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ALVR

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ALVR
Information
Type Wireless PC VR streaming
Industry Virtual reality
Developer ALVR Team (alvr-org community); original version by polygraphene
Written In Rust, C++
Operating System Windows 10 and 11, Linux (PC streamer)
License MIT License
Supported Devices Meta Quest 1, 2, 3, 3S and Pro; Pico Neo 3, 4 and 4 Ultra; Play For Dream YVR 1, YVR 2 and MR; HTC Vive Focus 3, Focus Vision and XR Elite; Apple Vision Pro
Release Date May 24, 2018 (first release)
Website https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR


ALVR (Air Light VR) is free, open-source software that streams SteamVR games from a Windows or Linux PC to a standalone VR headset over Wi-Fi. The project describes itself as a way to "stream VR games from your PC to your headset over Wi-Fi". It has two parts: a streamer that runs on the PC alongside SteamVR, and a client app installed on the headset.[1] ALVR is released under the MIT License.[2]

The software was first written by a developer known as polygraphene for the Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Go, with its first release in May 2018.[3][4] Development later moved to a community fork under the alvr-org organization, which supports Meta Quest, Pico, HTC Vive Focus, Play For Dream and Apple Vision Pro headsets.[1] In 2024, UploadVR called ALVR "the open-source alternative" to Virtual Desktop, Steam Link and Quest Link or Air Link, and wrote that it "has been around since before any of those".[5]

Reviewed 29 September 2026. GitHub release dates and notes, both READMEs, LICENSE, Cargo.toml and settings.rs, the Meta, Apple and Steam store listings, three UploadVR articles, one AppleInsider article and both research papers were checked against the text. About review dates.

History

Original version (2018-2019)

polygraphene published the first ALVR release, v1.2, on GitHub on 24 May 2018.[4] The original README described ALVR as "an open source remote VR display for Gear VR and Oculus Go/Quest" that streams VR display output from a PC over Wi-Fi. It compared the software to Riftcat and Trinus VR and said its aim was optimization for Gear VR, with smoother head tracking on Wi-Fi through Asynchronous timewarp. That version needed SteamVR and an NVIDIA GPU with NVENC video encoding support or an AMD GPU with AMF VCE support. For Gear VR and Go, the headset client could at one point be downloaded from the Oculus Store with a key; the README now says ALVR is no longer available there.[3] Release v2.3.1 in September 2018 added experimental support for AMD GPUs.[4]

In May 2019 the developer said there was "a plan" to support the Oculus Quest, adding "don't expect too much". UploadVR noted at the time that on Go and Gear VR, which are 3DoF headsets with rotation-only controllers, most SteamVR content could not actually be played. It also noted that image quality and latency with ALVR and similar apps did not match a real PC VR headset, mainly because of the video compression needed to send frames over Wi-Fi.[6] polygraphene published alpha builds for the Oculus Quest (v2.4.0-alpha1 to alpha5) between 23 and 31 May 2019.[4] The original repository has since been archived. Its README says it is no longer maintained and sends users to the alvr-org fork, while keeping an unmaintained version for Gear VR users.[3]

Community fork (2019-2023)

The first release of the community fork, "Experimental v1" (eV1), was published on 28 July 2019. Its notes state that it was based on a commit of polygraphene's ALVR and on a client repository by the developer JackD83, and that it fixed tracking on the latest Oculus Quest update.[7] The project's MIT license lists copyright holders as polygraphene (2018-2019) and alvr-org (2020-2024).[2]

ALVR v12, released in August 2020, added an HTML dashboard that could be opened from the PC, from a browser or inside VR, along with a setup wizard and syncing of the Quest Guardian boundary to the SteamVR Chaperone.[8] v13.0.0 (November 2020) added 72, 80 and 90 Hz refresh rate options for the Quest 2.[9] v15.0.0 (February 2021) rewrote the streaming sockets and let users choose between UDP, throttled UDP and TCP; the release notes claimed a latency saving of 5 to 10 ms.[10]

v17.0.0 (January 2022) added adaptive bitrate and NVENC encoding on Linux.[11] v18.0.0 (February 2022) added software video encoding on Windows as a fallback for GPUs without hardware encoding. Because this used FFmpeg, the project began distributing its Windows binaries under the GPL license from that release, while noting that ALVR could still be built as MIT-licensed without the software encoder.[12] In the v19.0.0 notes (October 2022) the team said the Meta Quest Pro was supported without particular changes, and it dropped Oculus Go support, because ALVR by then required Android 8 or later.[13]

v20.0.0, released on 2 June 2023, introduced a new headset client built on OpenXR. It added support for the HTC Vive Focus 3, HTC Vive XR Elite, Pico 4, Pico Neo 3, YVR 1 and YVR 2, along with a new dashboard and support for eye and face tracking.[14]

