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See [[Wikipedia:Kodi (software)|Kodi]] on Wikipedia.
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2013}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Kodi

| title =Kodi
| logo = [[File:Kodi-logo-Thumbnail-light-transparent.png|120px]]
| logo caption =
| screenshot = Main Screen Confluence 14.1.jpg
| caption = Kodi 14.1 Home Screen
| collapsible =
| author =
| developer = Kodi Team
| released = {{Start date|2002}}
| discontinued =
| latest release version = 15.1
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2015|08|16}}<ref name="latest-stable">{{cite web |url=http://kodi.tv/kodi-15-1-isengard-maintenance-release/ |title = Kodi 15.1 Isengard – Maintenance release }}</ref>
| latest preview date = [[Nightly build|Nightly]] (codename: [[XBMC#Releases|Kodi 15.0 "Isengard"]])<!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| latest preview version = [[Neutral build]] from [[Git (software)|Git]]
| frequently updated = <!-- DO NOT include this parameter unless you know what it does -->
| programming language = {{nowrap|[[C++]]}} core, with [[Python (programming language)|Python scripts]] as [[Plug-in (computing)|addons (plugins)]] from [[third-party developer]]s{{Citation needed|date=September 2013}}
| operating system = [[Windows]], {{nowrap|[[OS X]]}}, [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[iOS (Apple)|iOS]], [[Apple TV|Apple TV OS]], [[Linux]], [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]] ([[Tizen]] and [[Sailfish OS]], formerly [[MeeGo]], support is in development)
| platform = [[ARM architecture|ARM]], [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]], [[PowerPC]], [[IA-32|IA-32 (x86)]], and [[x64|x64 (x86-64)]]
| size =
| language =
| language count = 69+
| language footnote = <ref name="transifex.com">https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/xbmc-main/ Translation project for strings hosted at Transifex for XBMC master</ref>
| status = Active
| genre = [[Media player (software)|Media player software]], [[Smart TV|Smart TV platform]], [[digital media player]], [[digital video recorder]]
| license = [[GNU General Public License|GNU GPL]] ([[GNU General Public License Version 2|GPLv2]])
| alexa =
| website = {{URL|kodi.tv}}
}}
'''Kodi''' (formerly '''XBMC''') is a [[free and open-source]] [[Media player (application software)|media player]] software developed by the XBMC Foundation, a non-profit technology [[consortium]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/about/ |title=About XBMC |publisher=Xbmc.org |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref> Kodi is available for multiple operating systems and hardware platforms, with a software [[10-foot user interface]] for use with televisions and [[remote control]]s. It allows users to play and view most videos, music, such as audio and video [[podcast]]s from the internet, and all common [[digital media]] files from local and network [[storage media]].<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=8 August 2009 |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=16 September 2004 |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=5 November 2004 |author=Patrick Schmid |work=Tom's Hardware}}</ref>

It is a popular [[multi-platform]] alternative to [[Windows Media Center]] for [[home theater PC|HTPC (Home Theater PC)]] use.<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=9 December 2008 |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=7 December 2008 |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=16 December 2008 |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=10 May 2009 |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=2 February 2010 |author=Jason Fitzpatrick & Kevin Purdy |work=Lifehacker}}</ref> Kodi is highly customizable: a variety of [[skin (computing)|skins]] can change its appearance, and various [[Plug-in (computing)|plug-ins]] allow users to access [[streaming media]] content via online services such as example [[YouTube]], [[Amazon Prime Instant Video]], [[Crackle (company)|Crackle]], [[Spotify]], [[Rhapsody (online music service)|Rhapsody]] and [[Pandora Radio|Pandora Internet Radio]]<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=5 April 2009 |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=29 December 2009 |author=Ryan Paul |work=Ars Technica}}</ref> The later versions also have a [[Digital video recorder|PVR (Personal Video Recorder)]] graphical [[Front and back ends|frontend]] for receiving live television with [[Electronic Program Guide]] (EPG) and high-definition [[digital video recorder|DVR (Digital Video Recorder)]] support.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lawler |first=Richard |url=http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/10/xbmc-10-pvr-raspberry-pi/ |title=XBMC celebrates 10 years, latest build works in mainline PVR and Raspberry Pi support |publisher=Engadget.com |date=2012-10-10 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref>

The software was originally produced as an [[Homebrew (video games)|independently developed (homebrew)]] media player application named '''Xbox Media Center''' (abbreviated as XBMC) for the first-generation [[Xbox (console)|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> and was later made available under the name Kodi (formerly ''XBMC'') as a native application for [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[Linux]], [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]], {{nowrap|[[Mac OS X]]}}, [[iOS (Apple)|iOS]], and [[Microsoft Windows]] based operating systems.<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=18 January 2007 |author=VzjrZ |work=Instructables}}</ref> It is also available as a standalone version referred to as [[Kodi (software)#Kodibuntu|Kodibuntu]].<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=19 January 2010 |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=18 September 2008 |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=15 November 2008 |work=xbmc.org}}</ref>

Because of its open source and [[cross-platform]] nature, with its core code written in {{nowrap|C++}} ([[American National Standards Institute|ANSI standard]]), modified versions of Kodi/XBMC together with a [[Just enough operating system|JeOS]] have been used as a [[software appliance]] suite or [[software framework]] in a variety of devices including [[smart TV]]s, [[set-top box]]es, digital signage, hotel television systems, and [[Digital media player|network connected media players]]. Derivative applications such as [[MediaPortal]], [[Plexapp|Plex]], [[List of software based on XBMC#ToFu Media Platform and ToFu Media Center by Pivos|ToFu]], [[Voddler]], and [[List of software based on XBMC#Horizon TV by Liberty Global|Horizon TV]] have all initially been spun off from XBMC.<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=2 July 2009 |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=15 January 2010 |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=7 October 2009 |author=Kevin Anderson |work=The Guardian |location=UK}}</ref><ref name="Thinking inside the box"/>

On 1 August 2014, it was announced that starting with version 14, XBMC would officially be renamed to Kodi.<ref>http://xbmc.org/introducing-kodi-14/</ref>

==Overview==
Kodi 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|home network]] shares). Unlike other media center applications such as [[Windows Media Center]], [[MediaPortal]] and [[MythTV]], Kodi does not include its own internal digital TV-tuner code for [[Live TV]] or DVR/PVR recording functionality, as instead it acts as a unified DVR/PVR front-end with an EPG TV-Guide GUI interface which, via a common API interface, abstracts and supports multiple back-ends via PVR client add-ons from third parties, with those running either locally on the same machine or over the network.<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=18 September 2008 |work=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref><ref>[http://xbmc.org/natethomas/2012/10/10/xbmc-september-cycle/ XBMC September Cycle - Personal Video Recorder (PVR) support]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=28918 |title=Unified PVR frontend (DVR/HTPC client GUI with EPG) and Addons API for PVR backends |publisher=Forum.xbmc.org |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref>

[[Plug-in (computing)|Plug-ins]], using the [[Python (programming language)|Python programming language]], expand Kodi to include features such as television program guides, YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, [[Veoh]], online movie trailer support, and Pandora Radio and [[podcast]] streaming. Kodi also functions as a gaming platform on any operating system, allowing users to play mini-games developed with Python.<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">https://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>

Kodi [[source code]] is distributed as open source under the [[GNU General Public License]] (GPL),<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/> it is sponsored via the tax-exempt registered non-profit US organization, XBMC Foundation, and is developed by a global free software community of unpaid volunteers.<ref name="XBMC Zone"/><ref name="Passion XBMC"/>

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 spin-off project "[[XBMC4Xbox]]", which forked the Xbox version of the software and completely took over the development and support of XBMC for the old Xbox. The ending of Xbox support by the original project was also the reason that it was officially renamed to simply "''XBMC''" from the old "''Xbox Media Center''" name, and why it later was renamed again to "''Kodi''".<ref name="Farewell XBOX">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/05/27/farewell-xbox/ |title=Farewell XBOX |date=27 May 2010 |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=28 May 2010 |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=28 May 2010 |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=31 May 2010 |author=Sean Hollister |work=Engadget}}</ref> The Xbox version of XBMC had the ability to launch console games, and [[homebrew (video games)|homebrew]] applications such as [[Video game console emulator|emulators]]. Since the XBMC for Xbox version was never distributed, endorsed, or supported by Microsoft, it always required a [[modchip]] or [[softmod|softmod exploit]] 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"/>

===Screenshots===
<gallery>
File:xbmc_911.png|Home Screen of the "Confluence" skin.
File:Screenshot000.png|Home screen of the "PM3.HD" skin.
File:Mc360-screenshot-1.jpg|MC360 skin (Xbox 360 Blades replica).
</gallery>

===Hardware requirements===
Kodi has greater basic hardware requirements than traditional 2D style software applications: it needs a [[3D computer graphics|3D]] capable [[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]] (AArch32 and AArch64), or [[PowerPC G4]] or later [[CPU]] based.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/>

When software decoding of a Full HD [[1080p]] high-definition and high bit-rate video is performed by the system [[CPU]], a [[multi-core processor|dual-core]] 2&nbsp;GHz or faster CPU is required in order to allow for perfectly smooth playback without dropping [[Film frame|frames]] or giving playback a jerky appearance. Kodi can however offload most of the video decoding process onto 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=28 October 2009 |work=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref> Intel's [[VAAPI]], Nvidia's [[VDPAU]], AMD's [[XvBA]], Microsoft's [[DXVA]], Apple's VDADecoder/VideoToolBox, [[OpenMAX]], [[Broadcom Crystal HD]],<ref name="How to install Broadcom Crystal HD driver on Ubuntu?">{{cite web|url=http://www.htpcbeginner.com/install-broadcom-crystal-hd-driver-ubuntu/ |title=How to install Broadcom Crystal HD driver on Ubuntu? |date=7 February 2014 |author=Anand Subramanian |work=htpcBeginner}}</ref><ref name="phoronix1">{{cite web|url=http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTAyODU |title=XBMC Project Implements AMD XvBA Interface |publisher=Phoronix.com |date=14 December 2011 |accessdate=24 January 2012}}</ref> [[AMLogic]] 8726-Mx VPU,<ref>http://liliputing.com/2013/05/xbmc-running-in-linux-on-a-tv-box-with-an-amlogic-am8726-mx-chip-video.html XBMC running in Linux on a TV box with an Amlogic AM8726-MX chip</ref> [[Freescale Semiconductor|Freescale]]'s [[i.MX|i.MX6x series]] VPU, and [[Allwinner Technology|Allwinner]]'s [[CedarX]]/[[CedarV]] VPU.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://linux-sunxi.org/XBMC|title=XBMC|publisher=linux-sunxi.org|date=10 July 2013|accessdate=23 July 2013}}</ref> By taking advantage of such hardware-accelerated video decoding, XBMC can play back most videos on many inexpensive, low-power systems, as long as they contain a supported VPU or GPU.

===Language support===
Kodi includes full [[internationalization and localization]] support with translations to many different languages by default, with its language files translated to over 74 languages to date.<ref name="transifex.com"/> Kodi'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, and after version 11.0 XBMC switched to using [[Gettext#Translating|GetText PO (Portable Object) formatted files]] for more easily handled translator translations using [[Transifex]] web-based translation platform with online [[Crowdsourcing|crowd-sourced]] translation services.<ref>{{cite web|author=New translation service 30 May 2012 blittan |url=http://xbmc.org/blittan/2012/05/30/new-translation-service/ |title=New translation service |publisher=Xbmc.org |date=2012-05-30 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref>
The latest version of XBMC currently supports over 74 languages.<ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/tree/master/language language at master from xbmc / language – GitHub</ref><ref>http://kodi.wiki/view/Intro_FAQ#What_is_XBMC.3F Intro FAQ - Kodi</ref>

==Core features==

===Addons Manager, addons and plugins===
Kodi features several open [[Application programming interface|APIs]] to enable [[third-party developer]]s to create capabilities which extend Kodi with a multitude of [[Plug-in (computing)|addons]], such as audio and video streaming plugins for online sources, widget scripts, skins/themes, visualizations, screensavers, web scrapers, weather forecasts, web interfaces, and more. Kodi developers encourage users to make and submit their own addons to add additional media content and [[value-added service]]s accessible from within Kodi.

