this it means that XBMC is programmed to be very resource efficient and can therefore run on very low-end and cheap hardware, especially when compared to other media center software design for HTPC use.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/>
 
Because of its origins on the Xbox console, XBMC runs in a gameloop environment rather than event-driven, meaning that it is constantly re-drawing the UI even when nothing is changing onscreen. This results in very high CPU usage on low-end machines, and hence high temperatures, fan activity and power consumption.
 
===Python scripts as plugins and addons (widgets/gadgets)===
XBMC features an embedded [[Python (programming language)|Python Scripts Engine]] (currently based on Python version 2.4) and its own WindowXML [[application framework]], which together form an [[XML]]-based [[widget toolkit]] for which can extend the capability of XBMC by creating a [[Graphical user interface|GUI]] for [[GUI widget|widgets]] in a similar fashion to Apple Mac OS X [[Dashboard (software)|Dashboard Widgets]] and [[Microsoft Gadgets]] in [[Windows Sidebar]]. Python [[GUI widget|widget]] scripts allow non-developers to themselves create new [[Browser extension|add-ons]] functionality to XBMC, (using the easy to learn [[Python (programming language)|Python programming language]]), without knowledge of the complex [[C++|C/C++ programming language]] that the rest of the XBMC software is written in. Current [[Plug-in (computing)|plugin]] scripts add-ons include functions like [[Internet television|Internet-TV]] and [[Film trailer|movie-trailer]] browsers, [[Movie theater|cinema]] guides, and [[over-the-top content]] video streaming services like YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, [[Veoh]], and Internet-radio-station browsers (example [[Pandora Radio]]), and much more.<ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/>
 
===GUI-engine and skinning (themes)===
XBMC is noted as having a very flexible [[GUI toolkit]] and robust [[Software framework|framework]] for its [[GUI]], with its underlying complex [[Layout engine|graphical design and layout]] [[Library (computing)|library]] (named "''libGUI"'' in XBMC) it provides an simple [[abstraction layer]] between the application code and the interface, while allowing an extremely flexible dynamic layouts and [[animation]]s that is easy to work with and make it possible to create completely unique [[Skin (computing)|skin]]s for XBMC. Using a standard [[XML]] base, making [[theme (computing)|theme]]-[[skinning]] and personal [[customization]] very accessible.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="Customize XBMC with These Five Awesome Skins"/><ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier"/><ref name="Passion XBMC"/><ref name="XBMC Skinng Project"/><ref name="XBMC Black Market"/><ref name="teamrazorfish.co.uk"/><ref name="blackbolt.x-scene.com"/>
 
==Limitations==
This is a list of software limitations currently in the XBMC source code.
*XBMC can not run without using an 'external' third-party media-player nor can it play any audio or video files that are [[encryption|protected/encrypted]] with [[Digital Rights Management|DRM (Digital Rights Management)]] technologies for [[access control]], meaning audio files purchased from [[online music store]]s as [[iTunes Music Store]], [[MSN Music]], [[Audible.com]], [[Windows Media Player|Windows Media Player Stores]], and video files protected with [[Windows Media DRM]] or [[DivX]] proprietary DRM. Other than using an 'external' third-party media-player, a workaround to this is to first remove any DRM protection/encryption from the music or video file with a [[Third-party developer|third-party]] program before trying to play it in XBMC.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/>
*Without using a third-party plugin there is currently no TV tuner support as of May 2010, although adding support for this is currently being developed<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/><ref name="Patch for alcoheca's PVR-Frontend and a plugin for VDR backend">{{cite web|url=http://www.xbmc.org/trac/ticket/5595 |title=Patch for alcoheca's PVR-Frontend and a plugin for VDR backend |date=2009-01-05 |author=alwinus |work=XBMC Trac}}</ref><ref name="How To: LiveTV with VDR and PVR-Testing">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=62696 |title=How To: LiveTV with VDR and PVR-Testing |date=2009-11-27 |author=Swifty |work=XBMC Community Forum}}</ref>
*While it is true that XBMC has a very portable code base, it is currently only available for [[IA-32]]/[[x86]], [[x86-64]], [[PowerPC]], and [[ARM architecture|ARM]]-based [[processor architecture]] platforms,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tegradeveloper.nvidia.com/tegra/project/xbmc |title=XBMC on NVIDIA Tegra |work=Tegradeveloper.nvidia.com |date= |accessdate=2010-02-13}}</ref><ref>http://elinux.org/BeagleBoard/GSoC/2010_Projects/XBMC BeagleBoard/GSoC/2010 Projects/XBMC</ref> and XBMC GUI requires a [[Direct3D]], [[OpenGL]], [[OpenGL ES]], or [[EGL (OpenGL)|EGL]] hardware accelerated graphics [[Graphics processing unit|GPU]] and device drivers that support [[DirectX]] 9 or OpenGL 1.3 or later with [[GLSL]] in order to [[rendering (computer graphics)|render]] the GUI at an acceptable [[frame rate]] to the human eye (which is 24 frames per second or faster). XBMC is thus not yet available for the [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]] processor architecture, nor does it as of yet support [[DirectFB]] or [[Direct Rendering Infrastructure|DRI (Direct Rendering Infrastructure)]] hardware accelerated graphics.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/><ref name="XBMC ARM port teased, will manage HD playback from pocket-sized Beagleboard (video)">{{cite web|url=http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/02/xbmc-arm-port-teased-will-manage-hd-playback-from-pocket-sized/ |title=XBMC ARM port teased, will manage HD playback from pocket-sized Beagleboard (video) |date=2009-11-02 |author=Tim Stevens |work=Engadget}}</ref>
 
