Kodi 22 “Piers” is now officially available as an Alpha 1 Pre-Release version for those who wish to download the application.

Kodi is renowned for its constant updates and development, as pre-release versions are usually in the works while the stable version continues to be improved upon.

This tradition continues for the current version, as Kodi 22 “Piers” has officially launched for download with the Alpha 1 pre-release. The development team noted the following on the official Kodi website.

The Alpha 1 pre-release build has become available because we think it is ready for wider testing and usage. It also means we are closer to a stable release of v22.

We have yet to test this release, but various Reddit users have noted that it functions properly with popular addons such as FEN, Umbrella, and more.

NOTE: We always recommend using the stable version of Kodi with various 3rd party addons and builds. Currently, Kodi 21.2 is the stable release and available for download on popular devices such as Firestick, Android Box, and more.

However, those who do wish to test Kodi 22 Piers on various devices can find the installation links available on the Download Website, with Alpha 1 pre-release available for Android, PC, and more.

The official changelog for Kodi 22 Piers (Alpha 1) is available below. This can be found on the XBMC GitHub page.

Kodi 22 Piers (Alpha 1 Pre-Release)

Video/audio

• Upgraded to FFmpeg 7
• Blu-ray menu support
• Audio book chapter support
• Movie Versions/Extras full redesign
• Better stream selection
• Automatic cleaning of cached images/artwork

PVR

• New Recently Added Channels (plus new widget)
• New Providers window (requires skin support)
• New Custom Timers
• Improved channel groups
• Improved saved searches
• Improved recording functionality
• Improved EPG search
• 1-minute EPG resolution (requires skin support)

Games

• Shader support (from Google Summer of Code 2017/2019)
• Improved mouse and keyboard support

Performance

• Reduced memory usage for single- and dual-channel textures
• Improved performance and memory usage on OpenGL and OpenGLES

Network

• Improved SMB GUI settings
• Support for SMBv2.0 devices lacking SMBv2.1 features such as “large MTU”
• Fixed connecting to Windows SMB servers with no password
• Drastically improved performance at listing large SMB directories

Platforms

• Windows/Xbox
  • Initial Windows ARM64 desktop support
  • Python 3.13 on Windows/Xbox
  • Enabled XAudio2 sink for Windows desktop (was previously only on Xbox)
  • Enhanced Video Super Resolution feature with 10-bit SDR support (Intel and Nvidia) and HDR10 (Nvidia)
• Android
  • Enabled file sharing to other apps and players
  • Improved channels on the home page
  • Upgraded to Android 15
  • Minimum Android version is now 7.0
  • Android support for 16KB page size
• LG webOS
  • New unified media pipeline
• HDR passthrough on OpenGL (was previously only on OpenGLES)

Peripherals

Final Thoughts

We want to know what you think of the latest version of Kodi. Do you plan on installing a developmental build and testing it with addons/builds? Let us know in the comments below!

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