Kodi/XBMC features, since version 10.0 (codename: "''Dharma''"), an 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 Kodi, the "''Addons Manager''" (or "''Addons Browser''") inside Kodi allows users to browse and download new addons directly from Kodi's GUI.

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. Kodi 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.

====Plugins and scripts====
Kodi features a 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 {{nowrap|Mac OS X}} [[Dashboard (Mac OS)|Dashboard Widgets]] and [[Microsoft Gadgets]]. Python widget scripts allow normal users to add new functionality to Kodi themselves, using Python scripting language. Current [[plugins|plugin]] scripts include functions like [[Internet television|Internet-TV]] and [[trailer (film)|movie-trailer]] browsers, weather forecast and cinemaguides, [[Over-the-top content]] video streaming services like YouTube, [[BBC iPlayer]], [[Hulu]], [[Netflix]], [[Veoh]], [[MLB.tv]], Internet-radio-station browsers such as Pandora Radio, online picture sharing sites like [[Flickr]], TV guides, e-mail clients, [[instant messaging]], train timetables, [[home automation]] scripts to [[Front-end and back-end|front-end]] control PVR software and hardware, [[Peer-to-peer|P2P]] file-sharing downloaders ([[BitTorrent (protocol)|BitTorrent]]), [[IRC]], also [[casual games]] such as [[Tetris]] 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"/>

====Metadata extraction and web scrapers====
Kodi has the built-in optional function to automatically download [[metadata]] information, [[cover art]] and other related media artwork online through its [[web scraping|web scrapers]] that looks for media in the user's audio / video folders and their sub-directories. These "scrapers" are used as [[Importer (computing)|importers]] to obtain detailed information from various Internet resources about movies and television shows. It can get synopses, reviews, movie posters, titles, genre classification, and other similar data. XBMCGUI then provides a rich display for audio and video files that the scrapers have identified.

Scrapers use sites like themoviedb.org<ref>{{cite web|url=http://simonpena.com/blog/mswl/butaca-imdb-and-tmdb/ |title=Butaca IMDb, and TMDb |publisher=Simonpena.com |date=2011-08-03 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref> or [[IMDb.com]] to obtain [[thumbnails]] and information on movies, [[TheTVDB|thetvdb.com]] for TV show posters and episode plots, [[CDDB]] for audio CD track listings, and [[Allmusic|Allmusic (AMG)]] and [[MusicBrainz]] for album [[thumbnails]], reviews, and metadata.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/>

More recently [http://fanart.tv Fanart.tv] has been added to the list of information sources<ref>{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/natethomas/2012/09/11/our-content-information-providers/ |title=Our Content Information Providers |publisher=xbmc.org |date=2012-09-11}}</ref> and XBMC can use it to retrieve logos, backgrounds, CDs with transparent backgrounds, album covers and banners among other image types for music artists, TV shows and Movies, the popularity of which contributed to XBMC being able to handle new image types.

====Skins and themes====
Like the majority of most applications that originated from a '[[homebrew (video games)|homebrew]]' scene, modification and customization of the interface using [[skin (computing)|skin]]s is very popular among Kodi users and hundreds of skins and themes are available for users to install. The Kodi skinning engine's flexibility is also advantageous to third parties wanting to create derivative works, as it facilitates rebranding the environment and making deeper changes to the look and feel of the user interface.

The skins "Confluence" and "Touch" are the two official default for; Kodi with an ever evolving variance of "Confluence" being the default set-top box style skin designed for large screen televisions and displays since XBMC version 9.11, and "Touch" which introduced with XBMC version 11.0 being design for small screen devices with [[Touchscreen|touchscreen display]]s, such as [[iPad]] tablets. Previously "Project Mayhem" was the default before XBMC version 9.11, this skin 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"/>

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 Kodi skin trading and development.<ref name="XBMC Skining Project">{{cite web|url=http://sourceforge.net/projects/xboxmediacenter |title=XBMC Skining Project |work=Sourceforge.net |accessdate=13 February 2010}}</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 or an exact replica of other multimedia software interfaces, such as [[Apple Front Row]], [[Windows XP Media Center Edition|Windows Media Center Edition (MCE)]], MediaPortal, [[Wii Menu|Wii Channel Menu (Xii)]], [[Xbox 360#Software|Xbox 360 interface]], and others.<ref name="Customize XBMC with These Five Awesome Skins"/>

====Web Interfaces====
Web Interface addons for Kodi 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 Kodi 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====
Kodi 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 [[GUI]] with [[thumbnail]] and different listings options. However, while this feature was fully functioning on the Xbox version of XBMC, it is still in its infant stage on Linux, {{nowrap|Mac OS X}}, and Windows, thus currently requiring third-party launcher plugins to function properly.<ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine"/>

===Live TV with EPG and PVR / DVR frontend===
From version 12.0 (Frodo) Kodi has a native Live TV with [[Electronic program guide|EPG (Electronic Program Guide)]] and [[Digital video recorder|DVR (Digital Video Recorder)]] features with a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) frontend GUI,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Watch_TV_in_XBMC |title=HOW-TO:Watch TV in XBMC |publisher=Wiki.xbmc.org |date=2012-11-17 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref><ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/1357 [pvr] add PVR and EPG support to XBMC</ref> enabling [[video capture]] and playback to and from a [[hard disk drive]] with PVR Client Addons for most popular PVR backends ([[TV tuner card]] server) that can be installed separately as plugins in XBMC.

PVR backend can either be networked DVR set-top box hardware or PC-based digital video recorder software which can run on the same computer or other computers on the same network. PVR software and hardware is available which can turn computers or appliances running [[Linux]], {{nowrap|[[Mac OS X]]}}, [[Microsoft Windows]], and [[Android (operating system)|Android]] devices into DVRs.<ref>http://www.techhive.com/article/2031217/htpc-showdown-which-front-end-interface-is-best-.html TechHive - HTPC Showdown: Which front-end interface is best?</ref>

PVR Client Addons are available for many PVR software and hardware such as Argus TV, DVBLink, DVBLogic, [[DVBViewer]], ForTheRecord, Tvheadend, [[MediaPortal]], [[MythTV]], [[NextPVR]] (formerly [[GB-PVR]]), [[Video Disk Recorder|VDR]], [[Windows Media Center]], and Enigma2-based DVR set-top boxes such as [[Dreambox]], [[DBox2]], and [[Vu+]].,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/1357 |title=XBMC PVR add-ons |publisher=Github.com |date=2012-09-02 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref> as well as PVR Client Addons for direct LAN connection to Network Attached TV-Tuners such as [[HDHomeRun]], PCTV Systems Broadway, [[VBox Home TV Gateway]], and Njoy Digital AnySee N7 DVB-S2 Network-Tuner.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tv2lan.com/page/show/faq-en#nil |title=Njoy N7 FAQ |publisher=Tv2lan.com |date= |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref> There is also a PVR Client Addon for the internet-based television provider [[FilmOn]] (FilmOn.TV Networks), as well as a simple PVR client addon for [[IPTV]] in general.

===Audio, video, and pictures playback and handling===
Kodi 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]] DVRs/PVRs, [[Universal Plug and Play|UPnP (Universal Plug and Play)]] / [[Digital Living Network Alliance|DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)]] shares, or stream [[iTunes]]-shares via [[Digital Audio Access Protocol|DAAP]]. Kodi can also take advantage of a broadband Internet connection if available to stream Internet-video-streams like YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, and Veoh, and play Internet-radio-stations (such as [[Pandora Radio]]). Kodi also includes the option to submit music usage statistics to [[Last.fm]] and [[Libre.fm]]. 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. Kodi can in addition [[Upscaling DVD|upscale/upconvert]] all [[SDTV|standard-definition]] 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=30 October 2009 |author=Jason Fitzpatrick |work=Lifehacker}}</ref>

Under Microsoft Windows, Kodi supports Directsound and WASAPI; since [[WASAPI]] performs no mixing or resampling, it provides best audio quality.<ref>[http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Windows_Settings_for_AudioEngine#XBMC_.26_the_Windows_Audio_API.27s XBMC: Windows Settings for AudioEngine]</ref>

====Format support====
Kodi can be used to play/view all common multimedia formats through its native clients and parsers. It can decode these audio and video formats in software or hardware, 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 digital media''': [[Blu-ray Disc]] (unencrypted), CDs, DVDs, [[DVD-Video]], [[Video CD]]s (including VCD/SVCD/XVCD), [[Red Book (CD standard)|Audio-CD (CDDA)]], [[USB Flash Drive]]s, and local [[Hard Disk Drive]]s
:* '''Network protocol clients''': [[AirPlay|AirPlay/AirTunes]],<ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/commit/ae7b0b54384485e85124bc33c0743ed7cad627a4 add airplay implementation from boxee project</ref><ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/447 Airtunes support for ios/osx/linux</ref> [[UPnP]] / [[Digital Living Network Alliance|DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)]], [[Server Message Block|SMB/SAMBA/CIFS]], [[Apple Filing Protocol|AFP]], [[Digital Audio Access Protocol|DAAP]], [[Zero configuration networking|Zeroconf]]/[[Avahi (software)|Avahi]]/[[Bonjour (software)|Bonjour]], [[Network File System (protocol)|NFS]], [[HTTP]], [[HTTPS]], [[WebDAV]], [[FTP]], [[Real Time Streaming Protocol|RTSP]] (RTSPU, RTSPT), [[Microsoft Media Services|MMS]] (MMSU, MMST), [[Podcasting]], [[Transmission Control Protocol|TCP]], [[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]], [[SSH file transfer protocol|SFTP]], [[Real-time Transport Protocol|RTP]] and [[Real Time Messaging Protocol|RTMP]] (including RTMP, RTMPT, RTMPE, RTMPTS, RTMPTE, RTMPS<ref>http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu/ RTMPDump used by XBMC</ref>), [[DHCP]], [[Network Time Protocol|NTP]]
:* '''Network protocol servers''': [[JSON-RPC]] server, [[D-Bus]] server, [[Web server]], [[FTP Server]], and [[UPnP AV media server]], and a multi-protocol Event Server<ref name="wiki.xbmc.org">http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=EventServer EventServer</ref>
:* '''Container formats''': [[Audio Video Interleave|AVI]], [[Moving Picture Experts Group|MPEG]], [[Windows Media Video|WMV]], [[Advanced Systems Format|ASF]], [[Flash Video|FLV]], [[Matroska|MKV/MKA (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]], [[DVR-MS]] and [[WTV (Windows Recorded TV Show)|WTV]]
:* '''Video formats''': [[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]]), [[High Efficiency Video Coding|HEVC (H.265)]], [[HuffYUV]], [[Indeo]], [[Motion JPEG|MJPEG]], [[RealVideo]], [[RMVB]], [[Sorenson codec|Sorenson]], VP8, [[VP9]], [[Windows Media Video|WMV]], [[Cinepak]]
:* '''Audio formats''': [[MIDI]], [[Audio Interchange File Format|AIFF]], [[WAV|WAV/WAVE]], [[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 (file format)|SHN]], [[WavPack]], [[Musepack|MPC/Musepack/Mpeg+]], [[Shorten (file format)|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 [[CD-DA]]
:* '''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]]
:* '''Subtitle formats''': AQTitle, [[SubStation Alpha|ASS/SSA]], [[Closed captioning|CC]], JACOsub, [[MicroDVD]], MPL2, MPlayer, MPsub, [[Ogg Media|OGM]], PJS, RT, [[SAMI|SMI]], [[SubRip|SRT]], [[SubViewer|SUB]], RealText, [[VSFilter|VOBsub]], ubViewer, VPlayer
:* '''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 Kodi [[metadata]] databases, is a key feature of Kodi. It allows the organization of video content by information associated with the video files (e.g. movies and recorded 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 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=====
Kodi uses one multimedia video player 'core' for video-playback. This video-player 'core' for video-playback is an in-house developed cross-platform media player, "''DVDPlayer''", originally designed to play back [[DVD-Video]] movies, and this includes support native for DVD-menus, (based on the free open source libraries code [[libdvdcss]] and libdvdnav). 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 or DVD-Video ([[IFO]]/[[VOB]]/[[.bup|BUP]]) images (even directly from uncompressed [[RAR (file format)|RAR]] and [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]] archives), from either local harddrive storage or network-share storage.<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"/>

