Moonlight
Free app that streams games from a gaming PC on your own network to the machine in front of you.
Our verdict
Moonlight is the answer when one Windows program or game refuses to move. You leave it on the Windows PC, run streaming software there, and Moonlight on your Linux machine shows you that screen and sends your keyboard, mouse and controller back.
It is not a replacement for Parsec's remote working features and it is not a cloud service. It is for your own home, where the two machines are on the same network. Plugged-in network cable on both ends gives a much better result than wifi.
Setup is a pairing code typed once. After that it behaves like a normal game launcher. It is free, open source under GPL-3.0, and installs from the Linux app store.
What's good
- Free and open source, run by a community rather than a company, with no ads or subscription
- Streams from a Windows gaming PC you already own, so nothing has to run on Linux
- Handles game controllers, surround sound and hardware video decoding
- Also runs on phones, tablets, TVs and handhelds, so one setup covers several screens
What to know first
- You still need a second PC doing the actual work, plus streaming software on it
- Designed for your own home network, not for playing across the internet
- Picture quality and lag depend on your network, and wifi is noticeably worse than a cable
The details
- Cost
- Free
- Open source
- Yes (GPL-3.0)
- How you install it
- App store (Flatpak)
Windows apps it can replace
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