Kodi is one of the most popular media players around the world. You can use it to play and view most videos, music, podcasts, and other digital media files from local and network storage media and the internet. In this article, I’ll show you the step-by-step guide how to stream with Kodi.
Summary
The important thing you need to know about Kodi
How to install Kodi
How to stream with Kodi
The important thing you need to know about Kodi
Before you move on, you may want to know something important about Kodi. Kodi is an open-source media player, which allows the third-party developers to code the program and allows third-party add-ons (Add-on is extensions which allow you to access network sources.). This is good for our users as we can use Kodi in different systems and devices. But it also can cause issues. For more information about Kodi, you can go to Kodi in Wikipedia.
One of the known issues is that we’re easy to access pirated content without even knowing. Some unofficial Kodi add-ons may produce illegal content. If you installed these add-ons, and you didn’t verify that if the content is legal, you may access the content illegally. This can cause you to violate the law in your country. So I recommend you to do some research before you access the content that you don’t know. If you’re not confident in using the unofficial Kodi add-ons, you can choose to install the official Kodi add-ons instead, which provides the legal content.
That said, Kodi is legal, but the third-party add-ons or their content could be illegal. You need to ensure you’re using Kodi legally. If you’re not sure about this, you can ask other Kodi users in Kodi community forum for suggestions.
Note: Neither Kodi nor Driver Easy encourages the piracy. Ensure you’re using Kodi legally.
How to install Kodi
If you’ve installed Kodi, you can skip this part; just head to How to Stream with Kodi.
Kodi is available on Android, Linux, Mac OS X, iOS and Windows operating systems. You can download and install Kodi from Kodi’s official website, where allows you to download the application based on your system.
For Windows users, after downloading the Kodi installer to your device, you can just double-click on the installer and follow the prompts to install the application. For other system users, if you’re not sure how to install Kodi, you can learn from the Wiki page on Kodi website.
How to stream with Kodi
You can stream videos, music or games with Kodi. Most users use Kodi to stream videos, so in this article, I’ll take how to stream videos with Kodi for example. If you want to stream other sources like music, you still can refer these step.
Kodi doesn’t provide videos itself. You can add the local videos to Kodi or watch the videos from the internet.
1. Add local video source in Kodi
2. Stream videos from the internet
1. Add local video source in Kodi
If you’ve downloaded many videos, you can add them to Kodi then watch them using Kodi. To add the local videos to Kodi, you can follow these steps:
1a) Open Kodi.
2b) Click Videos in the left panel.
3c) Click Files -> Add videos.
4d) Click Browse and navigate to the location where you stored the video files. Then select the video you wish to add to Kodi, and click OK.
5d) Enter a name for the video source so you can maintenance the sources easily, then click OK.
6e) The set content window will display. This is where the media type is set. Select This directory contains.
7f) Select the type of video that is to be added to the library. For example, If the video is a movie, select Movies.
8g) Set Content
For Movies, select Choose information provider. Use The Movie Database for movies (automatically selected).
For TV shows, select Choose information provider. Use The TVDB for TV Shows (automatically selected).
8g) Click Yes to add the video to the library
9h) You can view the added video by clicking Video in the home screen then clicking the Videos in the right panel.
2. Stream videos from the internet
If you want to stream video from the third-party services, you can follow the steps below.
2a) Use an add-on
To stream video from the internet, you need to use an add-on. You can use either the official Kodi add-on or the unofficial Kodi add-on.
If you want to use the official Kodi add-on, you can follow these steps to install an add-on to Kodi.
2a.1) In Kodi home screen, click Add-ons in the left pane.
2a.2) Click Download.
2a.3) Click Video add-ons.
2a.4) Select the add-on you wish to install.
2a.5) After installing the add-on, you can view the add-on by clicking Add-ons in the home screen then clicking Video add-ons. Then you can use the add-on to watch videos.
If you want to use the unofficial Kodi add-on, you can follow these steps to install an add-on to Kodi.
2a.1) Enable Unknown sources
To install the third-party add-ons in Kodi, you need to enable Unknown sources in the Settings. Here’s how to enable Unknown sources in Kodi:
2a.1.1) In Kodi home screen, click the gear icon from the top left.
2a.1.2) Click System settings.
2a.1.3) Click Add-ons.
2a.1.4) Highlight Unknown Sources and toggle it ON.
2a.1.5) You will see the following message. Just click Yes.
“Add-ons will be given access to personal data stored on this device. By allowing, you agree that you are solely responsible for any loss of data, unwanted behaviour, or damage to your device. Proceed?”
2a.2) Go back to the home screen, and click the gear icon from the top left.
2a.3) Click File Manager.
2a.4) Double-click Add Source.
2a.5) Enter the URL of the Repository.
The repository is the third-party service where stores different add-ons. You can search the repository online. After you found a repository, enter the URL here.
In the case here, I entered http://lazykodi.com/.
Then enter the name for the source, which allows you to manage the sources easily, and click OK.
2a.6) Go back to the home screen, and click Add-ons.
2a.7) Click the Package Installer Icon from the top left.
2a.8) Click Install from zip file.
2a.9) Select the repository you just added. In the case here, I selected lazy.
2a.10) Click ZIPS. Then select the zip you want to use.
2a.11) Go back to the screen in step 2a.8), then click Install from repository.
2a.12) Select the repository you just added. In the case below, I selected Kodi Bae Repository.
2a.13) Click Video add-ons.
2a.14) Select the add-on you wish to install.
2a.15) After installing the add-on, you can view the add-on by clicking Add-ons in the home screen then clicking Video add-ons. Then you can use the add-on to watch videos.
If you’re not sure what add-on you can use, you can install Exodus or Covenant, which is popular to many Kodi users.
To learn how to install Exodus, you can views the steps at How to Install Exodus on Kodi.
To learn how to install, you can views the steps at How to Install Covenant on Kodi.
2b) Use a VPN
For private and security, VPN (Virtural Private Network) is recommended when you streams online. VPN can hide your IP address to prevent you from being identified by your ISP (Internet Service Provider). You can watch the videos safely with a VPN. In addition, for some videos, you may not be able to access them without a VPN.
You can search a reputable VPN online. If you’re not sure what product you can trust, you can use NordVPN, so you don’t need to spend much time on further searching.
- Download NordVPN to your computer (You can get a 75% discount if you purchase the product right now.).
- Run NordVPN and open it.
- Connect to a server by choosing a country you want to connect to.
Hopefully you can find this article helpful. If you have any questions, ideas or suggestions, feel free to leave your comments below.
