Kodi
Kodi is a free, open-source (GPL) media player and entertainment hub maintained by The Kodi Foundation nonprofit. It enables individual consumers worldwide to organize, play, and stream personal media collections across 8+ platforms including Windows, Linux, Android, macOS, iOS, Raspberry Pi, tvOS, and webOS.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2003
- HeadquartersWalnut, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Kodi does
Kodi is a free, open-source (GPL) media player and entertainment hub maintained by The Kodi Foundation, a US-registered nonprofit established in 2014 and headquartered in Walnut, California. The software, originally released in 2003 as XBMC (Xbox Media Center), was rebranded to Kodi in 2014 and now serves individual consumers worldwide who want to organize, play, and stream personal media collections across televisions, computers, and consumer devices.
The Kodi Media Center is built primarily in C++ with Python for add-ons, leveraging FFmpeg for media processing and OpenGL/OpenGLES for rendering. It runs natively on Windows, Linux, Android, Raspberry Pi, macOS, iOS, tvOS, and webOS, featuring a 10-foot user interface optimized for television viewing with remote controls. The application supports nearly all common media formats, includes PVR (Personal Video Recorder) integration with backends such as MediaPortal, MythTV, NextPVR, and Tvheadend, supports game emulation through retro player add-ons, and is extensible via 1,037 official community-created add-ons spanning streaming services, music libraries, skins, PVR clients, and metadata providers such as TMDB, TVmaze, MusicBrainz, TheTVDB, and Fanart.TV.
Kodi operates a community-led, product-led growth model with no paid sales, marketing, or development staff — the entire core team is volunteer-based. Software distribution occurs via self-serve downloads from kodi.tv, GitHub (github.com/xbmc), and major app stores (Google Play, Microsoft Store, Flatpak), all without licensing fees or paid tiers. The Kodi Foundation funds operations through user donations, branded merchandise sales (apparel and Kodi Edition Raspberry Pi cases produced with FLIRC), and infrastructure sponsorships from Leaseweb, Weblate, GoatCounter, and historically OSUOSL. There are no enterprise contracts, no token-based monetisation, and no venture capital involvement.
Kodi firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Kodi
- Legal name
- The Kodi Foundation
- Website
- https://kodi.tv
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2003
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Kodi is a free, open-source (GPL) media player and entertainment hub maintained by The Kodi Foundation nonprofit. It enables individual consumers worldwide to organize, play, and stream personal media collections across 8+ platforms including Windows, Linux, Android, macOS, iOS, Raspberry Pi, tvOS, and webOS.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Kodi industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Media Center Software
- NAICS
- Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (5162)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Developer & Open-Source Communities (MPACAJAK)
Keywords
Where Kodi is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Walnut
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Kodi business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Infrastructure, Operations, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Donations: Kodi is completely free and open source. The Kodi Foundation relies on donations from users to cover expenses including hardware, travel to conferences, administrative costs, legal fees, and the yearly DevCon. Donations are used for purchasing hardware and licenses for developers, and for t-shirts, stickers, and accessories for conferences.
- Merchandise Sales: Kodi merchandise store sells branded gear including t-shirts, pullovers, pillows, and iPhone cases. Revenue from merchandise helps support the foundation similar to donations.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free Download - No Cost |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels8 records
Kodi product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Kodi is a free, open source (GPL) software media player and entertainment hub that plays videos, music, podcasts, games, and displays photos from local, network, and internet sources. It features a 10-foot user interface designed for televisions and remote controls, runs on Windows, Linux, Android, Raspberry Pi, macOS, iOS, tvOS, and webOS, and is extensible through a large community-built add-on ecosystem covering video, music, skins, PVR, and games.