==Reception==
XBMC won two [[SourceForge]] 2006 Community Choice Awards.<ref name="SourceForge.net is proud to present the winners from our 2006 Community Choice Awards">{{cite web|url=http://sourceforge.net/blog/cca06/ |title=SourceForge.net is proud to present the winners from our 2006 Community Choice Awards |work=SourceForge}}</ref> In the 2007 Community Choice Awards, XBMC was nominated finalist in six categories.<ref name="SourceForge.net is proud to present the winners from our 2007 Community Choice Awards">{{cite web|url=http://sourceforge.net/blog/cca07/ |title=SourceForge.net is proud to present the winners from our 2007 Community Choice Awards |work=SourceForge}}</ref> Also in the 2008 Community Choice Awards XBMC won an award for Best Project for Gamers.<ref name="SourceForge.net is proud to present the winners from our 2008 Community Choice Awards">{{cite web|url=http://sourceforge.net/blog/cca08/ |title=SourceForge.net is proud to present the winners from our 2008 Community Choice Awards |work=SourceForge}}</ref>
 
==History==
{{See also|Xbox Media Player}}
XBMC Media Center is the successor to the popular [[Xbox Media Player|Xbox Media Player (XBMP)]] software. Xbox Media Player development stopped on December 13, 2003, by which time its successor, XBMC, was ready for its debut, renamed as it was growing out of its 'player' name and into a 'center' for media playback. The first stable release of XBMC was on June 29, 2004, with the official release of XboxMediaCenter 1.0.0. This announcement also encouraged everyone using XBMP or XBMC Beta release to update, as all support for those previous versions would be dropped, and they would only officially support version 1.0.0. Some new things in XBMC 1.0.0 included the addition of the Filezilla FTP Server, DHCP Support, and the embedded [[Python (programming language)|Python]] was given the ability to draw interface elements in the GUI.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/><ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier"/><ref name="gizmodo.com.au"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref name="ReferenceC"/>
 
With the release of 1.0.0 in the middle of 2004, work continued on the XBMC project to add more features, such as support for iTunes features like DAAP and Smart Playlists, as well as lots of improvements and fixes. The second stable release of XBMC, 1.1.0, was released on October 18, 2004. This release included support for more media types, file types, container formats, as well as video playback of Nullsoft streaming videos and karaoke support (CD-G).<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/>
 
After two years of heavy development, XBMC announced a stable point final release of XBMC 2.0.0 on September 29, 2006. Even more features were packed into the new version with the addition of RAR and zip archive support, a brand new player interface with support for multiple players. Such players include PAPlayer, the new audio/music player with crossfade, gapless playback and ReplayGain support, and the new DVDPlayer with support for menu and navigation support as well as ISO/img image parsing. Prior to this point release, XBMC just used a modified fork of [[MPlayer]] for all of its media needs, so this was a big step forward. Support for iTunes 6.x DAAP, and Upnp Clients for streaming was also added. A reworked Skinning Engine was included in this release to provide a more powerful way to change the appearance of XBMC. The last two features include read-only support for FAT12/16/32 formatted [[USB mass storage|USB Mass Storage devices]], and a "skinnable" 3D visualizer.
 
The release of XBMC 2.0.1 on November 12, 2006 contained numerous fixes for bugs that made it through the 2.0.0 release. This also marked the change from CVS to SVN (Subversion) for the development tree.
 
On May 29, 2007, the team behind XBMC put out a call for developers interested in porting XBMC to the Linux operating system. Since a few developers on Team-XBMC had already begun porting parts of XBMC over to Linux using SDL and OpenGL as a replacement for DirectX, which XBMC was using heavily on the Xbox version of XBMC.<ref name="gizmodo.com.au"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref name="ReferenceC"/>
 
Development on the SVN codebase is continuing and the versioning scheme has been changed to reflect the release year and month, i.e. 8.10, 9.04, 9.11, 10.05, etc.
 
