# OpenWFD - Open Source WiFi-Display Implementation

Overview

* **`OpenWFD`** is an Open-Source implementation of the Wifi-Display standard (abbr. *WFD*). It is also commonly known as [[Miracast|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracast]], the name of the WiFi-Alliance certification program.

* Miracast is basically a *wireless HDMI-cable*. It defines a way to connect monitors to your devices via WiFi-Direct. Compared to other known streaming protocols, it provides mode-negotiation, real-time transmission, low-latency and more. It is not a replacement for [[DLNA|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance]]! It does **not** provide any concept of music/video-files or starting/stopping media-playback. Instead, Miracast just replaces the HDMI-cable and thus provides a single video/audio-stream from a source to a sink in real-time.
The main advantage of Miracast is the easy setup and the *data-independence*. Whenever you have a Miracast-enabled sink (like a TV), you can discover it via standard WiFi-Scanning, establish a connection and use it as a virtual monitor on your machine. Whether it's cloning your main display, used as desktop-extension or setup as independent screen is up to you!

* OpenWFD is currently under heavy development. It is not ready to be used, yet. Stay tuned!

* [[developer repository (David Herrmann)|http://cgit.freedesktop.org/~dvdhrm/openwfd/]]