alexballas/go2tv - 观星指南 Stargazers.cn

Cast media files to Smart TVs and Chromecast devices.

What is Go2TV?

Go2TV lets you play video, audio, and image files on your Smart TV or Chromecast device directly from your computer or phone. It works with:

Smart TVs - Samsung, LG, Sony, and others that support DLNA/UPnP
Chromecast - Google Chromecast, Chromecast with Google TV, and compatible devices
Apps - BubbleUPnP, GMediaRender, and other media receiver apps

No need to copy files to a USB drive or set up a media server. Just select your file, pick your device, and play.

Features

Auto-discovery - Automatically finds Smart TVs and Chromecast devices on your network
Transcoding - Converts incompatible video formats on-the-fly (requires FFmpeg)
Subtitles - Supports external SRT/VTT files and embedded MKV subtitles
Seek support - Jump to any position in the video
Playlist playback - Single-file and multi-file playlists with add/remove/reorder/select support
Loop and auto-play - Loop the current file or auto-play through the playlist
Gapless playback - Supported for DLNA devices
RTMP Server - Cast live streams from OBS directly to Chromecast (requires FFmpeg)
Cast Desktop (experimental) - Cast desktop as live stream to Chromecast (requires FFmpeg)
Web UI (server mode) - Browse media roots and control casting from any browser on your network
GUI and CLI - Use the graphical interface or command line

Screenshots

GUI Mode

CLI Mode

Web UI (Server Mode)

Installation

macOS: Install with Homebrew:

brew install --cask go2tv

Linux: Install from Flathub:

flatpak install flathub app.go2tv.go2tv

Or download the latest release from the releases page.

Windows GUI: Download go2tv_vX.Y.Z_windows_amd64.zip, extract, and run go2tv.exe
Windows CLI: Download go2tv_vX.Y.Z_windows_amd64_lite.zip, extract, and run go2tv-lite.exe
macOS: Download go2tv_vX.Y.Z_macOS_amd64.zip (Intel) or go2tv_vX.Y.Z_macOS_arm64.zip (Apple Silicon), extract, and run the app
Linux: Download go2tv_vX.Y.Z_linux_amd64.zip (or appropriate arch), extract, and run go2tv
Android: Download go2tv_vX.Y.Z.apk for the arm64 build with bundled FFmpeg transcoding

For release downloads, Go2TV is a single executable with no installation required. Just download and run.

Optional: FFmpeg for Transcoding

For maximum compatibility with all devices and file formats, install FFmpeg. Go2TV will automatically use it when needed. When transcoding is enabled, Go2TV probes available GPU H.264 encoders first and falls back to libx264 if hardware encoding is unavailable or fails at startup.

Linux: sudo apt install ffmpeg or equivalent for your distro
macOS: brew install ffmpeg
Windows: Download from ffmpeg.org and add to PATH
Flatpak: FFmpeg is bundled automatically
Android: FFmpeg is bundled in the default APK. It is arm64-only and requires Android 9.0+.

Usage

GUI

Select a media file (or drag and drop it onto the main window), pick a device from the list, and click Play.

Playlist

The Playlist window lets you add, remove, reorder, and select files. Dragging files onto the main window replaces the playlist; dragging them onto the Playlist window appends them. Next, Previous, and Auto-Play Next File follow the playlist order.

CLI

Run go2tv -h for all options. Common commands:

# List available devices
go2tv -l

# Play a local file
go2tv -v movie.mp4 -t http://192.168.1.100:8060/

# Play with subtitles and transcoding
go2tv -v movie.mkv -s movie.srt -tc -t http://192.168.1.100:8060/

# Play a remote file
go2tv -u https://example.com/movie.mp4 -t http://192.168.1.50:8009

# Stream from another command
yt-dlp -o - "https://youtu.be/..." | go2tv -t http://192.168.1.50:8009

# Transcode with a custom FFmpeg binary
go2tv -tc -ffmpeg /path/to/ffmpeg -v movie.mkv -t http://192.168.1.50:8009

Web UI (Server Mode)

Run Go2TV as a web server to browse selected media folders and control casting from a browser. The Web UI has separate device, playlist, and playback state from the desktop GUI.

From the GUI, open Settings → Remote Web Session…, add media folders, choose local or LAN access, and start the session.

For headless use, pass -server and at least one -media-root:

go2tv -server -media-root /path/to/Media

Use -ffmpeg /path/to/ffmpeg when FFmpeg is not available on PATH. CLI, go2tv-lite, and the Web UI verify and use the supplied binary.

The default URL is http://127.0.0.1:9666/. Repeat -media-root to expose multiple directories:

go2tv -server \
  -media-root /path/to/Movies \
  -media-root /path/to/Music \
  -media-root "/path/to/TV Shows"

For LAN access, set a non-loopback -listen address and allow each browser origin:

go2tv -server \
  -listen 0.0.0.0:9666 \
  -allowed-origin http://192.168.1.20:9666 \
  -media-root /path/to/Media

LAN mode uses HTTP without TLS. Use it only on trusted networks.

RTMP Streaming (Chromecast only)

Select a Chromecast, enable RTMP Server, and click Play. Use the displayed URL in OBS or other streaming software. Requires FFmpeg.

Cast Desktop (Experimental, Chromecast only)

Select a Chromecast, enable Cast Desktop (experimental), and click Cast. Requires FFmpeg and is not supported on audio-only Chromecast devices.

Supported File Types (GUI)

mp4, avi, mkv, mpeg, mov, webm, m4v, mpv, mp3, flac, wav, jpg, jpeg, png

The CLI accepts any file type.

Companion Project: mcp-beam MCP Server (Powered by Go2TV)

mcp-beam is a companion MCP server (stdio transport) built on top of Go2TV core packages.

It lets MCP clients discover Chromecast and DLNA/UPnP devices, cast local files or remote URLs, and stop playback. For direct control, use the Go2TV GUI or CLI.

Troubleshooting

Firewall Configuration

If you're behind a firewall, allow inbound traffic from devices on your local network:

3339-3438/udp for DLNA/UPnP device discovery
3500-4499/tcp for the local HTTP media server used by DLNA and Chromecast playback

Notes

Chromecast receiver

Go2TV uses a custom Chromecast receiver hosted at https://cast-receiver.go2tv.app/. It is not part of this open-source repository and is not currently published. Functionality matches the default receiver, with minor branding differences.

Building from Source

Requirements: Go 1.26

git clone https://github.com/alexballas/go2tv
cd go2tv
make build

AppImage builds (Linux)

make appimage          # Without FFmpeg
make appimage-ffmpeg   # With FFmpeg

For the FFmpeg build, APPIMAGE_FFMPEG_MODE supports auto (default), system, download, or none. Override binary paths with APPIMAGE_FFMPEG_BIN and APPIMAGE_FFPROBE_BIN.

Android builds

make android

make android builds the arm64 APK and bundles Android ffmpeg/ffprobe executables as native libraries. Set ANDROID_NDK_HOME and ANDROID_HOME.

Using Docker

Build the image:

docker build --force-rm -t go2tv .

Run the container (Linux with X11):

xhost +local:docker
docker run -it --network host -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix go2tv go2tv

Author

Alexandros Ballas alex@ballas.org

License

MIT

Artifacts that bundle FFmpeg inherit the bundled FFmpeg build's license obligations. The Android FFmpeg APK uses an Android NDK-built LGPL FFmpeg package by default; AppImages built with the default bundled FFmpeg use GPL builds.