====Audio playback in detail====

=====Music Library=====
The Music Library, one of the Kodi metadata databases, is another key feature of Kodi. 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, Kodi 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]], [[ReplayGain]], [[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. Kodi also has 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 KAR files.<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/>

====Digital picture/image display in detail====
Kodi handles all common [[digital camera|digital picture/image formats]] with the options of panning/zooming and slideshow with "[[Ken Burns Effect]]", with the use of [http://www.codeproject.com/bitmap/cximage.asp CxImage] open source 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 zoom the pictures of comics pages these contain without uncompressing them first.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/>

===Games Manager and game console emulators===
Development has been working on new core features which integrates a built-in Games Manager and Game Launcher front-end GUI with a Games Library, and [[Video game console emulator|Game Console Emulator]] API into Kodi. The code for all is currently actively being developed in a separate branch and is not expected to make it into Kodi mainline tree until version 15 at the earliest.<ref>http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQ3MTI XBMC Prepares Support For Running Emulated Games</ref>

Once merged into mainline the integrated Games Manager will add a new unified [[Video game|Games]] Manager Library and GUI front-end launcher with online metadata web scraping support for information about the games. It also introduces Game Addons as new type of addons with just-in-time emulator installation. Adding a Games Library for Game Metadata, exposing info (current level, number of lives, number of coins earned, etc.) to GUI, as well as extending the Addon API to support Game Client Addons, supporting Kodi's VFS (Virtual File System). In addition to a Joystick (and Gamepad) abstraction layer for common joystick API and joystick input clients.<ref>https://github.com/garbear/xbmc Garrett "garbear" Brown's RetroPlayer branch of XBMC</ref><ref>http://tech2.in.com/video/dell-inspiron-one-2320/278112/tomszNJjmqenwKqGuoe1ppeJvK7JorSXuKi5pbiqqISlh9qr/xbmc-integrated-emulation-with-libretro-retroplayer-wip Xbmc: Integrated Emulation with libretro RetroPlayer wip</ref>

Under active development is also "''RetroPlayer''" [[Video game console emulator|Video Game Console Emulator]] ([[ROM image|ROMs]]) interface supporting the libretro API and emulator cores (from the RetroArch project, which is its reference front-end). Libretro itself is a modular multi-system game/emulator system that is designed to be fast, lightweight, and portable.<ref>http://xbmcnightlybuilds.com/now-building-openelec-retroplayer-build-images/ Now Building OpenELEC-RetroPlayer Build Images</ref>

This RetroPlayer can via libretro emulator API support emulators for most popular retro game consoles, including but not exclusively; [[Atari 2600]], [[Atari Lynx]], [[Atari Jaguar]], [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)]], [[Super Nintendo]], [[Nintendo 64]], [[Game Boy]], [[PlayStation (console)|PlayStation]] (first-generation "PSX"), [[Sega]] Systems ([[Master System]], [[Sega Genesis|Genesis]], [[Sega CD]], [[Sega Game Gear|Game Gear]]), plus multiple retro [[arcade game]]s via [[MAME|MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator)]] and FBA (Final Burn Alpha), as well as [[ScummVM]] and [[MS-DOS]] based games.<ref>http://libretro.org Libretro - An API for Emulators and Games</ref>

==Mobile remotes and second screen apps==
There are many software applications for mobile devices available for and associated with Kodi. Some of these mobile apps just works as simple remote controls, while others functions as more advanced [[second screen]] companion apps, offering additional information about what you are viewing or listening to on Kodi. Additional information such as metadata about movie actors and music artists, with links to other works available from those persons in your collection or online.

'''''XBMC Remote for Android''''' and '''''XBMC Remote for iOS''''' are free and open source official apps for mobile devices released by Team-Kodi/Team-XBMC on [[Google Play]] for [[Android (operating system)|Android]] devices and the [[App Store (iOS)|App Store]] for [[iOS Devices]], such as [[iPhone]], [[iPad]], and [[iPod Touch]]. These applications act as a second screen<ref>{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.us/njbetzen/2012/06/15/airtunes-coming-to-xbmc-for-windows-and-why-airplay-is-awesome/ |title=Airtunes coming to XBMC for Windows… And Why AirPlay is Awesome |publisher=Xbmc.us |date=2012-06-15 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref> and remote control solution which allows for fully browsing the media library and for [[Touchscreen remote control|remote controlling]] of an installed and concurrently active XBMC session running on a computer via the handheld touchscreen user interface of these device.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.talkandroid.com/6960-xbmc-remote-for-android-now-official/ |title=XBMC Remote for Android now official |publisher=Talkandroid.com |date=19 July 2010 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/unofficial-official-xbmc-remote/id520480364?ls=1&mt=8 |title=Official XBMC Remote of iOS |publisher=Itunes.apple.com |date=2013-01-11 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref>

Several third-party developers have also released multiple other unofficial Kodi remote control apps for Android, [[BlackBerry]], [[Symbian]], [[Windows Mobile]], and [[Windows Phone]] devices, as well [[iOS (Apple)|Apple iOS]]. Some of these remote control apps are made specifically for controlling Kodi, 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>{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5501010/enhance-your-xbmc-experience-with-remote-controls-for-any-device |title=Enhance Your XBMC Experience with Remote Controls for Any Device |publisher=Lifehacker.com |date=24 March 2010 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref>

==Official versions==
Due to the dated hardware of the first-generation Xbox game console, that Kodi/XBMC was at first initially designed for, 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 Xbox version of XBMC.

However, in the latest official release of Kodi/XBMC there is [[Video Acceleration API|hardware accelerated video decoding]] for [[DXVA]], [[VDPAU]], [[VA-API]] 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="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=29 December 2009 |work=AnandTech}}</ref> The source code for XBMC is actively updated by developers in a public [[Git (software)|Git repository]], which may contain features and functionality not yet incorporated into the most recent 'stable' releases.

===Kodibuntu===
Kodibuntu (formerly ''XBMCbuntu'') is a free [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]]-based [[Linux distribution]] with Kodi (formerly ''XBMC'') for Linux already installed and pre-configured, providing a complete packaged media center software suite for all IA-32/x86-based personal computers. Kodibuntu uses Kodi software for all media playback and is primarily designed for [[Just enough operating system|bare-metal installation]]s to achieve [[instant-on]] type [[Booting|boot]] to achieve a set-top box experience on an HTPC. It replaces XBMCbuntu that in turn replaced XBMC Live, which was formerly the official [[Live CD]] (Linux) distribution.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|author=XBMC 11.0 - Eden 24 March 2012 natethomas |url=http://xbmc.org/natethomas/2012/03/24/xbmc-11-0-eden/ |title=XBMC 11.0 – Eden |publisher=Xbmc.org |date=2012-03-24 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref>

Kodibuntu operating-system is based on [[Lubuntu]], an Ubuntu Linux fork that is "lighter, less resource hungry and more energy-efficient" than the standard Ubuntu desktop distributions. The Microsoft [[Windows XP Media Center Edition|MCE]] Remote and IR-receiver dongle for Windows Media Center works with Kodibuntu directly out of the box, which mean that Windows Media Center users with these can try out the Kodibuntu 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 [[MythTV#Operating system bundles|Myth TV distributions]] and [[GeeXboX]], Kodibuntu is designed to simplify a permanent installation of Kodi onto a computer to be used as a dedicated home theater PC in the living-room, as such the user can directly install XBMC from the bootable CD to either a USB flash drive or to an internal hard disk drive as it comes with a complete instant-on ([[Linux kernel]]-based) [[embedded operating system]]. When installed onto a USB flash drive or internal hard disk drive, Kodibuntu has the ability to save settings and make updates to XBMC and the operating-system back onto the USB flash drive or hard disk drive that it is installed onto.

===Native applications===
''Kodi for Linux'' (formerly ''XBMC for Linux'') is primarily developed for Ubuntu Linux and Kodi's developers' own Kodibuntu (formerly ''XBMCbuntu''). 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. Hardware accelerated video decoding 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="XBMC & Broadcom Bring 1080p Decode Upgrade to ill-equipped netbooks, nettops, Apple TVs"/> Development version of Kodi/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]].

''Kodi for OS X''(formerly ''XBMC for Mac'') runs natively on {{nowrap|Mac OS X Tiger}} and later, 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 for hardware supporting Apple's VDA API, or video decoders such as the Broadcom Crystal HD.<ref name="XBMC & Broadcom Bring 1080p Decode Upgrade to ill-equipped netbooks, nettops, Apple TVs"/>

1080p playback on the first-generation Apple TV (a.k.a. "ATV1") 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="XBMC & Broadcom Bring 1080p Decode Upgrade to ill-equipped netbooks, nettops, Apple TVs"/>

''Kodi for Windows'' (formerly ''XBMC for Windows'') runs natively on Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8, 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=2 February 2010 |work=xbmc.org}}</ref><ref name="Changeset 27376">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/trac/changeset/27376 |title=Changeset 27376 |author=elupus |date=1 February 2010 |work=xbmc.org}}</ref> is now supported although this enhancement currently only runs on Windows 7 since it utilizes the DXVA 2.0 API which is not supported in Windows XP.<ref name="XBMC Roadmap">{{cite web|url=http://trac.xbmc.org/roadmap |title=XBMC Roadmap |date=8 February 2010 |work=xbmc.org}}</ref>

''Kodi for iOS'' (formerly ''XBMC 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 with all Apple's iDevices that uses [[Apple A4]] or [[Apple A5]] (ARM-based) processors with a jailbroken iOS operating-system.<ref>{{cite web|last=Foresman |first=Chris |url=http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/01/xbmc-on-appletv-ios-jailbreak |title=XBMC now running on jailbroken Apple TV or iDevice |publisher=Arstechnica.com |date=21 January 2011 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref>

''Kodi for Android'' (formerly ''XBMC for Android'') is a full port of the complete Kodi/XBMC application to Google's Android operating-system, officially compatible with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and later versions supporting [[Android Ice Cream Sandwich|API Level 14]].<ref>[http://developer.android.com/about/versions/android-4.0.html Android 4.0 APIs]</ref> was first announced and its source code released publicly on 13 June 2012. This is a full port of Kodi's {{nowrap|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 [[Native development kit|Android NDK (Native Development Kit for Android)]] without using a single line of Java, and the XBMC.APK is running natively under Android as a NativeActivity application.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lawler |first=Richard |url=http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/13/xbmc-for-android-app/ |title=XBMC for Android app revealed; source code available now |publisher=Engadget.com |date=2012-07-13 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref> Hardware accelerated video decoding on Android is currently only officially available for some specific hardware platforms, such as the [[Amlogic]] SoC based Pivos XIOS series which have been used as the reference hardware platform during the development so far.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/7/prweb9735690.htm |title=The 'X' Factor! Pivos Technology Introducing XBMC to its XIOS DS Media Play! |publisher=Prweb.com |date=2012-07-26 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref> XBMC source code must be compiled with Google's official Android NDK revision 10d or later, and be built for the ''android-17'' toolchain (Android API Level 17) using [[GNU Compiler Collection|GCC]] version 4.8, which Kodi for Android code currently requires to compile correctly but is not supported by Google's Android NDK. This is also the real reason why XBMC for Android does not support the original [[Google TV]], since the Android NDK was not made available for older Google TV devices it means that Kodi/XBMC could not be compiled for it today.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://spurint.org/journal/2012/10/google-tv-and-native-libraries/ |title=Google TV and Native Libraries |publisher=Spurint.org |date= |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref>

===Xbox===
{{Main|XBMC4Xbox}}
XBMC 9.04 (codename: ''Babylon'') point-release version of XBMC for Xbox, now obsolete, was released on 6 May 2009 as the last official version of XBMC for Xbox. The original developers of XBMC have since issued a statement stating they will no longer develop or support XBMC for Xbox as part of the XBMC project as of 27 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 spin-off project "[[XBMC4Xbox]]", who have completely taken over the development and support of XBMC for the original 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/signed Microsoft product, therefore a [[Xbox modding|modification of the Xbox]] is required in order to run XBMC on an Xbox game-console. XBMC for Xbox can be run as an 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 parties on sites unaffiliated with the official XBMC project.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine"/>