On May 27, 2010, the team behind XBMC announced the splitting of the Xbox branch into a new project; "XBMC4Xbox" which will continue the development and support of XBMC for the old Xbox hardware platform as a separate project, with the original XBMC project no longer offering any support for the Xbox.<ref name="Farewell XBOX"/><ref name="XBMC Discontinues Xbox Support"/><ref name="XBMC Drops Support for the Original Xbox"/><ref name="XBMC4Xbox"/>
 
===Releases===
 
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right;"
|-
! Color
! Meaning
|-
| style="background:salmon;"| Red
| Old releases
|-
| style="background:#a0e75a;"| Green
| Current release
|-
| style="background:skyBlue;"| Blue
| Future releases
|}
|}
 
{| class="wikitable" style="border: 2px solid #a2a9b1; border-bottom: 0; width: 60vmax;"
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="font-size: 1.15rem;"
|-
! scope="col" style="background-color: #b6b7b8;" | Contest
! Version
! scope="col" style="background-color: #b6b7b8;" | Year
! Release date
! scope="col" style="background-color: #b6b7b8; min-width: 25vmax;" | Award
! Codename
! scope="col" style="background-color: #b6b7b8; min-width: 9vmax;" | Result
! Significant changes
|-
! XBMC Live based on
! scope="row" rowspan="23" style="font-size: 1.4rem; font-weight: 700;" | [[File:SourceForge Community Choice Award.png|256px|frameless|link=]]<br />[[wikipedia:SourceForge|SourceForge]]<br />Community Choice Awards
|-
| scope="row" rowspan="2" class="plainlinks" style="font-size: 1.3rem; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | [https://sourceforge.net/blog/cca06/ 2006]
| style="white-space:nowrap; background:salmon;"| 1.0.0
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600;" | Best Project for Gamers
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| June 29, 2004
| style="background-color: Green; color: #fff; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Winner
|style="white-space: nowrap;"|
|-
|
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600;" | Best Project for Multimedia
*Total rewrite of the source code from [[Xbox Media Player|XBMP (Xbox Media Player)]]
| style="background-color: Green; color: #fff; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Winner
|{{n/a}}
|-
|-
| rowspan="6" class="plainlinks" style="font-size: 1.3rem; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | [https://sourceforge.net/blog/cca07/ 2007]
| style="white-space:nowrap; background:salmon;"| 1.1.0
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Best User Support
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| October 18, 2004
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
|style="white-space: nowrap;"|
|-
|
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Best Project for Gamers
*Support for more file types.
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
|{{n/a}}
|-
|-
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Best Project for Multimedia
| style="white-space:nowrap; background:salmon;"| 2.0.0
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| September 29, 2006
|-
|style="white-space: nowrap;"|
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Best Technical Design
|
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
* Reworked skinning engine.
|-
|{{n/a}}
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Most Collaborative Project
|-
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
| style="white-space:nowrap; background:salmon;"| 8.10
|-
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| November 15, 2008
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Best Overall Project
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| [[Atlantis]]
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
|
|-
* Cross platform support adding support for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows
| rowspan="7" class="plainlinks" style="font-size: 1.05rem; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | [https://sourceforge.net/blog/cca08/ <span style="font-size: 1.3rem;">2008</span>]<br />''([https://sourceforge.net/blog/cca08-finalists/ Finalists])''
* Unified hard disk/USB flash disk installer
| class="plainlinks" style="font-weight: 600;" | <span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">Best Project for Gamers</span><ref group="awards" name="scca_2008">Team XBMC. 2008. [https://kodi.tv/article/xbmc-wins-another-sourceforge-community-choice-award/ &ldquo;XBMC wins another SourceForge Community Choice Award.&rdquo;] ''Kodi News.'' July 29, 2008.</ref>
* The XBMC profile
| style="background-color: Green; color: #fff; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Winner
| Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)
|-
|-
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Best Overall Project
| style="white-space:nowrap; background:salmon;"| 9.04
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| May 6, 2009
|-
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| [[Babylon]]
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Best Project for Multimedia
|
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
* PPC (PowerPC) support for Mac OS X
|-
* VDPAU (NVIDIA GPU Hardware Accelerated Video Decoding for Linux)
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Most Likely to Be the Next Billion Dollar Acquisition
* New Karaoke features
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
* Officially dropped support for Xbox
|-
| Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope)
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Most Likely to Change the World
|-
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
| style="white-space:nowrap; background:salmon;"| 9.11
|-
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| December 24, 2009
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Most Likely to Be Ambiguously and<br />Baselessly Accused of Patent Violation
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| [[Camelot]]
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
|
|-
* Revamped user interface via the new default skin “Confluence“
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Most Likely to Get Users Sued by Anachronistic<br />Industry Associations Defending Dead Business Models
* DirectX support by default for the Windows platform
| style="background-color: Wheat; color: #000; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Finalist
* A complete reorganization of the settings menus uniformed across skins
|-
* Automatic video information extraction
| rowspan="8" class="plainlinks" style="font-size: 1.05rem; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | [https://web.archive.org/web/20130514203615if_/http://sourceforge.net/blog/cca09/winners/ <span style="font-size: 1.3rem;">2009</span>]<br />''([https://web.archive.org/web/20090831092244if_/http://web.sourceforge.com:80/investor-news/3/sourceforge-announces-finalists-fourth-annual-community-choice-awards Finalists])''
* Out of the box support for new remotes
| rowspan="2" style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600;" | Best Overall Project
| Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)
| style="background-color: RoyalBlue; border-bottom: none; color: #fff; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; padding-bottom: 0; text-align: center;" | Sixth&nbsp;Place
|-
|-
| style="white-space:nowrap; background:#a0e75a;"| 10.0 and 10.1
| style="background-color: RoyalBlue; border-top: none; color: #fff; padding-top: 0; text-align: center;" | 1,991/22,313 votes (9%)
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| December 18, 2010
|-
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| [[Dharma Initiative|Dharma]]
  | rowspan="2" style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600;" | Best Visual Design
|
| style="background-color: LightSlateGrey; border-bottom: none; color: #fff; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; padding-bottom: 0; text-align: center;" | Second&nbsp;Place
* Added initial support for ARM processor architecture
|-
* Added initial support OpenGL ES 2.0 compliance
| style="background-color: LightSlateGrey; border-top: none; color: #fff; padding-top: 0; text-align: center;" | 3,311/14,541 votes (23%)
* Addons Manager with Addon Browser GUI
|-
* Added a unified Addon framework
