What is it and how does it work Miracast

Here is a brief guide to the use of Miracast, a very useful technology that exists for years but probably few people know about: what is it and how it works

Miracast is one of those transmission technologies that if everyone knew it existed would certainly be used more. It is included in many commonly used devices such as smartphones and Android tablets, but also in many computers, and is very useful and just as easy to use.

Miracast is the technology that allows you to "transfer", to project, what is displayed on the screen of smartphones, tablets, PCs, etc., on a monitor or a Smart TV, all without the need to connect any cable. The "magic", which in technical terms is called "mirroring", takes place thanks to the Wi-Fi connection, so it is intuitively essential that the transmitting device and the receiving one, which must reproduce the content of the screen are both connected to the same Wi-Fi line, taking for granted that both support Miracast technology. Here's how it's activated and what it's for.

Miracast, how it's activated

First of all, let's note that it's necessary that both devices that need to make the Miracast connection must support the technology and be connected to the same Wi-Fi network - which does what an HDMI cable would do. Initially Miracast supported Full HD transmission at most, but since 2017 the standard has been updated to allow the transmission of content up to 4K Ultra HD.

To make the wireless connection between a Smart TV and an Android smartphone (but it also applies to Android tablets, the procedure is almost similar) you need to: open the Notification dropdown or Quick Settings, scroll from top to bottom to locate and press the icon with two screens, usually marked Screen Broadcast.

Doing so, in the screen that pops up you simply have to wait for the devices ready to receive the screen content to be shown and select the one you want to connect to your Android smartphone.

If instead you want to take advantage of Miracast to transmit what's on the screen of a Windows PC, the procedure is very similar and identical for all machines running Windows 8.1 and newer versions (Windows 11 included). Just access Quick Settings from the menu bar at the bottom right, and then click Connect and choose the device to pair with the computer.

Miracast, what it's for

Miracast does nothing more than transmit "live" and wirelessly everything that happens on the screen of the source device that sends the signal to the monitor or Smart TV. So, intuitively, Miracast is a sort of Swiss army knife of technology: you can use it to make even the largest of smartphone screens become "giant" once transferred to the TV.

Any content then can benefit from Miracast transmission, from photos and videos from your summer vacation to YouTube videos, through movies and TV series. The only limit of Miracast, in fact, is the imagination of the user!