==Commercial systems==
The developers of Kodi (formerly ''XBMC'') state that as long as the GPL licensing of the Kodi software is respected they would love Kodi to run on as many third-party hardware platforms and [[operating system]]s as possible, as "'''''Powered by Kodi'''''" (or "'''''Powered by XBMC'''''") branded devices and systems. They envision Kodi being pre-installed as a [[third-party software component]] that commercial and non-commercial [[Original design manufacturer|ODM]]/[[Original equipment manufacturer|OEM]]'s and [[systems integrator]] companies 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 into [[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 Kodi or XBMC software pre-install, or sell uninstalled systems that specifically claim to be Kodi or XBMC-compatible. Many of these third-party companies help submit bug fixes and new features back upstream to the original Kodi/XBMC project.<ref name="xbmc.org"/>

===Computer hardware===
[[ARCTIC]] - a company based in [[Switzerland]] best known for their [[Computer cooling|cooling solutions]] worked in [[partnership]] with the [[OpenELEC]] team. On 5 February 2013, together they released a [[Computer cooling|fully passive cooled]] [[Home theater PC|Entertainment system]] - the MC001 [[Home theater PC|media centre]] ([[US]] and [[European Union|EU]] version), equipped with the latest XBMC 12 (OpenELEC 3.0) [[Computing platform|platform]]. [[OpenELEC]] and [[ARCTIC]] are planning on their next release, aim to provide a more dedicated builds for the [[ARCTIC]] MC001 [[Home theater PC|media centre]] [[system]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://openelec.tv/news/21-partners/82-arctic-announces-passive-cooled-systems-with-openelec-installed|title=ARCTIC announces passive cooled Systems with OpenELEC installed|publisher=http://openelec.tv |date=5 Feb 2013|accessdate=8 Feb 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=155073 |title=ARCTIC MC001 Fanless low cost HTPC |publisher=http://forum.xbmc.org/index.php |date=6 Feb 2013 |accessdate=8 Feb 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/6728/arctic-introduces-openelecbased-mc001xbmc-htpc |title=Arctic Introduces OpenELEC-based MC001-XBMC HTPC |publisher=www.anandtech.com|date=5 Feb 2013|accessdate=8 Feb 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://legitreviews.com/news/15098/ |title=ARCTIC MC001-XBMC Media Center Now Available w/ XMBC 12 |publisher=http://legitreviews.com|date=6 Feb 2013|accessdate=8 Feb 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.missingremote.com/news/2013-02-05/arctic-bundles-openelec-lower-priced-mc001-xbmc|title=ARCTIC Bundles OpenELEC with Lower Priced MC001-XBMC |publisher=www.missingremote.com|date=5 Feb 2013|accessdate=8 Feb 2013}}</ref>

AIRIS Telebision, sold by Telebision in Spain and designed specifically for the Spanish market, is a [[nettop]] based on [[Nvidia Ion]] chipset, preinstalled 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, made by LUCIDQ inc, is a nettop based on Nvidia Ion chipset which can be ordered with [[Xubuntu]] and XBMC software installed.

[[Pulse-Eight|Pulse-Eight Limited]] sells both custom and off the shelf hardware solutions primarily designed for Kodi/XBMC, such as remote controls, HTPC systems and accessories, including a custom HTPC PVR set-top-box pre-installed with XBMC that they call "''PulseBox''"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.pulse-eight.com/2011/09/22/pulsebox-out-10th-october/ |title=PulseBox out 10th October |publisher=Blog.pulse-eight.com |date=22 September 2011 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref> Pulse-Eight also offers free performance tuned embedded versions of XBMC that they call "''Pulse''" which is based on [[OpenELEC]] and a custom PVR-build of XBMC that is meant to run on your dedicated HTPC system.<ref>http://packages.pulse-eight.net Pulse-Eight Packages</ref>

[[Xtreamer]] Ultra and Xtreamer Ultra 2, manufactured by the South Korean company Unicorn Information Systems, are nettops based on Nvidia graphics and [[Intel Atom]] processors which comes with [[OpenELEC]] and Kodi/XBMC software pre-installed. The first-generation Xtreamer Ultra uses Nvidia Ion chipset with a 1.80&nbsp;GHz Dual-Core Intel Atom D525 CPU, while the Xtreamer Ultra 2 uses discrete [[GeForce 500 Series|GeForce GT 520M]] graphics with a 2.13&nbsp;GHz Dual-Core Intel Atom D2700 CPU.<ref name="linuxfordevices1">[http://archive.is/20130127213637/http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/OpenELEC-and-Xtreamer-Ultra/ XBMC-based embedded Linux distro debuts on HTPC mini-PC - News - Linux for Devices]. Archive.is (2011-10-21). Retrieved on 2013-07-24.</ref>

Since 10 September 2010, ZOTAC is shipping a 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 demos of with XBMC.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/05/04/zotac-shows-off-with-xbmc/ |title=Zotac shows off with XBMC |publisher=Xbmc.org |date=4 May 2010 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref> This ZOTAC Boost XL software bundle consist of the software applications; [[Auslogics BoostSpeed]], [[Cooliris]], [[Kylo (web browser)|Kylo (HDTV-optimized Web Browser)]], and XBMC Media Center.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bit-tech.net/news/industry/2010/09/11/zotac-announces-boost-xl-software-bundle-fo/1 |title=ZOTAC Announces Boost XL Software Bundle for Platforms |publisher=Bit-tech.net |date=11 September 2010 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref>

Zotac's ZBOX and MAG series of small Mini-PCs are nettop's based on Intel, AMD, or Nvidia graphics, 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, ID34, ID81, ID80 and AD04 are all specifically marketed towards the HTPC market, with some coming with [[slot-loading]] Blu-ray Disc optical disc drive, and some with a remote control.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/28/zotacs-zboxes-are-small-ion-fueled-and-cheap/ |title=Zotac's Zboxes are small, Ion-fueled, and cheap |publisher=Engadget.com |date=28 August 2010 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref>

The mintBox by the [[Linux Mint]] team is an OEM version of the Israeli company CompuLab's [[fit-PC]], which comes preinstalled with Linux Mint open source operating-system and software, [[MATE (desktop environment)]], and XBMC. Available in two fanless models, both with [[AMD Accelerated Processing Unit|AMD APU]]s, HDMI output port, eight USB slots, two eSATA ports, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, built-in Bluetooth, and an infrared media center remote control.<ref>{{cite web|last=Thomson |first=Iain |url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/11/linux_mint_mintbox/ |title=Linux Mint joins mini-PC hardware business |publisher=Theregister.co.uk |date=2012-06-11 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref>

===Dedicated devices===
PrismCube Ruby by Marusys is a DVB-S2 Twin-Tuner high-definition DVR/PVR set-top-box with running XBMC as its main interface on-top of embedded Linux.<ref>http://www.prismcube.com/ PrismCube</ref><ref>http://prismcube.org PrismCube.org Community</ref><ref>http://www.astrasat.nl/digitale-ontvangers/prismcube-xbmc-mediaplayer.html PrismCube XBMC mediaplayer</ref><ref>http://digitalt.tv/prismcube-set-top-box-baseret-pa-xbmc/ Prismcube – Set Top PVR Box baseret på XBMC</ref><ref>http://volpefirm.com/tech-review-i-hbbtv-linux-a-cool-box/ Tech Review | HbbTV, Linux & a Cool Box</ref>

The Little Black Box is a Linux kernel-based ARM media player with XBMC as its main interface.<ref>http://www.thelittleblackbox.nl The Little Black Box</ref><ref>http://www.tgdaily.com/consumer-electronics-features/71220-video-this-little-130-black-box-runs-xbmc-linux This little $130 black box runs XBMC Linux</ref><ref>http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/the-little-black-box-open-source-xbmc-media-centre-unveiled-video-29-04-2013/ The Little Black Box Open Source XBMC Media Centre Unveiled</ref><ref>http://www.j1nx.nl/thelittleblackbox-xbmc-for-the-masses/ TheLittleBlackBox – XBMC for the masses</ref><ref>http://www.cnx-software.com/2013/07/21/the-little-black-box-xbmc-stb-gets-users-feedback-becomes-available-on-amazon/ The Little Black Box XBMC STB Gets Users’ Feedback, Becomes Available on Amazon</ref><ref name="Gnews.com">{{cite web|url=http://gnews.com/littleblackbox-xbmc-linuxfree-streaming-15201306075926/ |title=TheLittleBlackBox (TLBB) launches XBMC media for the masses |publisher=Gnews.com |date=26 July 2013 |accessdate=26 July 2013}}</ref>

Marusys MS630S and MS850S are high-definition PVR-ready set-top-boxes with the ability to run Linux kernel-based media players like XBMC, and Marusys is advertising these two devices as compatible with XBMC.<ref name=Marusys>{{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=19 April 2010 |accessdate=17 May 2010}}</ref>

Myka ION is a 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 Desktop as applications that can be started from the main menu.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/11/05/myka-ion-brings-the-atom-and-ion-graphics-into-the-living-room/ |title=Myka ION brings Intel Atom and ION graphics into the living room |publisher=Crunchgear.com |date=5 November 2009 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref>

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>{{cite web|author=Dave Freeman |url=http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/08/10/modified-konstructs-announces-custom-media-center/ |title=Modified Konstructs Announces Custom Media Center |publisher=Crunchgear.com |date=10 August 2010 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref>

[[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-installed with XBMC Media Center.<ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/>

BryteWerks Model One Projector is a 1080p HD [[Video projector|digital video projector]] designed for home cinema use, it has an integrated Home Theater PC running a custom version of XBMC. In addition it features a remote control, as well as a 720p 8.9-inch [[Touchscreen|touch screen panel display]] on the back of the projector that allows you to control the system. It also has a built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet adapters, as well as a slot-loaded Blu-ray Disc player, and includes a 500&nbsp;GB [[solid-state drive]] and an additional internal 2&nbsp;TB hard disk drive can be added.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/05/brytewerks-model-one-combines-htpc-and-16-10-hd-projector-for-2/ |title=BryteWerks Model One combines HTPC and 16:10 HD projector for $2,449 |publisher=Engadget.com |date= |accessdate=24 January 2012}}</ref>

The Primus by Mediaimpact Technologies is a Linux Mint-based Media Center and Set-Top-Box that integrates MythTV, Netflix Desktop, Hulu Desktop, and Steam Gaming through Kodi for a seamless Home Entertainment system ready for the living room. Comes complete with SMK-Link remote control.<ref>http://www.blacksmithpc.com Blacksmith PC</ref>

==Derivatives and forks==
{{main|List of software based on Kodi and XBMC}}
Kodi/XBMC media center source code have over the years become a popular software to [[fork (software development)|fork]] and to use as an [[Software framework|application framework platform]] for others to base their own media player or media center software on, as if Kodi were a [[GUI toolkit]], [[windowing system]], or [[window manager]]. And today at least
[[List of software based on XBMC#Boxee|Boxee]], [[List of software based on XBMC#Plex|Plex]], [[List of software based on XBMC#TOFU Media Center by Pivos|Tofu]], [[List of software based on XBMC#MediaPortal|MediaPortal]], [[List of software based on XBMC#OpenELEC|OpenELEC]], [[List of software based on XBMC#OSMC .28formerly Raspbmc.29|OSMC]], [[List of software based on XBMC#GeeXboX|GeeXboX]], [[List of software based on XBMC#Voddler|Voddler]], [[List of software based on XBMC#DVDFab Media Player|DVDFab Media Player]], and [[List of software based on XBMC#Horizon TV by Liberty Global|Horizon TV]] are all separate derivative products that are all openly known to at least initially have forked the [[Graphical user interface|GUI (Graphical User Interface)]] and media player part of their software from XBMC's source code. Many of these third-party forks and derivative work of Kodi/XBMC are said to still assist with submitting bug fixes [[upstream (software development)|upstream]] and sometimes help getting new features [[backporting|backported]] to the original Kodi/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"/><ref name="Gnews.com"/> However some which was initially a fork of XBMC have since fully or partially been rewritten to use [[Proprietary software|closed source proprietary software]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/03/plex-announces-paternship-with-lg-pledges-to-beat-boxee-box-and/ |title=Plex announces partnership with LG, pledges to beat Boxee Box and Apple TV for free |publisher=Engadget.com |date=3 September 2010 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref> For more information see the main "[[List of software based on XBMC]]" article.

