moonlight-stream/moonlight-qt

What it does

Moonlight PC is a client for low-latency game streaming. It connects to an NVIDIA GameStream host or a Sunshine host and renders the remote game or desktop on Windows, macOS, Linux and Steam Link. Hardware-accelerated decoding, H.264/HEVC/AV1 support, HDR, 7.1 surround audio, multi-controller input with force feedback and motion controls, and pointer capture for games or direct mouse control for remote desktop are included.

It is aimed at players who want to play PC games on another screen or device, and at users who need remote desktop access with game-oriented input handling. Android and iOS clients are maintained separately.

Quick start

You need a running host first: either an NVIDIA GameStream-capable PC or a Sunshine host. Then install the client:

• Windows, macOS and Steam Link builds are on the releases page.
• Ubuntu-based distributions can use the Snap package; other Linux distributions can use Flatpak or the AppImage from releases.
• Raspberry Pi, generic ARM and RISC-V boards have separate install guides in the Moonlight documentation.

Launch the client, let it discover the host on the local network (or add the host address manually), pair with the PIN shown by the host, and select a game or desktop stream. Nightly builds are available separately for testing newer code.

To build from source, install Qt 6.11 or later (Qt 5.12+ is supported on Linux), fetch submodules with git submodule update --init --recursive, run setup-deps.ps1 on Windows or setup-deps.py on macOS, then build with qmake6 moonlight-qt.pro and make release. The binary lands at app/moonlight. Windows, macOS and Steam Link packaging scripts live in scripts.

Constraints

AV1, YUV 4:4:4 and 10-point multitouch require a Sunshine host and compatible host GPU. Steam Link builds are limited to 1080p at 60 FPS and 40 Mbps, and do not support HDR on original hardware. The Vulkan renderer needs libplacebo v7.349.0+ and FFmpeg 6.1+. The project is licensed under GPL-3.0.

HotRepo's take

On the C++ daily list for 2026-11-10, the repository recorded 28 new stars and a best position of 12, on top of about 19.5k total stars. That is a steady signal for a mature streaming client rather than a launch spike. The project's value is concentrated in client compatibility and input/audio handling, so the main practical question for readers is whether their host setup (GameStream or Sunshine) supports the codecs and features they intend to use.