| rowspan="2" style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600;" | Best Project for Multimedia
* Added Team XBMC's official Addons Repository
| style="background-color: DarkGoldenRod; border-bottom: none; color: #fff; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; padding-bottom: 0; text-align: center;" | Third&nbsp;Place
* Added DXVA 2 Video Acceleration support
|-
* Added Apple VDADecoder Video Acceleration support
| style="background-color: DarkGoldenRod; border-top: none; color: #fff; padding-top: 0; text-align: center;" | 2,871/15,922 votes (10%)
* Added Broadcom Crystal HD video acceleration support
|-
* Added VAAPI (Video Acceleration API) support
| rowspan="2" style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600;" | Most Likely to Change the Way You Do Everything
* Added OpenMAX Video Acceleration support
| style="background-color: DarkGoldenRod; border-bottom: none; color: #fff; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; padding-bottom: 0; text-align: center;" | Third&nbsp;Place
* Added NEON (ARM) Video Acceleration support
|-
* Added JSON-RPC and JSON API
| style="background-color: DarkGoldenRod; border-top: none; color: #fff; padding-top: 0; text-align: center;" | 2,036/19,229 votes (11%)
* Added microhttpd Web Server
|-
* Added initial support for MySQL database backend
! scope="row" rowspan="2" class="plainlinks" style="font-size: 1.4rem; font-weight: 700;" | [[File:MacInformerEditorsPickBadge.png|frameless|link=]]<br />[https://macdownload.informer.com/ Mac Informer]<br />Editor's Pick Awards
* Added RTMPE and RTMPTE support
| rowspan="2" style="font-size: 1.3rem; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | 2013
* Added initial support for unencrypted Blu-ray Disc
| rowspan="2" style="font-weight: 600;" | <span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">Best Media Player</span><ref group="awards" name="macinformer">Informer Technologies, Inc. 2013. [https://macdownload.informer.com/xbmc/awards/ &ldquo;XBMC: Awards.&rdquo;] ''Mac Informer.'' August 1, 2013.</ref>
* Added initial gesture support to XBMC's GUI Engine
| style="background-color: Green; color: #fff; border-bottom: 0; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; padding-bottom: 0; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom;" | Winner
| Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx)
|-
|-
| class="plainlinks" style="background-color: Green; border-top: 0; color: #fff; padding-top: 0; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;" | Editor rating: EXCELLENT<br /><span style="padding-left: 4.25em;">5/5 (100%)</span><ref group="awards" name="mi_archive">Fernández, José. 2013. (Senior Editor, Informer Technologies, Inc.) [https://web.archive.org/web/20140409150429if_/http://macdownload.informer.com:80/xbmc/ &ldquo;Editorial review: XBMC for Mac.&rdquo;] ''Mac Informer.'' August 1, 2013. Archived by the Wayback Machine from the [https://macdownload.informer.com/xbmc/ original] on April 9, 2014. &lsquo;''In short, XBMC is still my favorite HTPC app. It looks great, works awesome and it has never caused a problem for me.''&rsquo;</ref>
| style="white-space:nowrap; background:skyBlue;"| 11.0
|-
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| Release Target Date: 2011
! scope="row" style="font-size: 1.4rem; font-weight: 700;" | [[wikipedia:Lifehacker|Lifehacker Australia]]<br />Community Choice Awards
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| [[Garden of Eden|Eden]]
| style="font-size: 1.3rem; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | 2014
|
| style="font-weight: 600;" | <span style="font-size: 1.1rem;">Best Media Player</span><ref name="lifehacker" />
|-
| style="background-color: Green; color: #fff; font-size: 1.2rem; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;" | Winner
| style="white-space:nowrap; background:skyBlue;"| 12.0
|-
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| Release Target Date: 2012
| colspan="4" class="plainlinks" style="background-color: #fff; border: hidden; border-top: 4px solid #a2a9b1;" | <references group="awards" />
|style="white-space: nowrap;"| [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]]
|
|
|}
|}
<ref>http://trac.xbmc.org/roadmap XBMC Roadmap</ref><ref>http://trac.xbmc.org/timeline XBMC Trac Timeline</ref><ref>http://xbmc.org XBMC Blog</ref>
==Legality==
{{Globalize|section|date=September 2010}}
The "''XBMC Foundation''", the [[non-profit organization]] behind the XBMC project, is legally represented by the [[Software Freedom Law Center|SFLC (Software Freedom Law Center)]], which assists XBMC project and its developers legal matters such as [[copyright]], [[trademark]], and [[brand]]ing questions, as well as economic issues such as handling [[donation]]s and [[Sponsor (commercial)|sponsors]] that help the project with [[expense]]s for [[dedicated hosting service]], and activities such as going to [[trade fair]]s and [[computer expo]]s to [[tech demo]] XBMC, meeting with potential new developers, gain publicity to attract additional users, and more.<ref>[http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/04/27/xbmc-gains-representation/ XBMC Gains Representation]</ref><ref>[http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/02/17/welcome-sponsor-9x9-networks/ Welcome Sponsor: 9x9 Networks]</ref><ref>[http://xbmc.org/team-xbmc/2009/07/04/results-of-xbmc-developers-conference/ Results of XBMC Developers Conference]</ref><ref>[http://xbmc.org/team-xbmc/2008/05/30/announcing-xbmc-dev-con-2008-hosted-by-boxee/ Announcing XBMC DEV CON 2008 hosted by boxee]</ref>
===Copyright===
XBMC's [[source code]] for all its supported platforms is made publicly available by the developers under an [[open source]] ([[GNU GPL]]) [[license]], but the developers themselves are legally unable to distribute [[executable]] versions of XBMC for Xbox. This is because XBMC for Xbox requires Microsoft's commercial [[software development kit]], namely the [[Xbox Development Kit]], in order to [[Compiler|compile]] into a [[Binary file|binary]] format that the Xbox game-console can use, which is only available to licensed developers and the resulting code may only be distributed by Microsoft. Thus, the only publicly available [[executable]] versions of XBMC for Xbox are compiled and distributed by [[Third-party developer|third parties]], as a result, precompiled versions of XBMC for Xbox may be illegal to distribute in many countries around the world. XBMC binaries for all other platforms that XBMC supports (Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows) are however legal to distribute by the XBMC project.<ref name="XboxMediaCenter Review"/><ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine"/><ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/><ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/>
===Patents===
For most popular video and audio formats, XBMC includes native support through [[free and open source software]] [[library (computer science)|libraries]], such as [[LAME]], [[libmpeg2]], and [[libavcodec]] (from the [[FFmpeg]] project). Since these source code libraries are released under free and open source licenses they are legally redistributable. However, some of these compression method algorithms, [[MP3#Licensing and patent issues|such as the popular MP3 format]], are in many countries protected by software patents. Without a licence, this could possibly make it illegal in certain countries to distribute compiled versions of XBMC which include support for these formats.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/>
===Web scraping===
{{Main|Web scraping#Legal issues}}
XBMC has the ability to scrape websites through its scrapers and there could possible be some legal issues associated with web scraping on some of the web sites that XBMC has the ability to scrape. Web scraping may be against the [[terms of use]] of some websites, however the enforceability of these terms is unclear.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.chillingeffects.org/linking/faq.cgi#QID596
|title=FAQ about linking - Are website terms of use binding contracts?
|accessdate=2007-08-20
|author=
|last=
|first=
|authorlink=
|coauthors=
|date=2007-08-20
|year=
|month=
|format=
|work=www.chillingeffects.org
|pages=
|language=
|doi=
|archiveurl=
|archivedate=
|quote=
}}</ref>
===Other===


