Driftcast 1.0

The first release of Driftcast: a free, open-source Mac app that plays nearly any video on your Mac on Chromecast, Apple TV and AirPlay 2 TVs, converting only what the device can't play.

Download: Driftcast-1.0.dmg. Open it and drag Driftcast to your Applications folder. The .zip is the same app, and is what Driftcast's own Check for Updates will install from for future versions.

Requirements: macOS 13 Ventura or later, on an Apple silicon or Intel Mac (one universal app, FFmpeg included). Your Mac and your device on the same network.

What's in 1.0

• Chromecast (every generation, each getting what it can play), Nest Hub, TVs with Cast built in, Cast speakers (sound only), Apple TV, AirPlay 2 TVs, and this Mac.
• 32 video file types and 7 audio file types; H.264, HEVC, AV1, VP9, VP8, MPEG-2, VC-1, ProRes and more; HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision; Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus and Atmos, DTS and DTS-HD, TrueHD, FLAC, ALAC, AAC and Opus.
• Direct play, repackaging without re-encoding, and conversion of only the streams the device can't decode, on the GPU through VideoToolbox, with a stepped fallback to hardware encoding and then software.
• Full playlist before conversion starts, so the device shows the real duration and the remote can seek.
• Subtitles as real text in any encoding, subtitle files found beside the video, PGS and VobSub read into text on your Mac, OpenSubtitles search that downloads and turns a subtitle on in one step, and a size slider in the Subtitles menu that is remembered.
• Film and show details with poster, plot, cast, director, genres, age rating and ratings; a five-second title card before the film.
• Playlists, resume, watched marks, preview frames, media keys, menus and shortcuts for everything, a right-click Delete File that asks first and moves the file to the Trash.
• Check for Updates in the About window and the app menu, which downloads, verifies the Developer ID signature, and reinstalls.

Not yet tried on real hardware: a Chromecast was not available during development; the Cast path follows Google's documentation. Reports from Chromecast owners, working or not, are very welcome as issues. AirPlay was verified on a Samsung AirPlay 2 TV.

Signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple. Source code, build scripts and automated checks are in this repository. GNU GPL v3 or later.

SHA-256

edb493fca786b1d854202a446bfe96f5fa44307ad4886bd263d3d180dc9255e0  Driftcast-1.0.dmg
ed41cbc362810f3410d13e700ca56a7aee43623f25e4682a18f1e629d9ce6308  Driftcast-1.0.zip