OpenAirCast

Stream Windows audio to HomePods and other AirPlay 2 speakers.

OpenAirCast captures audio from a Windows playback device and sends it to one or more speakers. The app runs as a portable executable, with a control window and a system tray icon.

What it does

• Finds AirPlay 2 speakers on your local network.
• Streams to a single speaker or a group.
• Provides master volume and separate levels for each speaker.
• Saves speaker groups and their volume settings.
• Lets you select the Windows playback device to capture.
• Keeps playing when you close the window to the tray.
• Offers a global shortcut, German and English text, and light and dark themes.
• Includes a guided speaker test and a diagnostics report you can copy.

Download and install (Windows x64)

OpenAirCast is portable: there is currently no MSI/EXE installer and no winget package. You do not need Rust or Git to run a packaged version.

Download OpenAirCast v0.1.0 — the first public portable release. The Windows ZIP, matching source archive and SHA-256 checksums are available under Assets. Public downloads were verified on 2026-09-10. See the known limitations below before using it.

1. Open the v0.1.0 release.
2. Under Assets, download the Windows x64 portable ZIP, not GitHub's automatically generated Source code ZIP.
3. Extract the complete ZIP to a folder you own, such as %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\OpenAirCast. This is a suggested location, not a folder that already exists on your PC.
4. Run OpenAirCast.exe from the extracted folder. Administrator mode is not normally required. The v0.1.0 executable is unsigned.

For updates, quit the app from its tray menu before replacing its extracted files. User settings are stored separately in %APPDATA%\OpenAirCast.

First use

1. Connect your PC and speakers to the same local network.
2. Run OpenAirCast.exe.
3. Select your speakers on Overview and apply the selection changes.
4. Start streaming and play audio on the selected Windows playback device.
5. Adjust the master volume or individual speaker levels.

The default shortcut is Ctrl+Alt+H. Closing the window keeps the app in the tray. Choose Quit from the tray menu to exit.

If speakers appear but cannot connect, check that Windows Firewall allows OpenAirCast on your private network.

For a short speaker test, open Audio → Open hardware check. The hardware-check guide explains the test and the information included in its report.

Status and limitations

OpenAirCast is still in development. I have tested playback with three speakers and separate volume levels. Long listening sessions, sleep/wake recovery and clean Windows installations still need more testing.

• Changing the speakers in a running group restarts the group.
• AirPlay introduces a delay. Do not expect real-time monitoring or lip-sync with every video player.
• Precise synchronization between speakers still needs measurement on hardware.
• Suspending Windows during connection and cancelling just after wake can leave the app at Stopping. If this happens, quit from the tray and restart the app.
• Launch at Windows startup is not implemented.

See status and remaining work for verification limits and open tasks, and the documentation index for user and developer guides.

Build from source

Cloning this repository downloads source code, not an installed application. Paths below are relative to the folder created by git clone; they are not paths on the maintainer's PC.

Prerequisites on Windows x64:

• Git for Windows.
• Rust with the MSVC toolchain (the app requires Rust 1.95 or newer).
• Visual Studio C++ Build Tools with Desktop development with C++, including the MSVC compiler/linker and a Windows SDK. Open a new terminal after installation.

In PowerShell, from a directory where you want to keep the source:

git clone --branch openaircast/main https://github.com/TTK95/OpenAirCast.git
cd OpenAirCast
rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
.\build.ps1
.\dist\OpenAirCast.exe

build.ps1 runs the embedded-asset test, builds the optimized Windows x64 app with the lockfile and two compiler jobs, then copies it to dist\OpenAirCast.exe. The first build needs internet access to download dependencies and can take a while. It does not run the complete test suite or publish anything to GitHub.

If your PowerShell policy blocks scripts, use the equivalent Cargo commands without changing the policy:

cargo test --locked -j 2 --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc --target-dir target -p homepod-cast --bin openaircast ui::theme::tests::embedded_assets_are_present_and_icon_has_required_sizes -- --exact --test-threads=2
cargo build --locked -j 2 --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc --target-dir target --release -p homepod-cast --bin openaircast
.\target\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\release\openaircast.exe

Run each command only if the preceding command succeeds. The manual commands leave the executable in target; they do not refresh dist.

For the full application test suite (no physical playback tests):

cargo test --locked -j 2 --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc --target-dir target -p homepod-cast -- --test-threads=2

Where the final version belongs

Location	Purpose
GitHub Releases → Assets	Public, versioned portable ZIP and matching source; publication is a separate step.
Your extracted download folder	The copy you actually run; no repository is needed.
dist\OpenAirCast.exe	Local optimized output after a successful build.ps1; not a download link or proof of publication.
target\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\release\openaircast.exe	Cargo's optimized build output.
target\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\debug\openaircast.exe	Development/testing build, not the distributable release.

target/ and dist/ are intentionally excluded from Git. Existing local ZIPs are not updated by build.ps1 and may contain older code. See the distribution checklist for packaging and publication.

Support my work

If OpenAirCast is useful to you, you can support my work through PayPal. Any amount is welcome.

Bug reports are welcome too. Please include your Windows version, speaker models and the steps needed to reproduce the problem in an issue.

Credits and license

OpenAirCast builds on windows-airplay-homepod by iakacer and airplay2-rs by lmcgartland.

The project uses the GPL-2.0 license. Upstream copyright notices and dependency licenses are listed in Third-Party Notices.