Among the numerous wireless display standards, Miracast—an open protocol promoted by the Wi-Fi Alliance—plays a pivotal role. Widely recognized as the cornerstone enabling native wireless screen mirroring on Android devices and Windows computers, it allows users to effortlessly mirror their screens to large-display devices without installing third-party applications.

In essence, Miracast is a peer-to-peer screen mirroring technology based on Wi-Fi Direct. It does not rely on a traditional wireless local area network (router); instead, it enables direct connections between sending devices (e.g., smartphones) and receiving devices (e.g., TVs or mirroring adapters). Its workflow involves real-time encoding of screen content into H.264 video streams for transmission. Key features include: broad compatibility (natively supported on Android 4.2+ and Windows 8.1+), no requirement for a network connection, and low latency.

Miracast is ideal for scenarios that demand complete, real-time screen mirroring, such as: demonstrating mobile app operations, sharing game footage, and delivering PPT presentations. Users typically enable this feature in the device’s Settings menu (often labeled Wireless Display or Cast on Android; accessible via the Win + K shortcut on Windows 10/11), then search for and select nearby Miracast-enabled receiving devices to establish a connection.

Its greatest strengths lie in its openness and widespread pre-installed support across devices. However, actual user experience may vary depending on the level of optimization by device manufacturers, occasionally leading to challenges with connection stability or image quality. Additionally, as it focuses primarily on mirroring mode, it is less flexible and power-efficient than the DLNA protocol for scenarios where only media files need to be streamed without mirroring the entire desktop.

Despite facing competition from proprietary vendor protocols (e.g., AirPlay) and other technologies, Miracast, as an open industry standard, remains a critical enabler of basic wireless screen mirroring interoperability across cross-brand devices. It is especially indispensable for users within the Android and Windows ecosystems.