Some good examples on building on Kodi/XBMC are [[List of software based on XBMC#OSMC|OSMC]], [[List of software based on XBMC#OpenELEC|OpenELEC]] and [[List of software based on XBMC#GeeXboX|GeeXboX]] which are free and open source [[embedded operating system]]s providing complete media center software suite that comes with a pre-configured version of Kodi/XBMC and [[Digital video recorder|DVR/PVR]] plugins. They are both designed to be extremely small and very fast booting embedded [[Linux|Linux based]] distributions, primarily optimized to be booted from [[flash memory]] or a [[solid-state drive]], and specifically targeted to a minimum [[set-top box]] hardware setup based on ARM SoC's or Intel x86 processor and graphics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5851924/openelec-is-a-hassle+free-xbmc-distribution-for-home-theater-pcs |title=OpenELEC Is a Fast-Booting, Self-Updating Version of XBMC for Home Theater PCs |publisher=Lifehacker |date=20 October 2011 |accessdate=20 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTAwMzM |title=XBMC-Focused OpenELEC 1.0 Released |publisher=Phoronix.com |date=20 October 2011 |accessdate=20 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=OpenELEC 1.0 released 26 October 2011 natethomas |url=http://xbmc.org/natethomas/2011/10/26/openelec-1-0-released/ |title=OpenELEC 1.0 released |publisher=Xbmc.org |date=26 October 2011 |accessdate=20 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Thursday, 20 October 2011 04:18 |url=http://openelec.tv/news/item/207-openelec-1-released |title=OpenELEC 1.0 Released |publisher=Openelec.tv |date=20 October 2011 |accessdate=20 November 2011}}</ref><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><ref name="About OSMC">{{cite web|url=https://osmc.tv/about | title=About OSMC}}</ref>

Similar embedded Linux distributions to OpenELEC/GeeXboX are the professionally made [[List of software based on XBMC#E2BMC|E2BMC]] and [[List of software based on XBMC#OpenPCTV|OpenPCTV]] which are commercial Kodi/XBMC-based software platform for DVR/PVR set-top boxes, with both being designed as a hybrid integration between Kodi media center software and [[Dreambox]]'s Enigma2 PVR software scripts.<ref>http://www.e2bmc.com E2BMC Official Website (E2BMC.com)</ref><ref>http://www.youtube.com/e2bmc E2BMC YouTube Channel</ref><ref>http://www.mysatbox.tv/2014/02/e2bmc-new-videos.html E2BMC - New videos</ref><ref>http://www.satnigmo.com/2418/e2bmc-hybrid-between-enigma-2-and-xbmc/</ref><ref>http://cubieboard.org/2013/12/19/openpctv-for-cubietruck-or-cubieboard2/ OpenPCTV on Cubietruck/Cubieboard2</ref><ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx9ZXpQvWZs openpctv installation</ref><ref>http://sourceforge.net/projects/openpctv/ OpenPCTV Linux distribution based Enigma2/VDR/XBMC</ref><ref>https://linuxtoy.org/archives/openpctv-adding-full-tv-functionality-to-htpc.html OpenPCTV HTPC - LinuxToy.org</ref>

Another example is [[XBMC4Xbox]], which is a third-party developer 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 supported by the official Team Kodi in any way. It started when support for the Xbox branch was officially dropped by Team XBMC, which was announced on 27 May 2010.<ref name="Farewell XBOX"/>

==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. XBMC Foundation and the team of developers leading the development of Kodi/XBMC, "''Team-Kodi''"/"''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 Kodi/XBMC project.

The online [[User guide|user manual]] is [[wiki]]-based and community driven, and it also works as a basic developers guide for getting a good overview of Kodi's architecture. However, as with most non-profit software projects, 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===
[[File:XBMC Architecture Overview Schematic.png|thumb|250px|XBMC Architecture Overview Schematic.]]
Kodi is a cross-platform software application whose core is mainly programmed in {{nowrap|[[C++]]}}. Kodi uses [[OpenGL]] (or [[OpenGL ES]]) graphics [[rendering (computer graphics)|rendering]] under Kodi for both Linux and {{nowrap|Mac OS X}}, while Kodi for Windows uses [[DirectX|Microsoft DirectX]] multimedia framework and [[Direct3D]] rendering, as the [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]] version of XBMC did. Some of Kodi's own [[library (computing)|libraries]], as well as many third-party libraries that Kodi depends on, are written in the [[C (programming language)|C programming-language]], instead of {{nowrap|C++}} as Kodi's core, but they are then mostly used with a {{nowrap|C++}} wrapper and, through Kodi's core monolithic nature, are loaded via a [[dynamic linker]] [[Loader (computing)|loader]] for on-demand loading and unloading at [[Run time (program lifecycle phase)|run time]].<ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/><ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/> Kodi also still partially uses the SDL ([[Simple DirectMedia Layer]]) multimedia [[Software framework|framework]] for input on Linux, but its developers are working on completely removing that small remaining dependency on SDL.

Because of Kodi/XBMC's origin with the resource constraints on the hardware and environment of the first-generation Xbox game-console platform, all software development of Kodi/XBMC has always been focused on reserving the limited resources that existed on embedded system hardware, like the original Xbox (which was only a 733&nbsp;MHz [[Intel Pentium III]] and 64&nbsp;MB of RAM in total as [[Shared memory (interprocess communication)|shared memory]]), as well as the still relatively low resources of [[embedded system]] devices today, of which the main hindrance has always been the amount of available system [[random access memory|RAM]] and graphics memory at any one time. Due to this it means that Kodi/XBMC is purposely programmed to be very resource and power efficient and can therefore run on very low-end and relatively non-expensive hardware, especially when compared to other media center software design for HTPC use.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/>

But because of its origins from the Xbox game-console, Kodi/XBMC's legacy [[Rendering (computer graphics)|graphics renderer]] still runs in a more game-loop rendering environment rather than using a fully event-driven and on-demand rendering, meaning that it is almost constantly re-drawing the GUI and refreshing the frames as fast as it can, even when nothing is changing on the screen. This results in very high CPU and high GPU usage, which can be observed on embedded systems and low-end machines, and hence cause high temperatures, high fan activity, and high power consumption unless capped at a maximum frame per second configuration for that specific platform build. Work is however constantly ongoing by the developers to make Kodi/XBMC run using much fewer resources on low-power and embedded systems, which will indirectly benefit all non-embedded systems as well.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/> Efficiency improvements in this area are however being worked on in order to move away from that old style game-loop environment in order to reduce high CPU/GPU usage by the GUI, especially as XBMC usage on embedded platforms with limited CPU/GPU resources keeps growing in popularity. XBMC 11.0 (Eden) introduced Dirty-Regions rendering option for texture support to the XBMC skinning engine as an option,<ref name="Working with dirty regions 19 June 2011 theuni">{{cite web|author=Working with dirty regions 19 June 2011 theuni |url=http://xbmc.org/theuni/2011/06/19/working-with-dirty-regions/ |title=Working with dirty regions |publisher=Xbmc.org |date=19 June 2011 |accessdate=20 November 2011}}</ref> and XBMC 12.0 (Frodo) enabled Dirty Regions rendering to redraw the whole screen on a single dirty region by default on all platforms.<ref name="Working with dirty regions 19 June 2011 theuni"/><ref name="github.com">https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/1426 d-r: enable dirty-regions by default</ref> Work is also in progress for XBMC 14.0 to introduce an abstracted scene-graph deferred rendering for GUI renderer abstraction.<ref name="ReferenceA">https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/2681 GUI Renderer abstraction and move to deferred rendering</ref>

====Portability====
Kodi has a [[Software portability|portable code base]], with its [[Trunk (software)|trunk (mainline source code tree)]] officially 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 |accessdate=13 February 2010}}</ref><ref>http://elinux.org/BeagleBoard/GSoC/2010_Projects/XBMC BeagleBoard/GSoC/2010 Projects/XBMC</ref> The Kodi GUI does require 3D hardware accelerated graphics ([[Graphics processing unit|GPU]]) that support [[OpenGL ES]], [[OpenGL]], or [[EGL (OpenGL)|EGL]], or [[Direct3D]] with device drivers that support [[OpenGL ES]] 2.0, or OpenGL 1.3 or later with [[GLSL]], or [[DirectX]] in order to [[rendering (computer graphics)|render]] the GUI at an acceptable [[frame rate]].

Kodi is thus officially not yet available for the [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]] processor architecture upstream in mainline source code repository from Team-Kodi,<ref name="github2">https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/455 Add mips arch</ref> nor does it as yet support [[DirectFB]]<ref name="github1">https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/454 directfb: Initial support</ref> or [[Direct Rendering Infrastructure|DRI (Direct Rendering Infrastructure)]] rendering without OpenGL/GLES hardware accelerated graphics support.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/><ref name="github1"/><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=2 November 2009 |author=Tim Stevens |work=Engadget}}</ref> The combination of MIPS, DirectFB, and DRI is a popular architecture used today by simpler [[set-top box]]es like digital broadcasting (cable/satellite) boxes and low-end [[digital media player]]s, such as those based on [[MIPS architecture]] chipsets from [[Sigma Designs]] or [[Realtek]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iboum.com/artkill/chipsets.php |title=Media Player Chipsets |publisher=Iboum.com |date= |accessdate=24 January 2012}}</ref> Kodi ports to the MIPS processor architecture is, however, currently being actively worked on by several independent development teams.<ref name="github2"/>

Kodi for Linux supports [[toolchain]] building systems for embedded development such as [[Yocto Project|Yocto]], [[Buildroot]] ([[uClibc]]), and the [[Linaro]] set of Makefiles and patches for easing the generation of [[Cross compiler|cross-compilation]] toolchains as well as the creation of a file system on [[embedded Linux]] systems across a wide range of hardware, kernel platforms, and CPU architectures (x86, x86-64, ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, etc.).

===Python scripts as plugins and addons (widgets/gadgets)===
Kodi allows developers to create addons using a built-in [[Python (programming language)|Python interpreter]] (version 2.6 or higher depending on system<ref>http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Python_development#Version</ref>) and its own WindowXML [[application framework]], which together form an XML-based widget toolkit for which they can extend the capability of Kodi by creating a [[Graphical user interface|GUI]] for [[GUI widget|widgets]]. Python [[GUI widget|widget]] scripts allow non-developers to themselves create new add-ons for Kodi, using Python.<ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/>

===Application programming interface (API)===
Other than the [[application programming interface]]s (APIs) available to third-party Python scripts and addon plugins, Kodi features several other APIs for controlling Kodi remotely or from an external application. These APIs includes a [[JSON-RPC]] server, [[D-Bus|D-Bus Server]], [[Web server]], [[UPnP AV media server]] (with UPnP MediaServer ControlPoint, UPnP MediaRenderer DCP, UPnP RenderingControl DCP, and UPnP Remote User Interface server), and a custom multi-protocol Event Server<ref name="wiki.xbmc.org"/> for remote controls.

===GUI-engine and skinning (themes)===
Kodi/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 Kodi/XBMC), it provides a simple [[abstraction layer]] between the application code and the interface, while allowing extremely flexible dynamic layouts and animations that are easy to work with and makes it possible to create completely unique [[Skin (computing)|skin]]s for XBMC.<ref name="XBMC Skining Project"/> The skin files are written in [[XAML]], using a standard [[XML]] base, making [[theme (computing)|theme]]-[[skinning]] and personal customization very accessible.<ref name="Customize XBMC with These Five Awesome Skins"/>

==Current software limitations==
This is a list of software limitations currently in the Kodi/XBMC source code.
* Kodi's own internal cross-platform video and audio players ('''DVDPlayer''' and '''PAPlayer''') cannot officially 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 such 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. Such files can be played only by using another media player supporting DRM, or by removing the DRM protection from the file.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/>
* {{As of|2014|2}} Kodi supported plug-ins written in the Python script language and [[Binary file|binary]] add-ons.