Product overview
Kodi is a unified open-source media center platform centered on the Kodi Media Center core product, with the same application available across multiple operating systems and devices (Windows, Linux, Android, Raspberry Pi, macOS, iOS, tvOS, webOS). The platform is extensible through a large ecosystem of community-created add-ons including video streaming services, music services, skins for interface customization, PVR client integrations, information providers for metadata (TMDB, TVmaze, MusicBrainz, Fanart.TV), and official mobile remote apps for Android (Kore) and iOS. Additional offerings include the JSON-RPC API for developer integrations, merchandise (apparel, accessories, Kodi Edition Raspberry Pi cases), and platform-specific builds. The add-on architecture uses Python and XML, and the platform supports game emulation through retro game clients.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Kodi Media Center Primary open-source (GPL) home theater software application that plays videos, music, podcasts, games, and displays photos. Features a 10-foot user interface optimized for televisions and remote controls, with support for local and network media as well as internet streaming, PVR, metadata scraping, and retro gaming through emulators.
- Kore (Android Remote) Official free, open source remote control application for Android devices enabling users to control Kodi media center playback, navigate the user interface, and manage the media library from a smartphone.
- Official Kodi Remote (iOS) Official free, open source remote control application for iOS devices that allows users to control Kodi media center playback, navigate the user interface, and manage the media library from an iPhone or iPad.
- JSON-RPC API JSON-RPC based remote interface that enables external applications, web browsers, and third-party tools to programmatically control Kodi playback, manage library items, and access Kodi features.
- Kodi Merchandise Store Official Kodi-branded merchandise store selling T-shirts, apparel, pillows, phone cases, and Kodi Edition Raspberry Pi cases produced by partner Flirc, with revenue supporting The Kodi Foundation.
- Kodi Edition Raspberry Pi Cases (by Flirc) Official Kodi-branded protective cases for Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 single-board computers, designed by FLIRC in collaboration with the Kodi team and community, sold through the Kodi store to support the Foundation.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 3,750 commits in the v21 'Omega' release alone since v20 'Nexus'
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Kodi
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Kodi technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration16 records
Feature8 records
Kodi partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- FLIRCcoreFLIRC is a financial sponsor of the Kodi Foundation and manufacturer of the Kodi Edition Raspberry Pi cases. They produce hardware cases designed specifically for Kodi use, including cases for Raspberry Pi 3 and 4. The partnership includes collaboration on product design with community input through polls on the Kodi forums.
- Oregon State University Open Source Lab (OSUOSL)coreOSUOSL has been providing free hosting services for Kodi since 2003. They are a non-profit organization that works to advance open source technologies and currently host over 160 projects including those of the Apache Software Foundation and Linux Foundation. Note: OSUOSL is in danger of closing down at end of 2025 due to funding changes.
- LeasewebcoreLeaseweb is an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider serving a worldwide portfolio of 18,000 customers. They provide infrastructure for mission-critical websites and services with over 80,000 servers under management across 20 datacenters globally.
- Mac Mini VaultminorProfessional Apple Mac Mini colocation and hosting services provider for Kodi infrastructure.
- WeblatecoreWeblate is copylefted libre translation software used by over 1,500 companies and libre software projects in over 115 countries. They provide translation infrastructure for Kodi, enabling continuous localization in many languages.
- GoatCounterminorGoatCounter is an open source web analytics platform available as a hosted service (free for non-commercial use) or self-hosted app. They provide privacy-friendly web analytics for Kodi as an alternative to Google Analytics.
- TheMovieDB.orgcoreMovie and TV show metadata database used by Kodi scrapers to fetch information, artwork, cast, and other details for media libraries.
- TheTVDBcoreTV show database used by Kodi scrapers for fetching TV show information, episode details, and artwork.
- LibreELECcoreLibreELEC is a lightweight Linux distribution designed specifically for media center use, built around Kodi. They celebrated their 10th anniversary and work closely with the Kodi team on hardware updates and new chipset support.
- OSMCcoreOpen Source Media Center (OSMC) is a turnkey, commercial consumer device solution built on Kodi. They develop for Raspberry Pi and other devices, with ongoing collaboration on HDR technologies and playback challenges.