XBMC can also optionally be compiled with [[libdvdcss]] to support playing back [[DVD-Video]] movies encrypted using the [[Content Scramble System|CSS (Content Scramble System)]] encryption. Since it is not a member of [[DVD Forum]], the XBMC project is not contractually obliged to insert [[user operation prohibition]] such as disallowing fast-forward or skipping during trailers and ads in [[DVD-Video]]s.  However, without membership in the DVD Forum, the project also cannot make XBMC play [[DVD-Video]]'s [[encryption|encrypted]] with [[Content Scrambling System|CSS (Content Scramble System)]] except by using the [[libdvdcss]] library, which code was created by reverse-engineering. The legal status of libdvdcss is thus questionable in several nations, the distribution of [[executable]] versions of XBMC containing which was built with this library is likely to run afoul of the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act|DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)]] in the [[United States|U.S.]] and the [[EU Copyright Directive]] in [[European Union]] member countries which have incorporated it into national law. For example, many [[Linux distribution]]s do not contain libdvdcss (for example [[Debian]], [[Fedora (operating system)|Fedora]], [[SUSE Linux]], and [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]]) due to fears of running afoul of DMCA-style laws, however they still often provide the tools to let the users install it themselves.<ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/><ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/>
== Programming and developing ==
:{{Main|Development}}
Kodi is a non-profit and free software community driven open-source software project that is developed only by volunteers in their spare time without any monetary gain. The team of developers leading the development of Kodi, ''&ldquo;[[Archive:Team Kodi|Team Kodi]]&rdquo;'', encourage anyone and everyone to submit their own source code patches for new features and functions, improve existing ones, or fix bugs to the Kodi project.


