autostream

Stream turntables and CD players to HomePods, Apple TV, and AirPlay speakers automatically.

autostream connects classic Hi-Fi gear to wireless multi-room speakers, making analogue sources first-class citizens in your AirPlay world. No apps to install and no complex configuration: Just press play.

autostream is compatible with HomePod, Apple TV, Sonos and other AirPlay-compatible speakers (including the latest HomePod Software and tvOS releases).

autostream is designed to be invisible - it converts a cheap Raspberry Pi into a tiny always-on audio streaming appliance with no clutter, and is easy to install with only one command needed.

See GETTING-STARTED.md for full setup instructions and install options, and the documentation index for all the user guides.

This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple Inc, and no claim is made that operation with any device is authorised or will continue to work.

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Key Features

• Streams vinyl, CDs, tape decks, and other line-level sources to AirPlay speakers
• Plays to:
  • HomePods and Stereo Paired HomePods (including HomeOS 27)
  • Apple TV (with HDMI in stereo or 5.1 upmix, or with HomePods in stereo)
  • Third-party AirPlay and AirPlay 2 compatible speakers (Sonos, Denon, Edifier and more)
• Detects audio automatically - starts and stops the stream without any interaction
• Connects to your turntable or CD player with a simple USB audio adapter
• Also works with Bluetooth-equipped turntables (no USB audio adapter needed)

Additional Features

• iPhone-friendly web app for volume control and speaker selection, with PIN-protected setup
• Optional track identification - shows artist, title, album, and artwork on the Home screen
• Switches between two connected sources automatically (e.g. turntable and CD player)
• Repeat mode plays the last record or CD or repeat
• 6-band output equaliser and per-input 3-band equaliser
• Stylus, belt, and bearing maintenance tracking for turntable inputs
• Multi-appliance aware - deploy multiple autostream appliances in your home and control them all together, either using the web app or the autostream dial
• Can be used as a stand-alone appliance or embedded into your audio gear.

autostream runs entirely on your local network and needs no cloud services, no online accounts, or subscriptions (the optional track identification feature does use Shazam cloud with no API key being required).

autostream dial

autostream dial provides a physical control for all of your autostream appliances. It can be deployed in two ways:

1. With a simple rotary encoder, to provide a physical volume control for all speakers
2. With a touch screen, to show album artwork and provide a simple interface to control volume and replay repeat recordings available on any of your autostream appliances

autostream 0.7 is the first release of the dial, including the full-size touchscreen version (HD dial). Update every dial and appliance to 0.7 together: a 0.7 dial is not supported with a 0.6 appliance.

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Network Access

autostream is accessed over HTTP at http://<hostname>.local/ (for example, http://autostream.local/).

Note: Publicly trusted certificates are not available for .local hostnames.

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Platform & Requirements

• Raspberry Pi
  • Pi Zero 2W is the minimum for autostream; Zero W minimum for dial. 8GB+ microSD card.
  • Pi Model 3A is generally the cheapest readily available board (as of October 2026)
• OS - Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Trixie). Use 64-bit for autostream; 32-bit is not supported. A dial can also run 32-bit, for example on a Pi Zero W.
• USB audio input, for example:
  • USB turntable (e.g. Audio-Technica AT-LP60XUSBGM)
  • USB ADC for line-level or phono input (e.g. Behringer U-PHONE UFO202)
  • Optical audio adapter for CD players (e.g. Cubilux USB C Optical Audio Capture Adapter)
• AirPlay or AirPlay 2 speakers on the same network

Power consumption on a Pi Zero W or Zero 2W: under 2 Watts.

autostream automatically installs owntone-mini (a derivative of OwnTone) for speaker discovery and streaming.

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Getting Started (autostream)

1. Flash Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Trixie) using Raspberry Pi Imager (remember to configure the WiFi in the tool), insert the microSD card into the Pi and boot up, then SSH in.
2. Run the one-line installer:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lo-tech-systems/autostream/main/bootstrap.sh | sudo bash

3. Connect one or two audio sources.
4. Reboot, then open Safari on iPhone and browse to http://autostream.local/ (replace autostream with your Pi's hostname if you changed it).
5. Complete the one-time setup - it takes two screens.

From there, just drop the needle or press play. autostream will do the rest.

See GETTING-STARTED.md for detailed setup instructions.

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Getting Started (autostream dial)

Dial runs on its own Raspberry Pi - it can't share with autostream.

1. Deploy an autostream appliance first (see above).
2. Flash Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Trixie) using Raspberry Pi Imager (remember to configure the WiFi in the tool), insert the microSD card into the Pi and boot up, then SSH in.
3. Run the dial one-line installer:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lo-tech-systems/autostream/main/dial_bootstrap.sh | sudo bash

4. Reboot, then continue setup from the autostream web app on your phone (Setup → Dials)

See Getting Started for detailed setup instructions and BUILD-GUIDE.md for hardware build instructions. A dial can also use a full-size HDMI or DSI touchscreen (preview): see HD-DIAL.md.

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Developer Documentation

• Adding a playback backend
• Adding a track-identification provider

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License

autostream is source-available and free for personal, non-commercial use.

See the LICENSE file for full terms.

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autostream is Copyright (c) 2025-2026, Lo-tech Systems Limited. All rights reserved.