- TvheadendcoreTvheadend is a TV streaming server/recorder that works with Kodi as a PVR backend. They celebrated their 20th anniversary and continue to develop new interfaces and improve CI/build processes.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Kodi competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Plex: Plex is the most commercially scaled media-center / media-server application, offering personal media organization, cross-device playback, live TV/DVR, and add-on-style integrations. Plex is the closest functional analog to Kodi and the primary commercial competitor for the same home-theater use case.
- Jellyfin: Jellyfin is a free, open-source media server and client system forked from Emby, offering libraries, transcoding, live TV, and syncing across devices. It is the closest open-source, self-hosted direct competitor to Kodi and has been gaining traction among the same volunteer-community and homelab users.
- Emby: Emby is a personal media-server platform with library management, live TV, transcoding, and client apps across TVs, mobile, and desktops. It overlaps directly with Kodi on media library organization, metadata scraping, and cross-platform playback.
- Stremio: Stremio is a media-center app with a strong add-on ecosystem for video, music, and streaming services, available across TV, mobile, and desktop platforms. Its add-on-centric UX and aggregation model closely mirror Kodi's approach.
- VideoLAN VLC Media Player: VLC is a free, open-source, cross-platform media player supporting virtually every audio/video format. While VLC is a file/stream player rather than a full media-center, it is one of the most direct open-source substitutes for Kodi's playback functionality.
- LibreELEC: LibreELEC is a lightweight Linux distribution purpose-built around Kodi for media-center devices, especially single-board computers. It is both a partner (deep co-development) and the primary OS-layer competitor/alternative for Kodi-based HTPCs.
- OSMC: OSMC (Open Source Media Center) is a turnkey consumer media-center Linux distribution built around Kodi, available on Raspberry Pi, Vero, and Apple TV hardware. OSMC competes directly with Kodi for users who prefer a polished pre-integrated appliance over manual setup.
- MediaPortal: MediaPortal is a Windows-based HTPC / media-center application offering TV recording, scheduling, and media library management. It overlaps with Kodi on PVR and personal-media use cases, particularly for Windows-centric users.
- MrMC: MrMC is a commercial Kodi-derived media center primarily targeting tvOS and iOS, originally created by a former Kodi lead developer. It is essentially a forked competitor offering a similar experience on Apple platforms.
- Infuse (Firecore): Infuse is a polished media-player app for iOS, tvOS, and Mac that aggregates personal video libraries with metadata and streaming services. It competes with Kodi on Apple TV and iOS for the same unified-library use case.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Kodi social profiles
Digital presenceKodi financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Kodi leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Kodi funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Kodi M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Kodi
What does Kodi do?
Kodi is a free, open source (GPL) software media player and entertainment hub that plays videos, music, podcasts, games, and displays photos from local, network, and internet sources. It features a 10-foot user interface designed for televisions and remote controls, runs on Windows, Linux, Android, Raspberry Pi, macOS, iOS, tvOS, and webOS, and is extensible through a large community-built add-on ecosystem covering video, music, skins, PVR, and games.
Is Kodi a public or private company?
Kodi is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Kodi founded?
Kodi was founded in 2003. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Kodi based?
Kodi is headquartered in Walnut, United States, in the North America region.
How does Kodi make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Donations are the primary driver. The others are merchandise Sales.
Who are Kodi's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, Stremio, VideoLAN VLC Media Player, LibreELEC, OSMC, MediaPortal, MrMC and Infuse (Firecore).
Does Kodi have an API?
Yes. Kodi provides a JSON-RPC based remote interface for remote control, web browsers, and third-party tools. This API allows external applications to interact with Kodi, controlling playback, managing library items, and accessing various Kodi features programmatically. The interface is used for remote controls, web interfaces, and third-party integrations. Developer documentation is at kodi.wiki/view/JSON-RPC.
What industry is Kodi in?
Kodi's product category is Media Center Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPACAJAK, Developer & Open-Source Communities. Its NAICS code is 5162 and its SIC code is 7372.