==See also==
Kodi's source code for all its supported platforms is made publicly available by [[Archive:Team Kodi|Team Kodi]] under the open source GNU General Public License, Version 2 (or later) license. The group maintains a [https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc public Git repository] on GitHub for this source code.
{{Commons category|XBMC Media Center}}
{{Portal box|Python programming|Free software|Television}}
*[[XBMC4XBox]], a [[third-party developer]] [[Brand extension|spin-off]] project of XBMC for Xbox, with still active development and support of the Xbox.
*[[Home theater PC|HTPC (Home Theater PC)]]
*[[Home cinema]]
*[[Smart TV]]
*[[Interactive television]]
*[[Two-screen solutions]]
*[[Enhanced TV]]
*[[Media multitasking]]
*[[Over-the-top content]]
*[[List of video players (software)|List of other software video players]]
*[[Comparison of video player software]]
*[[Comparison of PVR software packages]]
*[[List of open source codecs]]
*[[List of codecs|List of multimedia (audio/video) codecs]]
*[[Comparison of container formats]]


==References==
== References ==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
<references>
<ref name="weblate_lang_list">[https://kodi.weblate.cloud/languages/ Languages.] ''Kodi Weblate.'' Accessed on August 18, 2022.</ref>
<ref name="licenses-dir_readme">"[https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/LICENSES/README.md Kodi's licensing rules]." ''[https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc xbmc/xbmc] on GitHub.'' Accessed on August 18, 2022.</ref>
<ref name="openhub">[https://www.openhub.net/p/kodi "The Kodi Open Source Project."] ''[https://www.openhub.net/ Black Duck Open Hub], part of Synopsys.'' Accessed on August 18, 2022.</ref>
<ref name="lifehacker">Whitson, Gordon. 2012. [https://lifehacker.com/create-a-kickass-seamless-play-everything-media-cente-5900626 &ldquo;Create a Kickass, Seamless, Play-Everything Media Center: The Complete Guide.&rdquo;] ''Lifehacker Australia.'' April 10, 2012.</ref>
<ref name="fredphoesh">[https://forum.kodi.tv/member.php?action=profile&uid=66118 Profile of fredphoesh.] ''Kodi Community Forum.'' May 21, 2012.</ref>
</references>


==External links==
== Further reading ==
{{Commons category|XBMC Media Center}}
* '''[https://kodi.tv/ Official Website]'''
* [http://xbmc.org XBMC Official Website]
* [[wikipedia:Kodi (software)|'''Kodi''']] on English Wikipedia
* [http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBMC_Online_Manual XBMC Online Manual (Official Wiki)]
* [irc://irc.freenode.net/xbmc XBMC Official IRC Chat Room] (on [[freenode]]'s [[Internet Relay Chat|IRC]] network) (use an [[IRC client]] to join the '''#xbmc''' [[IRC channel|channel]])


