Chromecasts don’t officially support the MKV container, so dropping an MKV into a browser tab usually gives you no picture, no sound or a blurry mirror of your screen. The video inside an MKV is often something the Chromecast can play perfectly well, though. It’s the wrapper that’s the problem.

The quick way

  1. Install Driftcast, a free Mac app.
  2. Make sure your Mac and Chromecast are on the same network.
  3. Drag the MKV onto the Driftcast window.
  4. Choose your Chromecast from the Output menu or the toolbar, and press play.

What happens to the file

Driftcast reads every stream in the MKV and decides what your particular Chromecast can handle:

The Chromecast gets the complete playlist before conversion starts, so it shows the real running time and you can skip around.

Why not just convert the file first?

Tools like HandBrake work, but you wait for the whole conversion before you can watch, you end up with a second copy of the film, and you lose some quality. Driftcast does only the part that’s needed, as you watch, and leaves your file exactly as it was.

An honest note: Driftcast’s Chromecast support follows Google’s documentation, and its streams have been checked in Apple’s player, but it hasn’t been tried on a real Chromecast yet. If you own one, please say how it went, working or not.

Get Driftcast

Driftcast is free and open source, with no account, trial or ads. It needs macOS 13 Ventura or later, on an Apple silicon or Intel Mac.

Download Driftcast · Source code on GitHub · Everything it plays