How to Stream From VLC to Your Chromecast

Having trouble connecting your VLC to your Chromecast device so you can watch a video on your TV?

Connecting your device be it an iPhone, Android phone, laptop, or tablet to your TV used to be such a hassle. For your laptop, you’d have to connect an HDMI adapter to the HDMI ports in the backside of your TV as well as to the side of your laptop. For phones and tablets, this used to be an even bigger problem.

When Google released the Google Chromecast, it changed how efficiently you could switch between your computer or mobile screen to your living room TV. The technology allowed you to wireless stream your data into the Chromecast device which is already connected to the HDMI port of your TV.

This was an amazing new gadget at the time, but it did have some problems with a couple of media players like VLC, one of the most commonly used media players around. We at Saint scoured the internet for solutions and explanations as to why you’re experiencing this issue and gathered a bunch of fixes to help you resolve it.

Let’s get started!

 

1. Make Sure You’re Both Connected To The Same Network.

A little troubleshooting can go a long way. Go ahead and check if your device is connected to the same Wi-Fi network that the Google Chromecast is also connected to.

If both your devices aren’t in the same network, then the Chromecast cannot access your device, hindering any kind of streaming capability.

 

2. Let VLC Stream To Chromecast From Your Computer.

This is a very straightforward method. Chances are if this hasn’t been set already, then this will probably have the highest chance of fixing your issue.

Although Chromecast may have already been selected by apps like Netflix or Youtube, VLC has a manual list of devices that you can click on to specifically render onto.

The steps below will work for macOS and Windows, with a possible variation in the interface. Casting onto Chromecast will manually instruct VLC to stream to that device, which in this case is your TV.

Here’s how you can let VLC stream to Chromecast from your computer:

  1. Go ahead and open the VLC player. If this isn’t located on your desktop, you can open the Start menu and search for ‘VLC’. Click on the first result returned from your query.
  2. Now, on the menu bar located at the top, select Playback and navigate to Renderer.

playback renderer

  1. A list should appear with all possible devices you can render to. Select on your Chromecast device.

Try to play the video and see if it opens on your TV. If the video is still unavailable, go ahead and proceed to the next methods.

 

3. Let VLC Stream to Chromecast From Your Android or iPhone.

Just like the method above, the VLC steps to letting your mobile device stream onto your Google Chromecast should relatively be the same, but with varying interface designs.

In this method, we will guide you through the process of manually connecting your mobile phone’s VLC to your Chromecast device.

Here’s how you can let VLC stream to Chromecast From Your Mobile Device:

  1. First, download and install the Chromecast app on your mobile device.
  2. After that, pair your mobile phone to your Chromecast device through the application.
  3. Now, you can open the VLC player and click on the video you want to stream.

VLC android phone

  1. Next, open the Chromecast app again and navigate to the Menu and select Cast screen/audio.
  2. A prompt should appear, go ahead and proceed through the choices to finally stream your device to your TV.
  3. Finally, reopen the VLC player and fullscreen your video. This should also fullscreen on your TV.
 

4. Disable Any Enabled VPNs.

If you’ve already completed the methods above but are still having trouble with connecting and streaming your video to your Chromecast device, chances are there might be a problem with your Wi-Fi connection.

Using a VPN service will mask your IP address by connecting it to a different server, thereby protecting your home IP address. But as a safety precaution, Chromecast will protect your device and TV from infiltrators by filtering out suspicious IP addresses like VPN servers.

stream from vlc to your chromecast

Disabling your VPN will let Chromecast allow your device to play your media and connect to its software. If you’re using an iOS device, here’s a set of instructions you can look at to disable any default VPNs on your Apple products.

Furthermore, VPNs are usually installed as a third-party software which unfortunately means we cannot provide a general set of instructions to disable the VPN on your device. It may help to google the VPN software that is being used and find out how to disable it.

 

5. Use Google Chrome As A Middle-Man.

Another practical alternative to this head-scratching problem is by using Google Chrome as a middle-man between VLC and your Chromecast Device — Google Chrome will stream from your VLC player while Chromecast streams directly from Google Chrome.

This way, VLC is still the one being streamed to your TV, without the complications by using Google Chrome.

Here’s how you can use Google Chrome as a middle-man:

  1. Go ahead and open the VLC Player with your desired video.
  2. Now, open your Google Chrome browser and look for the Cast button, which should be located to the right of your address bar. There should be a rectangular icon, if not press the three dots icon, and click on Cast.

stream from vlc to your chromecast

  1. After opening the Cast button, select Cast Desktop.
  2. Finally, reopen your VLC Player and watch your video like normal.

Although streaming directly from your VLC player will have better quality, if you’re at the end of your ropes, then this method should be an excellent alternative. The reason why the quality might not be the best is because your TV is streaming what Google Chrome is streaming, which is VLC. Regardless, it does get the job done.

That brings us to the end of this article. We hope that this guide helped provide solutions that helped fix your ‘How to stream from VLC to your Chromecast’ problem. If you have other questions related to this article or if you came across another alternative solution, feel free to share it below.

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂

Author

  • Mako Young

    Mako is a staff writer at Saint. He's been writing about tech for more than a decade. When he isn't reading about the latest news on Apple, he's busy studying cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, cloud computing, and other IT-related sectors. His exceptional work graces technology and Apple-related blogs like How-To Geek, VEED.io, Macgasm, onMac, PhotoWorkout, GameRant, and many more. He also has a Bachelors in Computer Science and has been writing since 2018, with over 400 posts published. LinkedIn X (Twitter)

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