{{Home theater PC (application software)}}
{{Updated|19}}
{{FOSS}}
{{Linux-distro}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Xbmc}}
[[Category:Mini Linux distributions]]
[[Category:Ubuntu (operating system) derivatives]]
[[Category:DVD]]
[[Category:Free cross-platform software]]
[[Category:Free media software]]
[[Category:Free media players]]
[[Category:Free video software]]
[[Category:Free television software]]
[[Category:Free software programmed in C++]]
[[Category:Free software culture and documents]]
[[Category:Cross-platform software]]
[[Category:Linux media players]]
[[Category:Mac OS X media players]]
[[Category:Mac OS X software]]
[[Category:Multimedia software]]
[[Category:Software DVD players]]
[[Category:Windows media players]]
[[Category:Windows software]]
[[Category:Xbox]]
[[Category:Xbox Dashboards]]
[[Category:Information appliances]]
[[Category:Digital television]]
[[Category:Film and video technology]]
[[Category:Interactive television]]
[[Category:Internet broadcasting]]
[[Category:Internet television]]
[[Category:Multimedia]]
[[Category:Peercasting]]
[[Category:Streaming media systems]]
[[Category:Video on demand services]]


[[ca:XBMC]]
[[Category:Kodi]]
[[de:XBMC Media Center]]
[[Category:Kodi Foundation]]
[[es:Xbox Media Center]]
[[fr:XBMC Media Center]]
[[it:Xbox Media Center]]
[[hu:XBMC]]
[[nl:XBMC]]
[[no:Xbox Media Center]]
[[pl:XBMC]]
[[ru:XBMC]]
[[fi:Xbox Media Center]]
[[sv:XBMC Media Center]]

Revision as of 05:47, 9 October 2022

Home icon grey.png   ▶ Kodi Foundation ▶ Kodi
Kodi
Logo-transparent bare 256px.png
Confluence skin home screen
Confluence skin home screen
Developer(s) Kodi Foundation
Initial release June 29, 2004
Stable release Kodi v20.5 Nexus
Preview release Kodi v21 Omega
Development status Active
Written in Core: C++
Add-ons: Python v3
OS Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS/tvOS, BSD
Platform x86, ARM
Available in 72 languages[1]
License GPL-2.0-or-later[2]
Website kodi.tv

Kodi® (formerly known as XBMC or Xbox Media Center) is an award-winning, free and open source media player/entertainment hub application that runs on an exhaustive list of computers, mobile devices and HTPCs (Home theater PCs) which natively use no less than seven (7) different operating systems. It follows a 10-foot user interface design specification which targets usage as a media player in a living room setting—or any other space where groups of people consume media without having someone seated near the player controls—using a handheld remote control as the primary input device. Its graphical user interface allows the user to easily browse and view videos, photos, podcasts, and music from local file storage, optical discs, the local network or the internet using only a few buttons. The Kodi project is managed by the non-profit Kodi Foundation and developed by volunteers located around the world. As of Summer 2022, more than 1,600 software developers have contributed to Kodi (in the form of 111,800+ individual changes to the codebase, which opened in 2003),[3] with roughly 60 core developers whose regular participation helps to steer it. Now, thanks to the generosity and dedication of over 200 volunteer translators, Kodi is available in 72 languages and useful no matter which continent you're on.

Kodi® (then called "Xbox Media Center") was originally created as a media center application for the first-generation Xbox game console (no longer supported) but is now officially available as a native application for Android, BSD, Linux, macOS, iOS/tvOS, and Windows operating systems, running on most common processor architectures.

Introduction

Overview of features

Kodi can be used to play almost all popular audio and video formats around. It was designed for network playback, so you can stream your multimedia from anywhere in the house or directly from the internet using practically any protocol available. Use your media as-is: Kodi can play CDs and DVDs directly from the disk or image file, almost all popular archive formats from your hard drive. Kodi will scan all of your media and create a personalized library complete with boxcovers, descriptions, and fanart. There are playlist and slideshow functions, a weather forecast feature and many audio visualizations. Once installed, your computer will become a fully functional multimedia jukebox.

Add-ons

An Add-on is another piece of software that can be added to a program to further expand and enhance the features of that program. Imagine a smart phone and all the additional Apps that can be installed to enhance its functionality. Kodi has the same ability and these apps are referred to as Add-ons. Kodi has a growing list of community driven add-ons which can be installed from a common official repository, while still enabling third-party developers to also host their own unofficial repositories for add-ons that any user can choose to add themselves.

For additional information about specific add-ons, see the All add-ons category.

Video demos

Check out this excellent introduction video (1m 36s) by Lifehacker:[4]

A Kodi beginners guide (13m 27s) by forum user fredphoesh:[5]

Language support

See: Language portal

Kodi includes full support for many different languages by default. Kodi's structure is such that if the language is not available, or not up-to-date, it can be created by signing up at the Kodi Translations Project.

Currently the existing supported languages are: Acadian French, Afrikaans, Albanian, American English, Amharic, Argentinian Spanish, Armenian, Asturian, Australian English, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bosnian, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, European Portuguese, Faroese, Finnish, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malayam, Malay, Maltese, Maori, Metropolitan French, Mexican Spanish, Mongolian, New Zealand English, Norwegian, Ossetian, Peninsular Arabic, Peninsular Spanish, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic), Serbian (Latin), Silesian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Vietnamese and Welsh.