==Reception==
XBMC won a [[Lifehacker|Lifehacker Awards]] in 2014 for "Best Media Player" in their entertainment selection.<ref>http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2014/12/lifehacker-awards-2014-best-media-player/ Lifehacker Awards 2014: Best Media Player</ref> 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> With [[Microsoft|Microsoft's]] decision to discontinue Windows Media Center (WMC) starting Windows 10, htpcBeginner.com voted Kodi not only as the best WMC alternative but also in many ways better than WMC.<ref name="Best Windows Media Center Alternatives">{{cite web|url=http://www.htpcbeginner.com/windows-media-center-alternatives/ |title=Best Windows Media Center Alternatives |work=htpcBeginner}}</ref>

==History==
{{See also|Xbox Media Player}}
Xbox Media Center (XBMC) was the successor to the popular [[Xbox Media Player|Xbox Media Player (XBMP)]] software. Xbox Media Player development stopped on 13 December 2003, by which time its successor 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 29 June 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. Not featured in XBMP, the addition of embedded [[Python (programming language)|Python]] was given the ability to draw interface elements in the GUI, and allowed user and community generated scripts to be executed within the XBMC environment.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/>

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 18 October 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 29 September 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 12 November 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 29 May 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="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>

Development on the Git 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 27 May 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"/>

On 2 January 2011, XBMC moved the source code repository from [[subversion (software)|subversion]] to [[Git (software)|git]], hosted at [[GitHub]].<ref name="XBMC Moves to Git">{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/theuni/2011/01/02/xbmc-moves-to-git/ |title=XBMC Moves to Git |date=2 January 2011 |author=Cory Fields}}</ref>

On 1 August 2014, an announcement was made of release 14 and name change to Kodi.<ref name="XBMC becomes Kobi">{{cite web|url=http://kodi.tv/introducing-kodi-14/ |title=XBMC Is Getting A New Name |date=1 August 2014}}</ref>

===Releases===
This is a release history with condensed change-log lists for the most important added or removed notable new features, functions, and changed in each stable version of Kodi/XBMC.
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Color
! Meaning
|-
| style="background:salmon;" | Red
| Old releases
|-
| style="background:#a0e75a;" | Green
| Current release
|-
| style="background:skyBlue;" | Blue
| Future releases
|}

