Cross-Platform Media Streaming Apps: 5 Picks, Including the Browser Player I Built
Every screen I own runs something different, and for years "watching something" meant remembering which app lived on which device. So I went looking for cross-platform media streaming apps that follow you from screen to screen. This is the list I landed on — five apps, each best at one job, not a ranking.
Full disclosure up front: I built one of them. OnTiv is my project. I judged it by the same standard as the rest, and where another app is genuinely better at something, I say so.
The five
OnTiv — best in the browser. A streaming player that runs entirely in a web browser. Nothing to install, nothing to update — open the page, add your own M3U playlists (URL & file), and play, with live TV, categories, and favorites. The core player is free, with an honest Premium tier for extras. Important framing: OnTiv is a player, not a provider — it ships with no content; you bring the playlist.
VLC — best free all-rounder. The answer to "what plays this file?" for two decades. Huge format support, local files and network streams, runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and more. Free, open source, no ads.
Plex — best for a personal media library. Run the server on a computer or NAS; it organises your movies, shows, and music with artwork and metadata, and the client apps stream it to TVs, phones, consoles, and the web. Local streaming of your own library is free; remote streaming away from home sits behind the paid pass, which also adds extras.
Kodi — best for power users. Free and open-source media centre with a huge add-on and skin ecosystem. Deep customisation, steeper learning curve. You trade setup time for control.
Jellyfin — best open-source, self-hosted. The Plex idea with no company in the middle: free, open source, no account required, you run the server, clients for browsers, phones, and TVs. You are your own tech support — for self-hosters, that's the point.
Why a player that lives in the browser is interesting
The technically fun part of building OnTiv was realising how capable the modern browser is as a media runtime. A browser tab can fetch and parse a playlist file, stream adaptive video, and render a complete guide-style interface — no native code, no app store review, no per-platform builds to maintain.
That buys you three things as a developer:
- Distribution is a URL. There is no install funnel to lose people in. The app is just... open.
- Every user is on the latest version. Deploying is updating. Nobody is stranded on a build from eight months ago because they never update apps.
- It runs on locked-down devices. Work laptops, library computers, the forgotten browser built into a smart TV — if it has a modern browser, it can play.
The trade-offs are real, and worth being honest about: you work within whatever codecs and streaming formats the browser supports, background playback on mobile browsers is limited, and you are designing for an environment you don't control. But for a "bring your own playlist" player, the reach wins. One codebase, every screen.
Which one should you pick?
Playlist in hand, want it playing in seconds on anything with a browser? That's OnTiv. Mystery video file? VLC. A real collection to organise and stream around the house? Plex, or Jellyfin if you want to run it all yourself. A living-room hub to customise forever? Kodi.
Most people end up with two of these. The goal was never one app for every screen — it was never hearing "not on this device" again.
Originally published on my blog.
