One of the biggest benefits of Apple’s ecosystem is the interoperability of the devices and software with each other. One example of this is AirPlay, which lets users use any iOS device or Mac to either mirror its display or stream any media content from it like photos, videos and music to an Apple TV. Officially, AirPlay is only available to Apple devices and software but luckily, there are some workarounds to get it working on Windows PCs. These third-party apps will help you get going.
Mirror Windows 10 display on Apple TV
- AirParrot ($12.99) supports wireless mirroring Windows desktop to Apple TV (and Chromecast). The app sits in the task bar and lets you quickly mirror your whole desktop or just any selected app to your Apple TV.
- 5KPlayer is a free app that lets you wirelessly mirror your Windows PC screen to an Apple TV.
Stream Music and Video from Windows 10 to Apple TV
- iTunes lets you AirPlay music and video as long as they are supported formats. If you have an Apple Music subscription, you can also use it to stream music from iTunes on Windows PC.
- AirParrot supports streaming music and videos right from your Windows PC to Apple TV. One of the best features of AirParrot is that you can chose to stream any video format and AirParrot will handle it without the need of conversion. AirParrot also supports 5.1 audio if that’s your thing. You can just drag any content to AirParrot’s icon in the taskbar and it’ll start playing on your Apple TV.
- AirFoil ($29) lets you stream your music to Apple TV, AirPort Express or any compatible AirPlay receiver. It might seem expensive for just having audio streaming support, but it supports Spotify and Pandora which is unique to this app.
- SodaPlayer is a nifty little video playback app that supports streaming to Apple TV (and Chromecast). Not only does it support almost any video format and codec you can throw at it, it also has support for streaming BitTorrent video files and AceStream links. It can automatically fetch subtitles too for your video files. The best thing? SodaPlayer is available for free.
- 5KPlayer lets users stream all types of Apple TV supported media content via AirPlay.
Use your Windows 10 PC as AirPlay Receiver
- Reflector ($14.99) lets you setup your Windows PC as an AirPlay receiver. In case you do not have an Apple TV, you can use your iOS devices, Mac or the apps mentioned above to stream content to your Windows PC thanks to this app.
- AirServer ($14.99) also lets you setup Windows PCs as AirPlay receivers. It also has some additional features like the ability to live stream from iOS to YouTube via AirPlay. This if useful for gamers who like to broadcast their gameplay. AirServer also supports Chromecast and Miracast.
- X-Mirage ($16.00) supports the same features as Reflector and AirServer, with the additional capability of recording the incoming AirPlay stream.
- 5KPlayer can also work as an AirPlay receiver for free.
There are a lot of options to work with Windows PCs and AirPlay in a variety of ways. If you know any other app that we missed out, let us know in the comments.
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