How to stream Xbox Series X to laptop

If you own a Windows 10 or 11 PC and an Xbox One or Series X / S console, you might not be aware that those devices have some interesting cross-functionality. Using Microsoft’s Wireless Display app, you can easily output the games from your Xbox to your Windows PC screen. Conversely, it’s possible to stream what’s on your PC to the TV that you’re using with your Xbox — you can even control it from the console, and setting it up is surprisingly simple.

Table of Contents Show

How to stream your PC to your Xbox One or Series X / S
Requirements
Add your Xbox to the list of devices on your computer
Stream media to your Xbox console from a computer
Related issues
Support resources
Need more help?
Can I connect my Xbox to my laptop to stream?
Can I stream from my Xbox Series X?
How do I stream Xbox Series X to PC without capture card?

One note, though: This is a wireless-only feature. Because the app uses Miracast to stream the content from your PC, you’ll need to make sure that both the Windows PC and Xbox One or Series X / S are on the same Wi-Fi network.

How to stream your PC to your Xbox One or Series X / S

Any Windows 10 or 11 PC that can connect to Wi-Fi will support casting to a wireless display, but you’ll need to download a free app for the Xbox.

Navigate on the console to the Microsoft Store (or simply click this link) and download the Wireless Display app to your Xbox.
Once the app is installed on the console, open it up. It will display a message saying that your console is now ready to be connected to your PC. The app also mentions a very helpful hint to keep in mind: the controller can switch between gamepad and keyboard / mouse control modes by pressing the menu and view buttons (the two buttons beneath the backlit Xbox logo on the controller).

The Wireless Display app’s landing screen, running and ready to connect on an Xbox console.

Head over to your PC. Once you’re ready to stream some content, press the keyboard combo Windows + K. Alternatively, you can click Connect to a wireless display in the Display menu of the System settings. Either way, the next screen will show your console’s name.

Be sure to select this button allowing inputs if you want to play streamed PC games from your Xbox with a controller.

From here, you can choose to extend what’s on your PC monitor, duplicate it, or set the display on the Xbox as your second screen. For our purposes, we set it as a duplicate so that the Xbox display mirrored our PC monitor.

This small taskbar gives you easy access to streaming modes and disconnecting.

Once you’re connected, you’ll see a small, movable taskbar located at the top of your PC monitor and your wirelessly connected TV. This lets you adjust the quality setting (accessible by clicking the gear icon) between gaming, working, or movie modes. During testing, it was tough to discern the difference in visual quality between the three. We found the gaming setting is best if you’re solely playing PC games, as it has the least noticeable latency while using a controller.

The option to stream the audio to your Xbox is in the playback device list, when you click the volume icon in the system tray.

One tip: if you’ve got better-sounding audio connected to your TV, you can switch the audio to output there instead of your PC.

Tap the speaker icon on the Windows task bar.
Select Digital Output [your Xbox’s name here]

Finally, Microsoft claims that you cannot use the Wireless Display app to display what it deems to be “protected content.” So any encrypted video content from apps like Netflix or Hulu won’t work. However, we were able to stream anything we wanted through the Google Chrome browser. If you’re running into trouble trying to get your movie or TV shows from Netflix or Hulu to appear, we suggest downloading those apps from the Microsoft Store on Xbox instead.

<< Back to Movies & TV Support

PlayTo is an Xbox feature that enables your Xbox 360 or Xbox One console to play streamed media from compatible devices and apps in Windows 10, including the Groove Music and Movies & TV apps.

Note PlayTo is available only on devices that have Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)-compliant playback capabilities, such as computers and some phones. You can only use PlayTo with your Xbox console if you’re running Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 on your PC or device.

For more information about using PlayTo with Xbox 360, see PlayTo overview for Xbox 360.
For more information about enabling PlayTo on your Xbox One, see Change the Xbox One console preferences.

Requirements

An Xbox One or Xbox 360 console with PlayTo enabled.
A computer or other device that’s running Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 along with Groove or Xbox Video. The computer or device must be on the same network as the console.

Add your Xbox to the list of devices on your computer

Don’t see your console in your computer’s list of devices? Here’s how to add it.

Go to Settings.
Click Devices (Bluetooth, printers, mouse).
Choose ConnectedDevices from the left navigation pane.
Click Add a Device.
Select your Xbox One or Xbox 360 console.

Notes

Your Xbox console must be turned on, connected to the Internet, and on the same network as your PC for it to be discoverable by your computer.
The name of your Xbox console may not be as shown.

If your console doesn’t appear as an available device, see one of the following articles for information about enabling it:

PlayTo overview for Xbox 360
Change the Xbox One console preferences

Stream media to your Xbox console from a computer

To stream media from your PC:

Start the Groove or Movies & TV app on your computer.
Select a song or video that’s stored on your computer.
Tap or click Play.
At the bottom of the screen, tap or click Cast To Device.
Select your console from the list of devices. If your console is turned on and online, the media will start playing.

Support resources

Movies & TV home

Post in the forums

Need more help?

Can I connect my Xbox to my laptop to stream?

After you've turned on streaming and connected your PC to your Xbox One console, you're ready to play! From the Connection area in the Xbox Console Companion app , select Stream to show the Xbox One screen and pick your game.

Can I stream from my Xbox Series X?

1. Create a Twitch account from a mobile device or computer. We recommend downloading Twitch on your iOS or Android phone to adjust your stream settings on the fly, which is easy to do with your Stream Manager in the Twitch app.

How do I stream Xbox Series X to PC without capture card?

To do this, you'll need to capture Xbox Companion App on your computer and stream it with any software, like OBS. It will allow you to add overlays to your stream, and also to stream to Restream to send your video to several platforms at once.