Kodi is a well-known media center software, available for many operating systems, that stands out for its versatility and numerous customization options. Among these is the ability to set an external player for playing multimedia content, a useful feature for those who want to use an alternative media player instead of the built-in one.
This is exactly where Easy Player Switch comes in. I developed this Kodi add-on to greatly simplify this process. Once installed and launched, it allows you to::
- Set VLC as the default external player
- Configure a custom player by automatically downloading a playercorefactory.xml configuration file from a direct URL.
- Restore Kodi’s built-in player with a single click.
This add-on can be especially useful when you want to use an external player to play your media collection, whether it’s stored on the device itself or accessible over the network via Samba or a NAS. Thanks to the Kodi Easy Player Switch add-on, switching players becomes quick and immediate, without having to manually edit configuration files on the device where Kodi is installed.
Kodi Easy Player Switch installation and use
- Go to Settings → Addon, then select “Install from a zip file.”
- Enter https://www.digitalking.it/kodi-repo/ as the address and any name you prefer (for example, DigiTalking repo).
- Go to Settings → Add-ons → Install from zip file.
- Select the newly added source, then select the zip file program.easyplayerswitch.zip and it will be installed.
- The addon will be available in Settings → Addons → My Addons → Add-on Programs.
The addon is self-updating, after installing it manually the first time, if updates are available, they will be installed automatically when Kodi starts.
In the addon configuration you can enable or disable addon updates and set the time interval how often to check for updates.
Addon features
- Selecting “Use VLC external player” will set the well-known VLC player as the default player.
- Selecting “Custom remote playercorefactory.xml” will prompt you to enter a direct URL to a playercorefactory.xml file (useful, for example, if you already have a configuration file for a player you want to use).
- Selecting “Custom local playercorefactory.xml” will allow you to choose a configuration file saved on your device, and Kodi will use that file.
- Selecting “Use Kodi’s internal player” will restore Kodi’s internal player.
Compatibility
The addon has been tested on Android, Windows and Linux.
Feedback and support
If you’d like to provide feedback on the Kodi add-on or report an issue, please leave a comment on this article or in the @ItalianSpaghettiGeeks Telegram group.