Hardware requirements

Kodi is officially supported on a number of operating systems and hardware devices that are designed to be connected directly to a TV. Kodi runs well on what are relatively "underpowered" systems, thanks to hardware video decoding being common on nearly all supported platforms. These requirements don't include what might be required for some "advanced" features, such as PVR, which might require additional hardware.

Official versions

See: Releases

Full featured versions of Kodi are available on a number of operating system platforms. Team Kodi strives to keep a consistent feature set and include the full Kodi experience for all versions, even those on low-powered devices.

Windows

Kodi for Windows runs natively on Windows Vista and higher. It is a 32-bit application but runs on 64-bit Windows and hardware as well, however it is not yet optimized for that architecture so there is no performance gain when running on 64-bit Windows. 1080p playback can be achieved on Windows based computers either via software decoding on the CPU if it's powerful enough, or by hardware accelerated video decoding.

Android

Kodi for Android is a full port of the complete Kodi application to Google's Android operating-system, was first announced and its source code released publicly on 13 June 2012. This is a full port of Kodi's C++ and C source code with all its dependencies to Android with a build-system that was designed to handle multiple processor architectures, like ARM, MIPS, and x86 with the Android NDK (Native Development Kit for Android) without using a single line of Java, and the Kodi.APK is running natively under Android as a Native Activity application.

iOS

Kodi for iOS, which is a full port of Kodi to Apple's iOS operating-system, was first announced and released publicly on 20 January 2011. It supports both 720p and 1080p hardware accelerated video decoding of H.264 videos, and is compatible several Apple's iDevices that uses Apple A4 or higher SoC processors with a jailbroken iOS operating-system.

Mac

Kodi for Mac runs natively on Mac OS X with Intel processors with hardware video decoding for H.264.

Linux

Kodi for Linux is primarily developed for Ubuntu Linux. Third-party packages for most other Linux distributions are however available, and it is also possible to compile Kodi from scratch for any Linux distribution as long as the pre-required dependency libraries are installed first.

Third-party forks and derivative work of Kodi

History

Kodi Foundation

The "Kodi Foundation" is the non-profit organization that oversees the Kodi project and is registered in the US.

Awards

See: SourceForge Community Choice Awards
Cca.gif
Sourceforge CCAs 2007.png
Contest Year Award Result
SourceForge Community Choice Award.png
SourceForge
Community Choice Awards
Best Project for Gamers Winner
Best Project for Multimedia Winner
Best User Support Finalist
Best Project for Gamers Finalist
Best Project for Multimedia Finalist
Best Technical Design Finalist
Most Collaborative Project Finalist
Best Overall Project Finalist
Winner
Best Overall Project Finalist
Best Project for Multimedia Finalist
Most Likely to Be the Next Billion Dollar Acquisition Finalist
Most Likely to Change the World Finalist
Most Likely to Be Ambiguously and
Baselessly Accused of Patent Violation
Finalist
Most Likely to Get Users Sued by Anachronistic
Industry Associations Defending Dead Business Models
Finalist
Best Overall Project Sixth Place
1,991/22,313 votes (9%)
Best Visual Design Second Place
3,311/14,541 votes (23%)
Best Project for Multimedia Third Place
2,871/15,922 votes (10%)
Most Likely to Change the Way You Do Everything Third Place
2,036/19,229 votes (11%)
MacInformerEditorsPickBadge.png
Mac Informer
Editor's Pick Awards
2013 Best Media Player[awards 2] Winner
Lifehacker Australia
Community Choice Awards
2014 Best Media Player[4] Winner

Programming and developing

Kodi is a non-profit and free software community driven open-source software project that is developed only by volunteers in their spare time without any monetary gain. The team of developers leading the development of Kodi, Team Kodi, encourage anyone and everyone to submit their own source code patches for new features and functions, improve existing ones, or fix bugs to the Kodi project.

Kodi's source code for all its supported platforms is made publicly available by Team Kodi under the open source GNU General Public License, Version 2 (or later) license. The group maintains a public Git repository on GitHub for this source code.

References

  1. Languages. Kodi Weblate. Accessed on August 18, 2022.
  2. "Kodi's licensing rules." xbmc/xbmc on GitHub. Accessed on August 18, 2022.
  3. "The Kodi Open Source Project." Black Duck Open Hub, part of Synopsys. Accessed on August 18, 2022.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Whitson, Gordon. 2012. “Create a Kickass, Seamless, Play-Everything Media Center: The Complete Guide.” Lifehacker Australia. April 10, 2012.
  5. Profile of fredphoesh. Kodi Community Forum. May 21, 2012.

Further reading