How to Stream Content to a Windows PC with Apple AirPlay

January 5, 2012

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iPad How-To's

How to Stream Content to a Windows PC with Apple AirPlay

Apple’s AirPlay protocal officially supports a Mac computer and iOS device as a sender. However, the recieving devices right now consist of only Apple TV, AirPort Express, and third party Audio Visual devices and speakers. To the best of our knowledge, there are no plans to enable Windows based machines with AirPlay. If you wish to stream audio and video to your Windows computer from an Apple Device such as your iPhone or iPad, you will need to install third party software. There are two free software programs we recommend that allows limited AirPlay compatability with Windows.

With both programs you will need to install Bonjour. Bonjour is included if you have iTunes installed on your Windows PC. Otherwise, you can download Bonjour Print Services here.

Shairport4w (Audio Streaming)

Download here.

To enable audio streaming to your Windows PC using Airplay from an iOS device, install Shairport. Shairport4w emulates an Apple AirPort receiver for your Windows PC. You can stream music and other audio files from the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. After installing Shairport4w, setup(i.e. add) a network name and run the software in the background. Once everythign is up and running you should see an AirPlay button when you launch the music/ipod app on your iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch. Tap the AirPlay button and wait for the app to bring up a list of AirPlay receivers. Tap your Windows PC.

AirMedia Player (Video Streaming)

Download here.

If you are running a Windows Media Center PC, developer Thomas Pleasance has developed an AirPlay emulator for streaming video. AirMedia Player is in beta stage but we can confirm it works smoothly. To get AirPlay for Windows up and running, you will need to first install .NET framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 in addition to Bonjour. You can download that here.

Once the software is installed and running, simply select your Windows PC on your iOS device to begin streaming. This software allows you to stream video from your iOS device to your PC, not the other way around.