WiDi Technology Explained: The Former Pioneer of Wireless Display
In the history of wireless screen mirroring, WiDi is a name that cannot be overlooked. Once regarded as a key direction for future display technology, it has gradually faded from the mainstream spotlight today. However, understanding WiDi helps us gain a clearer perspective on the evolution of wireless screen mirroring technology.
I. WiDi: Intel’s Vision for Wireless Display
WiDi, short for Wireless Display, is a wireless display technology launched by Intel around 2010. It allows users to mirror the screen of a WiDi-supported laptop to a TV or projector via a Wi-Fi network—without quality loss and with low latency.
Its emergence marked the first time people widely realized that laptops could connect to TVs wirelessly with such convenience, laying the foundation for the later concept of multi-screen collaboration.
II. The Relationship Between WiDi and Miracast: From Exclusivity to Openness
While WiDi was a pioneer, it was a proprietary technology led by Intel, with strict hardware restrictions—particularly on Intel CPUs and network cards. This limited its popularity.
At the same time, the industry needed a more open standard. Thus, the Wi-Fi Alliance developed the Miracast standard based on WiDi. You can simply understand Miracast as “standardized, open WiDi.” The two share similar technical principles, but Miracast is not tied to specific hardware manufacturers and has gained wide support from Android device and TV chip manufacturers.
III. WiDi’s Current Status and Replacements
With the popularization of Miracast, Intel eventually discontinued further development of WiDi and shifted to supporting Miracast. As a result, most newly purchased laptops and TVs today support Miracast rather than WiDi.
For today’s users, wireless screen mirroring (including mobile screen mirroring) mainly relies on three options:
- Miracast: Used for mirroring 投屏 on Android devices and Windows computers.
- AirPlay: Used for screen mirroring on Apple ecosystem devices.
- DLNA: Used for pushing and playing media files.
As an early explorer and pioneer of wireless screen mirroring technology, WiDi deserves recognition for its historical status. It ignited the spark of wireless display and eventually led to the creation of the more open Miracast standard. Understanding this history helps us better utilize today’s mainstream mirroring protocols and enjoy the convenience brought by multi-screen collaboration.