{|class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:100%;"
|-
! style="background:#cfc;" colspan="5"|<span><sub>&nbsp;</sub><br/>Release history<br/><sub>&nbsp;</sub></span>
|-
! Version
! Release date
! Codename
! Significant changes
! XBMC Live / XBMCbuntu based on
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:salmon" | 1.0.0
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 29 June 2004
| style="white-space: nowrap" |
|
* Total rewrite of the source code from [[Xbox Media Player|XBMP (Xbox Media Player)]]
|{{n/a}}
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:salmon" | 1.1.0
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 18 October 2004
| style="white-space: nowrap" |
|
* Zoom/stretch options: zoom, stretch 4:3 or 14:9 or 16:9, original size, custom
* Tags parsing and display for wma, m4a, mp4 and aac (mpeg-4 audio) audio-files
* International-language fonts for subtitles via TTF-fonts
* Audio CD ripper, backup cdda's to hdd in wav, Ogg or MP3 (LAME) format
* Karaoke CDG-file and audio CUE-sheets (.cue) support
* iIunes 6.x music shares via DAAP (network stream from Apple iTunes)
* Auto-temperature and fan-speed control options
* Network-configuration and setup via GUI
* Profiles for settings
* Mouse support and virtual keyboard
* LCD-display output extended to also support xaddons lcd-mods and xecuter3 lcd
* Upgrade FFmpeg (libavcodec and libavformat) libraries
| {{n/a}}
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:salmon" | 2.0.0
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 29 September 2006
| style="white-space: nowrap" |
|
* Reworked skinning engine.
* New internally developed video player ("DVDPlayer") with DVD-Video menu/navigation support (with ISO/IMG image parsing)
* New internally developed audio/music-player ("PAPlayer") with crossfade, gapless playback and ReplayGain support
* RAR/ZIP archive parsing
* Karaoke CDG-file display
* Xored Trainer Engine (gaming-cheats) (not ported from Xbox to other platforms yet)
* XLink Kai (online-gaming) front-end (not ported from Xbox to other platforms yet)
* Added UPnP / DLNA client
* Read-only support for FAT12/16/32 formatted USB mass storage devices
* New "skinnable" 3D visualizer.
* Upgrade FFmpeg (libavcodec and libavformat) libraries
| {{n/a}}
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:salmon" | 8.10
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 15 November 2008
| style="white-space: nowrap" | Atlantis
|
* Cross-platform support adding support for Linux, {{nowrap|Mac OS X}}, and Windows
* New default high definition skin "PM3.HD"
* "XBMC Live" bootable CD with unified hard disk/USB flash disk installer
* The XBMC profile
* Integration of iTunes and iPhoto media ({{nowrap|[[OS X]]}} exclusive).
* Upgrade FFmpeg (libavcodec and libavformat) libraries
| Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:salmon" | 9.04
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 6 May 2009
| style="white-space: nowrap" | Babylon
|
* PPC (PowerPC) support for {{nowrap|[[Mac OS X]]}} ([[PowerPC G4]] or later)
* VDPAU (Nvidia's Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix)
* New Karaoke features
* Officially dropped support for the Xbox as a platform for XBMC
* Updated codecs and major bug-fixes for DVD-Video playback core
* More media info scrapers
* Improved FanArt and Artwork support
* Revamped skinning engine
* Upgrade FFmpeg (libavcodec and libavformat) libraries
| Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope)
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:salmon" | 9.11
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 24 December 2009
| style="white-space: nowrap" | Camelot
|
* Revamped user interface via the new default skin "Confluence"
* DirectX support by default for the Windows platform
* A complete reorganization of the settings menus uniformed across skins
* Automatic video information extraction
* Out-of-the-box support for new remotes
* Smoother video playback performance
* All scrapers updated
* Increased subtitle and Karaoke lyric support
* Support for CoreAudio API ({{nowrap|[[OS X]]}} exclusive)
* AC3 and DTS digital audio pass-through to S/PDIF on Apple TV (thanks to CoreAudio)
* Upgrade FFmpeg (libavcodec and libavformat) libraries
| Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:salmon" | 10.0 and 10.1
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 18 December 2010
| style="white-space: nowrap" | Dharma
|
* Unified addon framework
* Addon browser GUI for installation and management of third-party addons, skin, and scripts
* Team XBMC's official Addons Repository with Addon FanArt support
* Update notifications
* Movie Sets (option to group movie collections)
* Gesture support to XBMC's GUI engine
* Unencrypted Blu-ray Disc support
* Broadcom Crystal HD video acceleration support (all platforms)
* Windows Touch API support (Windows 7 touch features and functions)
* [[DXVA]] 2.0 (DirectX Video Acceleration) (Windows Vista/7 exclusive)
* WASAPI (Windows Audio Session API) for raw bitstream output (Windows Vista/7 exclusive)
* High-quality bicubic and lanczos upscalers (video resamplers) as Direct3D HLSL (Windows Vista/7 exclusive) and OpenGL GLSL shaders
* Direct3D port of the OpenGL Spectrum 3D Audio Visualization for DirectX (Windows Vista/7 exclusive)
* Visual Studio 2010 Express edition and Visual Studio 2010 non-Express edition support (Windows Vista/7 exclusive)
* ARM processor architecture (Linux exclusive)
* VA-API (Video Acceleration API) support (Linux exclusive)
* OpenMAX Video Acceleration API support for Linux (Linux exclusive)
* [[ARM NEON|NEON (Advanced SIMD instruction set)]] CPU acceleration support for the ARM architecture under Linux
* Apple VDADecoder Video Acceleration support ({{nowrap|[[OS X]]}} exclusive requires Snow Leopard and Nvidia GeForce 9400 or later)
* OpenGL ES 2.0 compliance
* JSON-RPC, JSON API
* RTMPE and RTMPTE streaming support
* Microhttpd Web Server replaces old GoAhead and Spyce code
* SSH file transfer protocol (sftp) streaming support via libssh
* MySQL database backend
* Upgrade FFmpeg (libavcodec and libavformat) libraries
| Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx)
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:salmon" | 11.0
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 24 March 2012
| style="white-space: nowrap" | Eden
|
* iOS port for Apple TV 2G, iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad
* Dirty Regions rendering option for texture support to skinning engine (disabled by default)<ref name="Working with dirty regions 19 June 2011 theuni" />
* Efficiency improvements to reduce high CPU/GPU usage
* Default skin changed to a horizontal home layout
* New RenderCapture type to the Python script framework to enable [[Ambilight]] clone addons
* Combined Files and Library mode for videos
* Playback of ISO image files for Blu-ray Disc support
* Slingbox playback over the network support
* Peripheral manager controller under settings
* [[Consumer Electronics Control|HDMI CEC (Consumer Electronics Control)]] support for Pulse-Eight's USB CEC Adapter
* Improved Apple VDADecoder Video Acceleration support
* Improved Touch / Gesture API and Mouse support
* Improved ARM processor architecture support
* Improved OpenMAX Video Decoding Acceleration support for Linux
* Improved OpenGL ES and EGL support
* Improved JSON-RPC API compliance with JSON-RPC 2.0 specifications
* Improved VDPAU performance
* VDPAU HQ Upscaling support (require Nvidia's capable GPU)
* H.264 accelerated video decoding via Apple's VideoToolBox API
* JPEG accelerated image decoding via Apple's VideoToolBox API
* Added basic [[Dynamic range compression|DRC (Dynamic Range Compression)]] volume limiter
* AirPlay / AirTunes target support
* Extended Addons API adding extension points for Service Addons
* Ability for all addons to provide their own web interface
* Removed native weather forecast scraper, use weather addons instead
* Added support for multiple simultaneous HID device mappings
* FFmpeg upgraded (libavformat and libavcodec)
| [[Lubuntu]] 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot)
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:salmon" | 12.0, 12.1,
12.2 and 12.3
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 29 January 2013
| style="white-space: nowrap" | Frodo<ref>[http://xbmc.org/natethomas/2013/01/29/xbmc-12-0-frodo/ XBMC 12.0 - Frodo]</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=XBMC 12.0 Frodo - Beta 1 15 November 2012 natethomas |url=http://xbmc.org/natethomas/2012/11/15/xbmc-12-0-frodo-beta-1/ |title=12.0 Frodo - Beta 1 |publisher=XBMC |date=2012-11-15 |accessdate=2013-01-28}}</ref>
|
* Added unified PVR front-end with seamless DVR and a common EPG client GUI
* Added unified PVR back-end framework and API for multiple PVR servers
* Added initial unstable XBMC for [[Android (operating system)|Android]] port with support on ARM and x86
* Added [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD (operating system)]] port for FreeBSD, PC-BSD, and other similar BSD platforms
* Added unified "AudioEngine" audio abstraction framework with an API and platform [[Sink (computing)|sinks]]
* Added hardware accelerated video decoding on Intel GPUs under {{nowrap|[[Mac OS X]]}} (Snow Leopard and later)
* Added dedicated AMLPlayer video player for hardware-accelerated video decoding on Amlogic
* Added dedicated OMXPlayer video player for hardware-accelerated video decoding via OpenMAX IL API
* [[ARM NEON|NEON (Advanced SIMD instruction set)]] CPU acceleration support for the ARM architecture
* Improved ARM processor architecture (Pivos XIOS DS and Raspberry Pi as reference devices)
* Improved OpenGL ES and EGL support (Pivos XIOS DS and Raspberry Pi as reference devices)
* Added ability to run a split display resolution for GUI and video playback on embedded platforms<ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/1467 Add the ability to run a split gui/display resolution for embedded platforms</ref>
* Enable Dirty Regions rendering to redraw whole screen on single dirty region by default on all platforms<ref name="Working with dirty regions 19 June 2011 theuni"/><ref name="github.com"/>
* Improved HDMI CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) support for Pulse-Eight's LibCEC
* Library customization that allows for custom video nodes
* Added Advanced Library Filtering for movies, TV shows, music videos, and music views
* Improved Smart Playlists for Advanced Library Filtering
* Custom tagging of movies, TV shows and music videos to simplify sets with scraping
* Added support for both banner and poster video art types simultaneously<ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/1575 Poster banner support for video art</ref>
* Added storing of "Episode ID" for First Aired, DVD Episode Number, and Absolute Number sort order
* Added support for exporting video art as JPG or PNG rather than TBN file extension
* Switched to [[TagLib]] for reading metadata embedded into audio files
* Better library database handling for faster browsing
* Improved image and texture caching for GUI speedup
* Optimize the GUI rendering engine for embedded devices
* Improved Touch / Gesture API support for touchscreen interfaces
* Added [[HTTP Live Streaming|HLS (HTTP Live Streaming)]] and [[extended M3U|M3U8 (Extended M3U)]] playlist support
* Added [[WebSocket]] support for JSON-RPC and to Addons API<ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/511 add websocket support for JSON-RPC</ref>
* Added basic support for PVR / EPG extensions and notifications over the JSON-RPC API
* Added SmartPlaylist Extensions and Extended Filtering in JSON-RPC<ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/1258 smartplaylist extensions & extended filtering in JSON-RPC</ref>
* Added support for screensavers written in [[Python (programming language)|Python]]
* Added ability to extend XBMC's native Python API by writing {{nowrap|C++}} code generated via [[Groovy (programming language)|Groovy]] and [[SWIG]]<ref name=Github901>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/901 Replace the entire scripting engine with one that's code-generated</ref>
* Blu-ray Disc HDMV menu support (but not [[BD-J]] / [[BD-Live#BD-Live|BD-Live]] menus)<ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/464 HDMV menus support for Blu-ray Disc</ref>
* Improved [[deinterlacing]] "Weave" method for playback of [[interlaced video]] when [[Video scaler|upscaling]]
* Improved performance of the default web interface (complete rewrite of JavaScript loading)
* Improved AirPlay / AirTunes target support
* Improved the Audio-CD ripper that now works as a background task job
* Add test suite based on [https://code.google.com/p/googletest/ Google {{nowrap|C++}} Testing Framework] to make [[regression testing]] easier
* Added support controlling external XBMC and third-party UPnP/DLNA instances over UPnP
* Upgraded Platinum (libplatinum) UPnP and DNLA libraries
* Upgrade FFmpeg (libavcodec and libavformat) libraries
* Removed the old HTTP API in favour of the new JSON-RPC API
| ?
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:salmon" | 13.0
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 4 May 2014
| style="white-space: nowrap" | Gotham
|
* Added first stable XBMC for [[Android (operating system)|Android]] port with multi-architecture platform support (supports ARM, MIPS, and x86)
* Add built-in command for addons and skins to execute Android apps with optional params via applicationmanager
* Added Stereoscopic 3D rendering support (Side-by-Side, Top-Bottom, and Anaglyph) to XBMC's GUI skinning engine
* Added Stereoscopic 3D rendering support (Side-by-Side, Top-Bottom, and Anaglyph) for Subtitles when in 3D mode
* Added further optimizations to XBMC's GUI engine for faster rendering on low resource embedded devices
* Added much improved PVR / EPG and Live TV interface in XBMC's GUI skinning engine (already in use in Confluence)
* Added improved PVR / DVR [[Time shifting|timeshift]] support (though note that each PVR backend still need to support [[Time shifting|timeshifting]])
* Added much improved PVR / EPG extensions and notifications support over the JSON-RPC API
* Added an event driven ActiveAE audio sink as new default sink for AudioEngine (XBMC's audio engine)
* Added PulseAudio sink for AudioEngine for Linux
* Added Darwin sink for AudioEngine for {{nowrap|Mac OS X}} and iOS
* Added support for CoreAudio AudioEngine to OS notifications for device changes on {{nowrap|Mac OS X}} and iOS
* Added [https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/2040 ImageFactory implementation] with factory to abstract different image libraries and hardware acceleration
* Add unified buffering capability to video and overlay renderers for all internal players
* Added VA-API (libva) support for decoding videos with larger resolutions than 1080p (such as [[4K resolution]])
* Add MediaCodec API (Android 4.1 API level 16) software rendering implementation support to XBMC's DVDPlayer
* Add StageFright API (Android 4.0 API level 14) hardware rendering implementation support to XBMC
* Added OpenMAX Video Acceleration API support for OpenMAX AL API on Android via StageFright and MediaCodec
* Improved OpenMAX Video Acceleration API support for Linux
* Add support for OpenMAX pipeline to handle JPEG decode/resize/convert/encode to texture on Raspberry Pi
* Added support for hardware accelerated MJPEG, VP6, VP8 and Ogg Theora video decoding on Raspberry Pi
* Added support for Fast Forward and Rewind video up 4x to OpenMAX (OMXPlayer) on Linux for Raspberry Pi
* Add support multi-channel PCM audio output over HDMI to OpenMAX (OMXPlayer) on Linux for Raspberry Pi
* Added RenderCapture implementation to Linux for Raspberry Pi for Ambilight addons
* Add screenshot implementation to Linux for Raspberry Pi that includes the video layer
* Add support for H.264 (including [[Hi10P]]) multi-threaded video decoding when software decoder on CPU is used
* Added support for Pixel Shader-based HQ (High Quality) scalers for DXVA renderer on Windows
* Add support for addon binary reading and writing via a "buffer" class usable from addons
* Add announce function and register addon for announcements to the Add-ons API
* Add WOL (Wake-on-LAN) with send magic packet function to the Add-ons API
* Added native volume control for Android from within XBMC
* Added external player (external player launcher) support on Android
* Added support allow landscape and reverse landscape orientation on Android
* Added support for CoreAudio AudioEngine to OS notifications for device changes on OSX and iOS
* Added support for customizable menu structure for home and beyond
* Added tag field support for TV Shows and MusicVideos in SmartPlaylists
* Added support to read SmartPlaylists XML files with XMLUtils where possible
* Added support for XBMC's Python interface to use native keyboard if possible (currently only iOS)
* Added support for "last played" sort option to the TV Show GUI
* Add ability to queue list of items / add items to a playlist without playing them
* Add ability to play external audio track with videos
* Add a Monitor class to receive JSON-RPC notifications directly through the Python bindings
* Added support for "Play to" and controlling remote XBMC / DLNA instance over UPnP
* Added support to allow key IDs in keyboard.xml to be in hexadecimal format
* Added a simple Movie Set management to GUI for Edit/Clear Set and Add/Remove Set members
* Added extensive [[MusicBrainz]] tags support to the Music Library and Database
* Added support for video playback of SageTV recordings
* Added theaudiodb.com music video scraper as new default for music videos
* Added support for scanning videos SFTP and SSH sources so can scrape metadata
* Added "Add art" button to video artwork selection dialog
* Add option support for both banner and poster music art types simultaneously
* Add option support for exporting music art as JPEG or PNG rather than TBN file extension
* Added support for OGG cover art extraction to TagLib
* Added new "Fishbmc" OpenGL audio visualization addon for Linux and {{nowrap|Mac OS X}}
* Added support for write-enabled WebDAV (delete/rename/write files and directories)
* Added a generic and user-mappable cross-platform touch input system
* Added hot-plug support for Linux input devices, such as Bluetooth remotes and keyboards
* Added picture tags metadata info accessible for skins or addons developers
* Added option to set auto login of a specific user profile via the GUI
* Added new Built-In function to control state of attached HDMI CEC device
* Added hybrid shutdown option on Windows 8 (which in turn enables quick boot)
* Added CPU / GPU frequency and temperature for all supported Linux platforms
* Add initial support for running libxbmc.so headless (without GUI) as a background service / deamon
* Moved subtitle addon core handling to core and added native support for subtitle plugin services
* Added support for Forced Subtitles ("forced flag") in external subtitle files
* Added option for allowing skins to query directories (e.g. plugins) to fill static content
* Added support for native media control bar and play background music on iOS
* Added support and GUI settings for SOCKS 4/4a/5 proxy types and remote DNS
* Added GUI settings levels for Basic, Standard, Advanced, Expert (defaults to "Standard")
* Added possibility to define help descriptions ("I" key) for every setting in GUI settings
* Refactored settings system to consist of XML files containing descriptions of every setting
* Move LCD API and LCDproc support out of XBMC's core and instead into a Python script service add-on
* Added support for copy and paste to and from clipboard with command key
* Upgrade DVD-Video navigation and playback libraries (libdvdnav, libdvdread, and libdvdcss)
* Upgrade SAMBA client to version 3.6.x adding full support for SMB 2.0 and SMB 2.1 protocols
* Upgraded FFmpeg (libavcodec and libavformat) libraries to release version 1.2 (rev e820e3a)<ref>[http://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html#release_1.2 FFmpeg 1.2 "Magic"]</ref>
* Added adaptions for developing XBMC on non-jailbroken iOS devices (for development only, not to release on App Store)
* Updated community maintained translations to over 60+ languages to date for XBMC<ref name="transifex.com"/>
* Remove dependencies of SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) for windowing and event handling on X11
* Remove Windows XP support (and now XBMC for Windows requires at least Vista or later)
| ?
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:salmon" | 14.0
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 23 December 2014
| style="white-space: nowrap" | Helix
|
* Renamed and rebranded to Kodi Media Center (from XBMC Media Center)
* Add framework support for binary addons (inc. closed source proprietary addons) for audio encoder codecs
* Add support for audio encoder codecs via a binary addons and move Vorbis, LAME, Flac and WAV audio encoders to addons
* Add native [[XvBA]] accelerated video decoding for AMD/ATI GPUs on Linux<ref name="phoronix1"/>
* Add initial optional X11 support on EGL (EGL-X11) based systems on Linux, full-screen mode only
* Add support for [[High Efficiency Video Coding|HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding)]] a.k.a. H.265 software video decoding
* Add support for Planar Formats and PTS audio synchronization from player in ActiveAE
* Improved network and file system reading when scanning files and searching for subtitles
* Add capability for Text-to-Speech screen readers addons for visual impaired
* Upgrade XBMC for Windows and binary addons to compile with Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 by default
* Upgrade [[Simple DirectMedia Layer|SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer)]] from version 1.2 to 2.0 for improved input-support on Linux
* Upgrade FFmpeg (libavcodec and libavformat) libraries to release version 2.x
| ?
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:#a0e75a" | 15.0
| style="white-space: nowrap" | 21 July 2015
| style="white-space: nowrap" | Isengard
|
* Enhanced PVR and EPG frontend GUI in Kodi and extended the PVR API to support more features and functions
* Added a FilmOn PVR Addon backend clients maintained and available from Kodi's community
* Added a PCTV Systems PVR Addon backend clients maintained and available from Kodi's community
* Added a VBox TV Gateway PVR Addon backend clients maintained and available from Kodi's community
* Added MIPS processor architecture support for Linux ([[Imagination Technologies]] MIPS Creator CI20 as reference)
* Added further optimizations to XBMC's GUI engine for faster rendering on low resource embedded devices
* Added initial integration for binary addons support and changing the Kodi build system around it
* Added framework support for binary addons (inc. closed source proprietary addons) for audio codecs
* Extend Addons API to support binary addons (inc. closed source proprietary addons) for audio codecs
* Added support for HEVC hardware decoding for MediaCodec API in Android 4.4.2 and later when the VPU supports it
* Added support for HEVC hardware decoding on Amlogic SoCs in Android 4.4.2 and later when the VPU supports it
* Added support for [[UltraHD]] decoding / [[4K resolution]] output on Amlogic SoCs in Android when HW supports it
* Added support for de-interlacing using BOB deinterlace method on Android
* Added adaptive skipping/seeking through audio and video playback, also known as "skip steps"
* Added an accessibility settings section to provide one configuration area for the visually and hearing impaired
* Added support for Closed Captions (CC) in CEA-608 and CEA-708 formats
* Improved Closed Captions support for Live TV
* Improved PVR API and database adding many new EPG and Channel properties
* Improved and expanded the internationalization and regional settings options in the GUI
* Added support for external subtitles over UPnP (and DNLA)
* Added a Chapter Selector Window with visual thumbnails
* Improved web server caching control
* Added support Sound Addons for skins instead of including sound files within each skin.
* Improved the "GlobalSearch" (addon) function by adding EPG search support
* Added support for Language Addons, moving internal Language translation files into external Language Addons
* Added support for context-menu addons for skinners and addon developers
* Added option for addons scripts to check status of DPMS energy saving functions of underlying OS
* Removed internal Language translation files into external addons
* Removed internal MythTV VFS client code in favour of its external PVR Client Addon
* Removed internal VDR (VTP) VFS client code in favour of its external PVR Client Addon
* Removed internal Tvheadend (HTSP) VFS client code in favour of its external PVR Client Addon
* Removed internal TuxBox (Dreambox/DBox2/Vu+/Enigma2) VFS client code in favour of external PVR Client Addon
* Removed internal ReplayTV (DirectTV) VFS client code in favour of external PVR Client Addon
* Removed internal DAAP VFS client code for iIunes 6.x music shares (network stream from older Apple iTunes)
* Removed the dependency for root/SU access permission rights on Android
* Removed legacy code to backwards compatibility for skins made pre-Frodo (XBMC 11.0)
* Removal AFP filesystem support from Kodi's VFS (Virtual File System)
* Removed dependencies of SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) for everything but hardware abstraction for input devices
* Moved to Android API 17 as minimum with SDK 14 and NDK 10e, meaning at least Android 4.2 is now required
* Moved to iOS 8.1 SDK, minimum iOS 5.1 is now required, and removed support for Apple TV 2
* Moved to Mac OSX 10.10 SDK, meaning minimum Mac OSX 10.7 Lion is now required, and no more 32-bit builds
* Upgraded FFmpeg (libavcodec and libavformat) libraries to release version 2.6.x
* Upgraded LibCEC (HDMI-CEC code from Pulse-Eight) libraries to release version 3.0.0
* Changed Kodi application code base to C++11
| ?
|-
| style="white-space: nowrap; background:skyBlue" | 16.0
| style="white-space: nowrap" | Release Target Date: ?
| style="white-space: nowrap" | Jarvis<ref>http://kodi.wiki/view/Kodi_v16_(Jarvis)_changelog</ref>
|
* Extend the Addon API to support Game Client Addons, supporting XBMC's VFS (Virtual File System), etc.
* Add RetroPlayer [[Video game console emulator|Video Game Console Emulator]] ([[ROM image|ROMs]]) interface supporting the libretro API and emulator cores
* Add generic and user-mappable cross-platform Joystick (and Gamepad) abstraction layer for joystick APIs and joystick clients
* Add support for "Peripheral" Addons for updatable configuration of input devices<ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/2706 Peripheral add-ons</ref>
* Add support for PVR addons to handle RDS radio signals (UECP and Rass formats)
* Add a Stalker Middleware Addon backend clients maintained and available from Kodi's community
* Add support for media importing and library integration of UPnP / DNLA
* Add basic support for [[audiobook]]s (.m4b, .mka and .mp3 files with chapters), with resume support
* Add ability to open the SmartPlaylist Editor for a given playlist
* Add support for flagging of local verses remote content, and flagging of online verses temporary offline remote content
* Add support for handling duplicate media in several ways (ex. multiple versions of same movie in different resolutions)
* Add [https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/2040 ImageFactory implementation] with factory to abstract different image libraries and hardware acceleration
* Add further optimizations to XBMC's GUI engine for faster rendering on low resource embedded devices
* Add abstracted scene-graph deferred rendering for GUI renderer abstraction<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
* Add support for Audio DSP (Digital Signal Processing) plugins and addons for Kodi's AudioEngine
* Add framework support for binary addons (inc. closed source proprietary addons), for video codecs
* Extend Addons API to support binary addons (inc. closed source proprietary addons), for video codecs
* Add framework support for binary addons (inc. closed source proprietary addons), for media player cores
* Extend Addons API to support binary addons (inc. closed source proprietary addons), for media player cores
* Add support for [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[Go (programming language)|Go]], [[Modula-3]], [[OCaml]], [[GNU Octave|Octave]], and [[Scheme (programming language)|Scheme]] addons via [[Groovy (programming language)|Groovy]] and [[SWIG]] code-generation<ref name=Github901 />
* Add support for [[Lua (programming language)|Lua]], [[Perl]], [[PHP]], [[R (programming language)|R]], [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]], [[Tcl]] [[scripting language]]s based add-ons via Groovy and [[SWIG]] code-generation<ref name=Github901 />
* Add support for display on [[DirectFB]] support via Mesa and DRM for OpenGL ES 2.0 support<ref name="github1"/>
* Add initial native support for rendering display and input on [[Wayland (display server protocol)|Wayland]] compositors
* Add VAAPI hardware decoding for HEVC (H.265) and VP9 in Linux/BSD/Unix where the hardware supports it
* Add VDPAU hardware decoding for HEVC (H.265) and VP9 in Linux/BSD/Unix where the hardware supports it
* Add DXVA hardware decoding for HEVC (H.265) and VP9 in Windows where the hardware supports it
* Add support for VP9 hardware decoding for MediaCodec API in Android 4.4.2 and later when the VPU supports it
* Add support for VP9 hardware decoding on Amlogic SoCs in Android 4.4.2 and later when the VPU supports it
* Improve Apple VDADecoder Video Acceleration support for iOS and (Mac) OS X
* Add native [[BD-J]] (Blu-ray Disc Java) and [[BD-Live#BD-Live|BD-Live]] menu and navigation support for decrypted Blu-ray Disc (via libbluray)
* Add Blu-ray AACS decryption and DRM encrypted playback via third-party library (libaacs)
* Add automatic refresh rate switching support for video playback on Android 5.0 and later, including Android TV
* Add initial AudioTrack API support for Android 5.0 "Lollipop" and Android TV
* Add "accessibility" options for hearing impaired and visual impaired
* Add support to AudioEngine for devices with up to 72 audio channels (64 unknown + 8 mapped)
* Add Raspberry Pi 2 specific settings defaults as it has fewer limitations compared to the Pi 1
* Add Google Breakpad implementation on Android for minidumps
* Add keymap for Nexus Player
* Add ability to open the SmartPlaylist Editor for a given playlist
* Add support for file based stubs and improve support for disc stubs
* Add support for flagging TV show episodes as series/season finales
* Add support for specifying image scaling algorithm for image resizing/caching
* Add support for reading tags in .mka and .dsf containers (using new FFmpeg tagloader)
* Add support for caching font vertices on GPU side (requires Windows 8 and DirectX 11)
* Add support for hardware based Stereoscopic 3D (requires Windows 8 and DirectX 11)
* Add support for interleaved Stereoscopic 3D mode on Windows platforms
* Add support for checkerboard Stereoscopic 3D mode on Windows platforms
* Update rendering system on Microsoft Windows platforms to DirectX 11 and Direct3D 11
* Improve touchscreen input support on all supported platforms
* Improve PVR API and database adding many new EPG and Channel properties
* Improve native IPV6 support
* Move music lyrics addon core handling to core and added native support for lyric plugin services
* Move [[Last.fm]] scrobbler and Love/Hate scrobbling out of XBMC's core and instead into an add-on
* Remove internal HDHomeRun VFS client code in favour of external PVR Client Addon
* ?
|}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://trac.xbmc.org/roadmap |title=XBMC Roadmap |publisher=Trac.xbmc.org |date=25 September 2010 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://trac.xbmc.org/timeline |title=XBMC Trac Timeline |publisher=Trac.xbmc.org |date=19 May 2004 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref><ref>http://xbmc.org XBMC Blog</ref>

