Scrcpy

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Scrcpy: Android screen mirroring made simple

What is scrcpy?
Scrcpy (short for screen copy) is a free, open‑source tool that lets you view and control an Android device from your computer. It works on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It uses USB (and can work over Wi‑Fi) without requiring root or extra apps on the device.

How it works
- Scrcpy uses Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to connect to the device.
- A small server runs on the Android device, streaming the screen as video (H.264) to the computer.
- The computer decodes and shows the screen, and keyboard/mouse input is sent back to the device.

Setup
- Enable USB debugging on the Android device.
- Connect the device to the computer (USB or set up wireless).
- Run scrcpy on the computer.
- You can customize settings like video bit rate or enable screen recording via command-line options.

Key features
- Lightweight: shows only the device screen, with minimal overhead.
- High performance: typically 30–60 frames per second.
- Good quality: supports 1080p and higher resolutions.
- Low latency: around 35–70 milliseconds.
- Fast startup: first image appears in about a second.
- Non-intrusive: nothing is installed on the device; no accounts, ads, or internet needed.
- Cross-platform: works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- Free and open source (Apache License 2.0).
- Optional wireless mirroring (requires extra setup).

History (in brief)
- First commit on GitHub: December 2017 by Romain Vimont.
- Scrcpy v1.0 released a few months later with basic mirroring and remote control.
- Community packaging spread to many Linux distributions.
- Scrcpy 2.0 (March 2023) added audio forwarding.
- Scrcpy 2.1 (June 2023) added microphone input, OpenGL 3.0+ on macOS, and other improvements.

Graphical user interfaces
In addition to the command-line version, there are GUI wrappers such as QtScrcpy, guiscrcpy, and scrcpy-gui for those who prefer a graphical interface.