---
title: browser2kodi
related:
  - "[Kodi](../guides/kodi.md)"
  - "[send2kodi](send2kodi.md)"
  - "[wl2kodi](wl2kodi.md)"
categories:
  - Tools and applications
---

**browser2kodi** is a browser extension that plays what you are looking at on
Kodi, for Firefox, Chrome and the browsers built on them. It does what
[send2kodi](send2kodi.md) does with a URL, from the browser, and talks to
Kodi directly: nothing has to be installed on your computer.

- **Right-click** a picture, video, song or link, then *Send to Kodi* (play
  now) or *Queue on Kodi*.
- **Click the toolbar button** to send the page you are on, e.g. a YouTube
  video.

## How it works

Everything goes through Kodi's JSON-RPC API, the same way as
[send2kodi](send2kodi.md):

| You send | Kodi plays it with |
|---|---|
| A YouTube video | the YouTube add-on, at the time in the link if it has one; or SendToKodi, if set in the options |
| A link to a video, song or picture (by extension, or by what the page shows it as) | Kodi itself, without any add-on |
| Any other page | the SendToKodi add-on, which resolves it with yt-dlp on the Kodi side |
| A picture without a file extension | Kodi's picture viewer, through the [wsrv.nl](https://wsrv.nl) image proxy |

Kodi goes by the extension of a path: given a picture without one, like the
thumbnails of an image search, its viewer hands it to the video player, which
flashes it and stops. send2kodi serves such pictures itself under a `.jpg`
name; an extension cannot serve anything, so the proxy does it. It only sees
the picture's address, and can be turned off.

A notification and a badge on the toolbar button say how it went: `…`
sending, `✓` playing, `!` failed (hover for why). The badge is there for
desktops without notifications.

## Installation

- **Firefox**, LibreWolf, Waterfox, Zen, Floorp (Firefox 140 or later): from
  [addons.mozilla.org](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/browser2kodi/),
  or the `.xpi` of the
  [latest release](https://github.com/hugoocoto/browser2kodi/releases/latest).
- **Chrome**, Chromium, Brave, Vivaldi, Edge, Opera, Helium: unzip the
  `-chrome.zip` of the
  [latest release](https://github.com/hugoocoto/browser2kodi/releases/latest),
  turn on *Developer mode* in `chrome://extensions` and *Load unpacked* the
  `browser2kodi` folder.

Then, in the options page that opens, enter the Kodi box's address, save, and
let the extension talk to it: it asks for permission to that one address
only. In Kodi, enable *Settings → Services → Control → Allow remote control
via HTTP*. The YouTube add-on and
[SendToKodi](https://github.com/firsttris/plugin.video.sendtokodi) are
optional, for YouTube and other video sites.

## Options

| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Address, port, user, password | Kodi's web server; port `8080` and user `kodi` by default |
| YouTube | Play through the YouTube add-on (faster) or SendToKodi |
| Pictures | Send pictures without a file extension through wsrv.nl |
| Right-click menu | Both items, or just one, which then goes straight in the menu instead of a submenu |

## Limitations

- Pictures embedded in the page (the first rows of Google Images) have no
  address to send: open the picture and send the large one.
- Things behind a login do not play, since Kodi fetches them without the
  browser's cookies.
- Files on your computer cannot be sent: that is what
  [send2kodi](send2kodi.md) is for.
- On YouTube, right-click a video twice (Shift+right-click in Firefox) to get
  the browser's menu, or use the toolbar button.
- Firefox for Android and Safari are not supported.

## Development

`extension/` is the extension for every browser, and can be loaded as it is:
*Load Temporary Add-on…* in `about:debugging` on Firefox, *Load unpacked* on
Chrome. `node build.js` writes `dist/chrome` and `dist/firefox`, each without
the other browser's manifest keys.

```
$ node --test
```

runs the extension in Node against fakes of the browser and Kodi, in under a
second; CI runs it on every push. Pushing a `v` tag with the version in the
manifest submits it to addons.mozilla.org and makes a GitHub release with the
Chrome zip and the signed `.xpi`.

## See also

- [Kodi](../guides/kodi.md), setting Kodi up for this and its sibling tools
- [Source code](https://github.com/hugoocoto/browser2kodi) (MIT)
- [send2kodi](send2kodi.md), the same from the command line, local files included
- [wl2kodi](wl2kodi.md), to mirror the whole screen instead