==Legality==
The "''XBMC Foundation''", the organization behind the Kodi and XBMC projects, is legally represented by the [[Software Freedom Law Center]] (SFLC), which assists the Kodi/XBMC project and its developers in legal matters such as [[copyright]], trademark, and branding questions, as well as economic issues such as handling donations and sponsors that help the project with expenses for [[dedicated hosting service]] and activities such as going to developer conferences, trade fairs and computer expos to tech demo Kodi, meeting with potential new developers, gain publicity to attract additional users, and more.<ref>{{cite web|author=XBMC Gains Representation 27 April 2010 theuni |url=http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/04/27/xbmc-gains-representation/ |title=XBMC Gains Representation |publisher=Xbmc.org |date=27 April 2010 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://xbmc.org/theuni/2010/02/17/welcome-sponsor-9x9-networks/ |title=Welcome Sponsor: 9x9 Networks |publisher=Xbmc.org |date=17 February 2010 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/team-xbmc/2009/07/04/results-of-xbmc-developers-conference/ |title=Results of XBMC Developers Conference |publisher=Xbmc.org |date=4 July 2009 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Team XBMC |url=http://xbmc.org/team-xbmc/2008/05/30/announcing-xbmc-dev-con-2008-hosted-by-boxee/ |title=Announcing XBMC DEV CON 2008 hosted by boxee |publisher=Xbmc.org |date=30 May 2008 |accessdate=17 October 2011}}</ref>

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]] license. The group currently maintains a [[Git (software)|Git]] [https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc repository] for this source code. The XBMC Foundation and Team-Kodi developers take no position as to whether any intellectual property rights exist in the Kodi core source code, the third-party code libraries it depends upon, or any addons or plugins developed for Kodi. As such, Kodi is provided [[as is]] in whatever condition it exists.

Kodi can also optionally be compiled with [[libdvdcss]] to transparently support playing back DVD-Video movies encrypted using the [[Content Scramble System|CSS (Content Scramble System)]] encryption, and with libaacs and libbdplus (together with libbluray) to support playing back [[Blu-ray Disc]] movies encrypted using [[Advanced Access Content System|AACS (Advanced Access Content System)]] and protected by [[BD+]] systems for [[Digital rights management|DRM (Digital Rights Management)]]. Since it is not a member of [[DVD Forum]] or [[Blu-ray Disc#Digital rights management|AS Licensing Administrator]], the Kodi project is not contractually obliged to insert [[user operation prohibition]] such as disallowing fast-forward or skipping during trailers and ads in DVD-Videos. The legal status of libdvdcss, libaacs and libbdplus is thus questionable in several nations, and the distribution of executable versions of Kodi containing which was built with these libraries without a commercial license to is likely to run afoul of the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act|DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)]] in the U.S. However, in the European Union, this is likely legal, since DRM can be circumvented if it is done to facilitate legal use.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140123/08532725967/europes-highest-court-says-drm-circumvention-may-be-lawful-certain-circumstances.shtml|title=Techdirt:Europe's Highest Court Says DRM Circumvention May Be Lawful In Certain Circumstances|publisher=Techdirt.com |date=23 January 2014 |accessdate=19 April 2015}}</ref>

In June 2015, [[Amazon.com|Amazon]] removed the Kodi app from the [[Amazon Appstore]] because it has the ability to illegally download content, even though the app is a legal media center that does not come with pirated content.<ref>[https://torrentfreak.com/amazon-bans-kodi-app-over-piracy-concerns-150616/ Amazon Bans Kodi/XBMC App Over Piracy Concerns] June 16, 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015.</ref> The app is still available on [[Google Play]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Python programming|Free software|Television}}
* [[List of software based on Kodi and XBMC]]
**[[List of smart TV platforms and middleware software]]
* [[Comparison of video player software]]
* [[Comparison of PVR software packages]]
* [[Digital media player]]
* [[Home theater PC|HTPC (Home Theater PC)]]
* [[XBMC4Xbox]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|XBMC Media Center}}
* [http://kodi.tv Official website]

{{Home theater PC (application software)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kodi}}
[[Category:Free and open-source Android software]]
[[Category:Free media players]]
[[Category:Free mobile software]]
[[Category:Free software programmed in C++]]
[[Category:MeeGo software]]
[[Category:OS X media players]]
[[Category:Software DVD players]]

Latest revision as of 01:57, 14 December 2016

See Kodi on Wikipedia.

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