How To

How to Cast a Video to Your TV Using VLC and Chromecast in 3 Easy Steps

April 16, 2021
Updated: July 2, 2025 at 4:09 AM

VLC Media Player is one of the most popular media players on the market, specifically for videos, because of its reliability and ability to play almost any format. One of the most recent features that the developers added to it is to cast a video playing in VLC to your SmartTV from another device. Considering that VLC runs on Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android devices, this is quite a handy tool because you can cast from almost any device instantly. In this guide, we’ll show you how to set this up because the option can be a bit difficult to find.

How to Cast a Video to Your TV Using VLC and Chromecast

You will need to ensure that your TV and the device you’re playing the video on are connected to the same Wifi connection. Please also note that this tool is relatively new and can still be a bit erratic, but with a bit of patience and persistence, it will work.

Step 1: Configure VLC Media Player

First, start up your VLC player and click on Playback in the top menu. Then select Renderer from the dropdown menu; you’ll see that it will automatically scan for devices.

Step 2: Select TV

VLC might take a few minutes to pick up your TV but if it’s struggling, try disconnecting and reconnecting the device and the TV from the Wifi. When it works, your TV will pop up in the list, select it, and VLC will begin casting to your TV.

Step 3: Open video

Now click on Media in the top menu and select Open File from the dropdown. Navigate to the video that you want to play and double click it, it will begin playing on the TV, and you’ll be able to use the VLC controls on your device to control the video.

Going Live in 3… 2… 1!

This process will work on both Windows and Mac PCs and should allow for seamless streaming once the two devices are connected. There are many features and perks to using VLC over other media players, but this definitely ranks as one of the best because of its functionality. Not to mention the technological high you get from moving between screens with the mere press of a button.