First alpha version of media player software Kodi 19 is available

The first alpha version of Kodi 19 ‘Matrix’ has been released. The new version of the open source media player software includes software support for the av1 codec, support for game controllers on iOS and uses Python 3 for add-ons.

The first Alpha of Kodi 19 has been released, as Kodi 18.8 came out at the end of July. That should be the final version of Kodi 18. The team behind the software is shifting its attention to version 19, which will receive several adjustments and improvements.

In Kodi 19, software support for decoding av1 videos is added and it is possible to set the opacity of the subtitles. There is also a new dark gray color for subtitles.

The iOS version of Kodi 19 will receive support for game controllers. Controllers from, for example, Xbox or PlayStation consoles can be linked via bluetooth. Other versions of Kodi already had support for that.

In the Windows and Android versions, static hdr10 support is added for all types of media. To take advantage of this, the respective Android device or video card used must also support HDR.

For add-ons, Kodi switches from Python 2 to Python 3. That means that existing add-ons may stop working if they don’t have a compatible version. According to the makers, that will soon change when developers of add-ons release new versions.

To live up to the name, Kodi 19 ‘Matrix’ also gets music visualization inspired by the movie classic. According to the developers, it has been optimized so that it also works on less powerful systems.

Kodi 19 is in development for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. Earlier, the team behind the media player software already announced that there will also be a version for Apple’s tvOS, which can be used with Apple TVs with jailbreak or by sideloading.