scrcpy (v1.12)

This application provides display and control of Android devices connected on USB (or over TCP/IP). It does not require any root access. It works on GNU/Linux, Windows and macOS.

screenshot

It focuses on:

Requirements

The Android device requires at least API 21 (Android 5.0).

Make sure you enabled adb debugging on your device(s).

On some devices, you also need to enable an additional option to control it using keyboard and mouse.

Get the app

Linux

On Linux, you typically need to build the app manually. Don't worry, it's not that hard.

A [Snap] package is available: scrcpy.

For Arch Linux, an [AUR] package is available: scrcpy.

For Gentoo, an [Ebuild] is available: scrcpy/.

Windows

For Windows, for simplicity, prebuilt archives with all the dependencies (including adb) are available:

You can also build the app manually.

macOS

The application is available in [Homebrew]. Just install it:

bash brew install scrcpy

You need adb, accessible from your PATH. If you don't have it yet:

bash brew cask install android-platform-tools

You can also build the app manually.

Run

Plug an Android device, and execute:

bash scrcpy

It accepts command-line arguments, listed by:

bash scrcpy --help

Features

Capture configuration

Reduce size

Sometimes, it is useful to mirror an Android device at a lower definition to increase performance.

To limit both the width and height to some value (e.g. 1024):

bash scrcpy --max-size 1024 scrcpy -m 1024 # short version

The other dimension is computed to that the device aspect ratio is preserved. That way, a device in 1920×1080 will be mirrored at 1024×576.

Change bit-rate

The default bit-rate is 8 Mbps. To change the video bitrate (e.g. to 2 Mbps):

bash scrcpy --bit-rate 2M scrcpy -b 2M # short version

Limit frame rate

On devices with Android >= 10, the capture frame rate can be limited:

bash scrcpy --max-fps 15

Crop

The device screen may be cropped to mirror only part of the screen.

This is useful for example to mirror only one eye of the Oculus Go:

bash scrcpy --crop 1224:1440:0:0 # 1224x1440 at offset (0,0)

If --max-size is also specified, resizing is applied after cropping.

Recording

It is possible to record the screen while mirroring:

bash scrcpy --record file.mp4 scrcpy -r file.mkv

To disable mirroring while recording:

```bash scrcpy --no-display --record file.mp4 scrcpy -Nr file.mkv

interrupt recording with Ctrl+C

Ctrl+C does not terminate properly on Windows, so disconnect the device

```

"Skipped frames" are recorded, even if they are not displayed in real time (for performance reasons). Frames are timestamped on the device, so [packet delay variation] does not impact the recorded file.

Connection

Wireless

Scrcpy uses adb to communicate with the device, and adb can [connect] to a device over TCP/IP:

  1. Connect the device to the same Wi-Fi as your computer.
  2. Get your device IP address (in Settings → About phone → Status).
  3. Enable adb over TCP/IP on your device: adb tcpip 5555.
  4. Unplug your device.
  5. Connect to your device: adb connect DEVICE_IP:5555 (replace DEVICE_IP).
  6. Run scrcpy as usual.

It may be useful to decrease the bit-rate and the definition:

bash scrcpy --bit-rate 2M --max-size 800 scrcpy -b2M -m800 # short version

Multi-devices

If several devices are listed in adb devices, you must specify the serial:

bash scrcpy --serial 0123456789abcdef scrcpy -s 0123456789abcdef # short version

You can start several instances of scrcpy for several devices.

SSH tunnel

To connect to a remote device, it is possible to connect a local adb client to a remote adb server (provided they use the same version of the adb protocol):

```bash adb kill-server # kill the local adb server on 5037 ssh -CN -L5037:localhost:5037 -R27183:localhost:27183 yourremotecomputer

keep this open

```

From another terminal:

bash scrcpy

Like for wireless connections, it may be useful to reduce quality:

scrcpy -b2M -m800 --max-fps 15

Window configuration

Title

By default, the window title is the device model. It can be changed:

bash scrcpy --window-title 'My device'

Position and size

The initial window position and size may be specified:

bash scrcpy --window-x 100 --window-y 100 --window-width 800 --window-height 600

Borderless

To disable window decorations:

bash scrcpy --window-borderless

Always on top

To keep the scrcpy window always on top:

bash scrcpy --always-on-top

Fullscreen

The app may be started directly in fullscreen:

bash scrcpy --fullscreen scrcpy -f # short version

Fullscreen can then be toggled dynamically with Ctrl+f.

