scrcpy is a

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

screen mirroring application that allows control of an Android device from a

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, or

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desktop computer. The software is currently developed by Genymobile, which also developed Genymotion, an Android

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. Communication between the Android device and the computer is primarily performed via a

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connection and

Android Debug Bridge The Android Debug Bridge (commonly abbreviated as adb) is a programming tool used for the debugging of Android-based devices. The daemon on the Android device connects with the server on the host PC over USB or TCP, which connects to the clie ...

(ADB). The software functions by executing a server on the Android device, then communicating with the server via a socket over an ADB tunnel. It does not require rooting or the installation or running of an app on the Android device. The screen content is streamed as

H.264 Advanced Video Coding (AVC), also referred to as H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, is a video compression standard based on block-oriented, motion-compensated coding. It is by far the most commonly used format for the recording, compression, and distri ...

video, which the software then decodes and displays on the computer. The software pushes keyboard and mouse input to the Android device over the server. Setup involves enabling USB debugging on the Android device, connecting the device to the computer, and running the scrcpy application on the computer. Additional configuration options, such as changing the stream

bit rate In telecommunications and computing, bit rate (bitrate or as a variable ''R'') is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. The bit rate is expressed in the unit bit per second (symbol: bit/s), often in conjunction w ...

or enabling

screen recording A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture or a screen recording, often containing audio narration. The term ''screencast'' compares with the related term ''screenshot''; whereas screenshot ...

, may be accessed via

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. The software also supports a wireless connection over

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

, but that requires more steps to set up. A few features were added to scrcpy in its version 1.9 release in 2019, including the ability to turn the screen off while mirroring and to copy

clipboard A clipboard is a thin, rigid board with a clip at the top for holding paper in place. A clipboard is typically used to support paper with one hand while writing on it with the other, especially when other writing surfaces are not available. Th ...

content between the two devices. Chris Hoffman of How-To Geek compared scrcpy to AirMirror and Vysor, two other applications with a similar function. Hoffman also pointed to

Miracast Miracast (also called screen mirroring and wireless display among other names on consumer devices) is a standard for wireless connections from sending devices (such as laptops, tablets, or smartphones) to display receivers (such as TVs, monitors, o ...

as an alternative, while noting that it is no longer widely supported among new Android devices, and that it does not support remotely controlling the device.

History

The first commit to the GitHub repository is on 12 December 2017 by Romain Vimont. scrcpy v1.0 was released 3 months later which included the support for basic screen mirroring and Android remote control. The first release packaged a Windows Executable and the server. The community took packaging forward and made scrcpy available for numerous

distributions.

Features

The official documentation of scrcpy gives the features and ideology to which it was built * lightness (native, displays only the device screen) * performance (30~60fps) * quality (1920×1080 or above) * low latency (35~70ms) * low startup time (~1 second to display the first image) * non-intrusiveness (nothing is left installed on the device)

Graphical User Interface

The

command line interface A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...

of scrcpy was ported to a graphical user interface by open source developers.

References

External links

GitHub repository
{{Remote administration software Cross-platform free software Android (operating system) development software Remote administration software Command-line software