AirPlay is a proprietary wireless technology developed by Apple for streaming content wirelessly between compatible devices that share a network.
Those devices might be your MacBook streaming a document to an AirPlay-compatible printer, an iPhone streaming music to wireless speakers in your home, or your desktop Mac streaming an HD movie to your TV.
AirPlay is part of the operating systems that run all Mac computers and iOS mobile devices. As long as they are on the same network, any of these devices can stream content from one to another and to any AirPlay-compatible devices that are also on the network.
Lifewire / Theresa ChiechiFor digital music, you can stream to your TV equipped with an Apple TV, share with other devices using an Airport Express, or listen with AirPlay-compatible speakers.
With AirPlay 2, it's possible to stream digital music to several rooms equipped with AirPlay-compatible speakers at the same time or directly to headphones available from most major headphone manufacturers.
Just like with any wireless network, you need a device that transmits information and one that receives it:
Yes, it can. For example, if you use Apple TV to stream music, videos, and photos from your iOS device to your HDTV, then metadata such as song title, artist, and genre can be displayed.
Album art can also be transmitted and displayed using AirPlay. The JPEG image format is used to send cover art.
To stream digital music over Wi-Fi, AirPlay uses the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP). The Apple Lossless Audio Codec is used over the UDP transport layer protocol to stream two audio channels at 44100 Hertz.
Audio data is scrambled by the AirPlay server device, which uses a private key-based encryption system.
You can use AirPlay to mirror your Mac display to an Apple TV-equipped projector or TV, which is handy when you are giving presentations or training groups of employees.
When both devices are turned on and connected to the same Wi-Fi network, click on theAirPlay statusmenu in the menu bar of the Mac and select the projector or television from the drop-down menu.
FAQNo. AirPlay can be used to mirror a screen, but AirPlay has many uses outside of mirroring.
Apple devices support AirPlay across the board, but other devices that Apple doesn't make, like printers or receivers, can also support AirPlay.