Popcorn Time
A Tauri desktop app for watching movies and TV shows, with plans for weekly public catalog datasets.
- Stars
- 10.7k
- Forks
- 740
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- TypeScript
- Last update
- 2 months ago
- Type
- App
What it is
Popcorn Time is a cross-platform app for finding and watching movies and TV shows in one place. The README describes it as a complete rebuild of the original Popcorn Time, built with Tauri, a React and TypeScript interface, and a Rust backend. The project says it publishes its catalog weekly as Parquet datasets for developers and researchers.
- Browse movies and TV shows from a single desktop window
- Read the code to see how a Tauri app combines a React UI with a Rust backend
- Follow the DEVELOPMENT.md guide to build the app from source
- Use the published Parquet catalog datasets for research, once you confirm they are released
Great for
- People who want one app to browse movies and TV shows across platforms
- Developers interested in a Tauri plus React plus Rust desktop app to study or contribute to
- Researchers or developers who want the weekly catalog datasets once they are available
- Users who want to play their own local media files, which the README lists as coming soon
Not ideal for
- People who need a finished, stable release, since the README mentions nightly builds and the repository shows no latest release
- Users who need local media playback today, since the README marks it as 'soon'
- People who need clear licensing or legal guarantees about the content, since the README does not explain where content comes from
How to get it
- 1
Clone and build from source
You'll need: Node.js · Rust · Git
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/popcorntime/popcorntime - 2
Run it
- Read DEVELOPMENT.md in the repository for build instructions
- Install the listed prerequisites for building a Tauri app
- Build the app from source following the project's guide
- Launch the built desktop app and browse the catalog
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Check the nightly builds page on popcorntime.app if you want the newest unstable version
- Read CONTRIBUTING.md before sending changes
- Watch the README for updates on local media playback and the weekly Parquet datasets
- Join the Discord or follow the project's X account for announcements
Downloads
Strengths
- The code is public under the MIT license
- The README describes a Tauri, React, TypeScript, and Rust stack that is easy to inspect
- The project has active test badges and an active community presence, with about 10,700 GitHub stars
Trade-offs
- The README does not explain where the catalog content comes from, and its legal status is unclear
- No latest release is listed, so users may need to rely on unstable nightly builds
- Local media playback and some platform support are described as upcoming rather than available
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| popcorntime (this) | 10.7k | App | intermediate | 2 months ago | People who want one app to browse movies and TV shows across platforms |
| kivy | 19k | Framework | intermediate | 4 days ago | Python developers who want one codebase for desktop and mobile apps |
| webtorrent-desktop | 10.1k | App | beginner | 6 days ago | People who want to stream torrent video without waiting for a full download |
| yazi | 43.2k | App | intermediate | 4 days ago | People who already spend time in a terminal and want a faster way to browse folders |
| super-productivity | 23.4k | App | beginner | 4 days ago | People who want a personal task list with built-in time tracking |
| atom | 60.7k | App | beginner | 3.8 years ago | Developers who want a desktop code editor they can customize with packages |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.