How to Cast to a Browser — the Universal Casting Target
Sometimes the TV in front of you has no Chromecast, no Roku, no AirPlay, no working DLNA. As long as it has a web browser, you can still cast to it. Open castb.cc on a Samsung TV, LG TV, Xbox, projector, laptop, or hotel TV, type the 3-character code shown in CastBrowser, and you're paired in under a minute. No app on the receiving side, no extra hardware, no IP address to type.
Cast to browser — quick answer
- What it is: a hosted Web Receiver at castb.cc. Open that URL on any device with a browser, type the 3-character code shown in the CastBrowser app, and you're paired.
- Receiver side: any device with a modern browser — Smart TV, Xbox, PS4, projector, laptop, Chromebook, hotel TV, even a second phone. No app, no extension.
- What it sends: the actual video stream — the receiving browser plays it natively when the format is browser-supported (MP4 and HLS work across most modern TV browsers; MKV and DASH support varies by browser).
- What it isn't: screen mirroring. Your phone is just a remote control; the receiver does the playback.
Why “cast to browser” exists
Most casting protocols require something specific on the receiving side — Chromecast hardware, a Roku, a TV with AirPlay 2, a DLNA media renderer. When none of that is available, the only thing left on every modern device is the built-in browser. CastBrowser's Web Receiver uses that browser as the casting target via a hosted pairing page at castb.cc. It works because every Smart TV browser, every games-console browser (Xbox, PS4), every laptop browser, every projector browser, and most hotel-room TVs can play standard HTML5 video — and that's all the receiver page needs.
The result is a universal fallback: when Chromecast won't pair, when Roku is on a different VLAN, when AirPlay isn't supported, when DLNA is broken on your TV — open castb.cc in the browser, type the code, cast.
How to cast to a browser in 4 steps
- Install CastBrowser on your phone — Google Play or App Store.
- On the receiving device — Smart TV, Xbox, PS4, projector, laptop, hotel TV — open the built-in browser and go to https://castb.cc. The page shows a slot for a 3-character pairing code.
- In CastBrowser on your phone, tap the cast icon and pick Web Receiver. The app generates a 3-character code.
- Type that code into
castb.ccon the TV. The two devices pair instantly. - Browse to a site with video and press play, or pick a local file. The video appears in the browser on your TV.
Pairing happens once per session — every subsequent video you cast from the phone replaces the current one on the receiver automatically. Keep both devices on the same Wi-Fi network; the castb.cc page is hosted online but the actual video stream still flows phone-to-receiver over the local network.
When the Web Receiver is the right choice
- • Game consoles — Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S (built-in Edge browser) and PlayStation 4 (built-in browser under TV & Video) don't support Chromecast, Roku casting, or DLNA out of the box, but they can open castb.cc. PS5 is not supported because it lacks a standalone browser app.
- • Older Smart TVs where DLNA / AllShare / SmartShare is broken or missing.
- • Smart TVs without Chromecast or AirPlay — most pre-2020 Samsung Tizen and LG webOS models, for example.
- • Projectors with a built-in browser (XGIMI, Anker Nebula, BenQ portable projectors).
- • Work laptops where you can't install software but you can use a browser.
- • Hotel TVs and rentals with restricted firmware but a working web browser.
- • Networks where Chromecast or Roku discovery fails — pairing by 3-character code skips the mDNS/SSDP discovery step that often gets blocked on mesh, ISP, and corporate routers. Both devices still need to be on the same Wi-Fi network.
Web Receiver vs other “cast to browser” options
| Method | What it does | Quality | Battery on phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| CastBrowser Web Receiver (castb.cc) | Pair phone and any browser via a 3-char code; the receiver browser plays the stream natively. | Full source quality (browser-supported formats) | Low (acts as remote) |
| Browser screen mirroring (e.g. Chrome tab cast) | Captures a tab as a video stream and re-encodes it. | Compressed, ~720p | High |
| Phone screen mirroring (Miracast / AirPlay mirror) | Mirrors the entire phone display to the TV. | Compressed, latency-prone | Very high |
| DLNA / Chromecast / Roku | Native protocol on the receiver. Best quality when supported. | Full source quality | Low |
What this method does and does not do
Does: stream non-DRM web video to any device with a modern browser; play browser-friendly formats like MP4 and HLS reliably across most TV browsers (other formats such as DASH, MKV, WebM, and AVI depend on what the receiving browser can decode natively); let your phone go to sleep mid-playback; replace the playing video instantly when you cast a new one.
Does not: bypass DRM (Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video stay locked to their official apps); replace the broadcaster's player when DRM or geo-restriction is in use; play formats the receiving browser can't decode (very old console browsers may struggle with HLS even though MP4 works fine).
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you cast a video to a browser?
Yes — open castb.cc in the receiving browser, type the 3-character code shown in the CastBrowser app, and the two devices pair. No app, no extension, no extra hardware on the receiving side.
Is the Web Receiver the same as screen mirroring browser?
No. Screen mirroring captures your phone's screen as a compressed video and re-encodes it. Web Receiver sends the actual stream URL to the TV browser, which plays it natively at full quality with low phone battery use.
Does Web Receiver work without Chromecast?
Yes. The whole point is to give you a casting path when Chromecast, Roku, AirPlay, and DLNA are unavailable or broken. As long as the TV has a browser, it works.
Will it work on a hotel TV?
Sometimes. The phone and the TV both need to be on the same Wi-Fi. If hotel Wi-Fi enables client isolation between guest devices, no in-LAN casting tool works — the workaround is to enable a personal hotspot on a second phone and put both the casting phone and the TV on that hotspot.
Does it work on Xbox or PlayStation?
Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S: yes — both ship Microsoft Edge as a full browser app. Open castb.cc, type the 3-character code, cast. PlayStation 4: yes — PS4 ships a built-in web browser (under TV & Video). Web Video Caster's own receiver runs on PS4 the same way, so castb.cc works there too. PlayStation 5: not currently supported — Sony removed the standalone browser app from PS5.
Does it work with iPhone?
Yes — the Web Receiver is available on both Android and iOS. The receiving browser can be on a Smart TV, laptop, projector, or any other device with a browser.
Is it free?
Yes. CastBrowser is currently free on Google Play and the App Store, and the Web Receiver is included along with Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV, AirPlay, and DLNA support.
Get the Universal Casting Fallback
CastBrowser is free on Android and iOS. Includes Web Receiver, Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV, AirPlay, and DLNA — all in one app.