Other mirroring options

Read-only

To disable controls (everything which can interact with the device: input keys, mouse events, drag&drop files):

bash scrcpy --no-control scrcpy -n

Turn screen off

It is possible to turn the device screen off while mirroring on start with a command-line option:

bash scrcpy --turn-screen-off scrcpy -S

Or by pressing Ctrl+o at any time.

To turn it back on, press POWER (or Ctrl+p).

Render expired frames

By default, to minimize latency, scrcpy always renders the last decoded frame available, and drops any previous one.

To force the rendering of all frames (at a cost of a possible increased latency), use:

bash scrcpy --render-expired-frames

Show touches

For presentations, it may be useful to show physical touches (on the physical device).

Android provides this feature in Developers options.

Scrcpy provides an option to enable this feature on start and disable on exit:

bash scrcpy --show-touches scrcpy -t

Note that it only shows physical touches (with the finger on the device).

Input control

Rotate device screen

Press Ctrl+r to switch between portrait and landscape modes.

Note that it rotates only if the application in foreground supports the requested orientation.

Copy-paste

It is possible to synchronize clipboards between the computer and the device, in both directions:

Text injection preference

There are two kinds of events generated when typing text: - key events, signaling that a key is pressed or released; - text events, signaling that a text has been entered.

By default, letters are injected using key events, so that the keyboard behaves as expected in games (typically for WASD keys).

But this may cause issues. If you encounter such a problem, you can avoid it by:

bash scrcpy --prefer-text

(but this will break keyboard behavior in games)

File drop

Install APK

To install an APK, drag & drop an APK file (ending with .apk) to the scrcpy window.

There is no visual feedback, a log is printed to the console.

Push file to device

To push a file to /sdcard/ on the device, drag & drop a (non-APK) file to the scrcpy window.

There is no visual feedback, a log is printed to the console.

The target directory can be changed on start:

bash scrcpy --push-target /sdcard/foo/bar/

Audio forwarding

Audio is not forwarded by scrcpy. Use [USBaudio] (Linux-only).

Also see [issue #14].

Shortcuts

| Action | Shortcut | Shortcut (macOS) | -------------------------------------- |:----------------------------- |:----------------------------- | Switch fullscreen mode | Ctrl+f | Cmd+f | Resize window to 1:1 (pixel-perfect) | Ctrl+g | Cmd+g | Resize window to remove black borders | Ctrl+x \| Double-click¹ | Cmd+x \| Double-click¹ | Click on HOME | Ctrl+h \| Middle-click | Ctrl+h \| Middle-click | Click on BACK | Ctrl+b \| Right-click² | Cmd+b \| Right-click² | Click on APP_SWITCH | Ctrl+s | Cmd+s | Click on MENU | Ctrl+m | Ctrl+m | Click on VOLUME_UP | Ctrl+ (up) | Cmd+ (up) | Click on VOLUME_DOWN | Ctrl+ (down) | Cmd+ (down) | Click on POWER | Ctrl+p | Cmd+p | Power on | Right-click² | Right-click² | Turn device screen off (keep mirroring)| Ctrl+o | Cmd+o | Rotate device screen | Ctrl+r | Cmd+r | Expand notification panel | Ctrl+n | Cmd+n | Collapse notification panel | Ctrl+Shift+n | Cmd+Shift+n | Copy device clipboard to computer | Ctrl+c | Cmd+c | Paste computer clipboard to device | Ctrl+v | Cmd+v | Copy computer clipboard to device | Ctrl+Shift+v | Cmd+Shift+v | Enable/disable FPS counter (on stdout) | Ctrl+i | Cmd+i

¹Double-click on black borders to remove them.
²Right-click turns the screen on if it was off, presses BACK otherwise.

Custom paths

To use a specific adb binary, configure its path in the environment variable ADB:

ADB=/path/to/adb scrcpy

To override the path of the scrcpy-server file, configure its path in SCRCPY_SERVER_PATH.

Why scrcpy?

A colleague challenged me to find a name as unpronounceable as [gnirehtet].

[strcpy] copies a string; scrcpy copies a screen.

How to build?

See [BUILD].

Common issues

See the FAQ.

Developers

Read the [developers page].

Licence

Copyright (C) 2018 Genymobile
Copyright (C) 2018-2019 Romain Vimont

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.

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