Store releases and later versions (2024-2026)

v20.7.0, released in April 2024, was the first release to support the Apple Vision Pro. It also added AV1 encoding on Windows with AMD GPUs and on Linux with NVIDIA GPUs, HDR support on Windows, and full body tracking on Quest.[15] With v20.9 in July 2024 the project released ALVR on Meta's App Lab, added PipeWire audio support on Linux, and began testing a new launcher that can keep several ALVR installations side by side and install the headset app without tools such as SideQuest.[16]

v20.12.0 (January 2025) added an integrated wired (USB) mode, passthrough in the lobby and during streaming, support for the Meta Quest 3S, Pico 4 Ultra and HTC Vive Focus Vision, AV1 on NVIDIA GPUs under Windows, and reprojection on SteamVR for Windows.[17] v20.13.0 (March 2025) added support for the Play For Dream MR, a beta option for Snapdragon Game Super Resolution, chroma key passthrough, face tracking on Pico and Focus Vision headsets, and Pico body tracking.[18]

v20.14.0, released on 30 June 2025, was announced as the last minor release of the v20 cycle. The team said later versions would bump the major version more often, because protocol compatibility between the headset app and the streamer is tied to the major version number.[19] As of 29 September 2026, the latest stable release on GitHub is v20.14.1 from 14 July 2025, which fixed the Virtual Audio Cable microphone option.[20] The main development branch carries the version number 21.0.0-dev14.[21] A Steam store page for the Windows streamer, "ALVR - Air Light VR", lists the ALVR Team as developer and publisher, the price as free, and the release date as "Coming soon"; it says a Linux version is planned.[22]

Release history

Version Date Notable changes
v1.2 (polygraphene) 24 May 2018 First release of the original project[4]
v2.4.0-alpha1 (polygraphene) 23 May 2019 First alpha build for the Oculus Quest[4]
Experimental v1 28 July 2019 First release of the community fork[7]
v12 4 August 2020 New dashboard usable in VR, setup wizard, Guardian to Chaperone sync[8]
v15.0.0 28 February 2021 Rewritten sockets with UDP, throttled UDP and TCP options[10]
v18.0.0 26 February 2022 Software encoding on Windows; Windows binaries under GPL[12]
v19.0.0 30 October 2022 Quest Pro support; Oculus Go support dropped[13]
v20.0.0 2 June 2023 OpenXR client; Vive Focus 3, XR Elite, Pico 4, Neo 3, YVR 1 and 2 support[14]
v20.7.0 6 April 2024 First release supporting Apple Vision Pro; AV1 and HDR options[15]
v20.9.1 6 July 2024 Meta App Lab release; PipeWire audio on Linux; new launcher (beta)[16]
v20.12.0 15 January 2025 Wired mode, passthrough, Quest 3S, Pico 4 Ultra and Vive Focus Vision support[17]
v20.13.0 11 March 2025 Play For Dream MR support, chroma key passthrough, Pico face and body tracking[18]
v20.14.1 14 July 2025 Latest stable release as of September 2026[20]

How it works

ALVR's PC streamer works with SteamVR, which must be installed on the PC. The streamer encodes each frame with the GPU's video encoder: the project lists an NVIDIA GPU with NVENC (GTX 1000 series or newer), an AMD GPU with AMF VCE, or an Intel GPU with VPL support (Arc, Tiger Lake or newer).[1] Compressing the video adds latency, since the PC has to encode each frame and the headset has to decode it.[6] Available codecs are H.264, HEVC and AV1, and the streamer applies foveated encoding by default; the settings warn that turning it off can sharply increase encode and decode times.[23] Bitrate can be constant or adaptive.[23]

For the network, the project recommends 802.11ac 5 GHz Wi-Fi for the headset and a wired Ethernet connection for the PC, with both on the same router. A routed connection is also possible.[1] Since v20.12.0 ALVR has an integrated wired mode that launches the client automatically when the headset is connected to the PC by USB.[17]

Headset features passed through to SteamVR have grown over time. They include hand tracking and multimodal input (one tracked hand and one controller at the same time on Quest, added in v20.11.0),[24] eye tracking and face tracking (from v20.0.0, later also through the VRCFaceTracking ALVR module),[14][25][18] tongue tracking on the Quest Pro (v20.6.0),[26] and body tracking on Quest and Pico headsets.[15][18] The streamer can present the headset and controllers to SteamVR as other hardware, including Quest, Pico 4 and Valve Index controller profiles.[23]

Supported devices

The alvr-org README lists the following headset support as of September 2026.[1]

Headset Status Notes
Apple Vision Pro Supported Distributed through the visionOS App Store
Quest 1, Quest 2, Quest 3, Quest 3S, Quest Pro Supported Distributed through the Meta store, except for Quest 1
Pico Neo 3, Pico 4, Pico 4 Ultra Supported
Play For Dream YVR 1, YVR 2, MR Supported
Vive Focus 3, Focus Vision, XR Elite Supported
Smartphones (PhoneVR) Supported Works on some smartphones; not extensively tested
Android with Monado Partial
Lynx R1 Partial Temporarily removed; last supported in v20.14.1
Oculus Go Not supported Only through the original polygraphene repository

On the PC side, the streamer supports Windows 10 and 11 and Linux. Windows XP, 7 and 8 and macOS are not supported.[1]

Apple Vision Pro client

The visionOS client is developed in a separate alvr-org repository, "alvr-visionos", which is also MIT-licensed.[27] According to UploadVR, software developer Zhuowei Zhang ported ALVR to visionOS in early February 2024. Programmer Max Thomas then improved the port over the following six weeks, adding better netcode, a 96 Hz refresh rate, HDR output and forwarding of Vision Pro hand tracking to SteamVR Skeletal Input, and the app was approved on TestFlight in March 2024.[5] Because the Vision Pro has no tracked controllers, UploadVR noted that the headset was not a practical way to play most SteamVR games out of the box. Controls could be emulated with hand gestures, or users could pair Bluetooth controllers such as Nintendo Joy-Cons.[5]

ALVR reached the public visionOS App Store in June 2024.[28][29] Between the TestFlight release and the App Store launch, Thomas had added automatic connection discovery, room-scale support, a 100 Hz mode on visionOS 2, and an experimental higher-resolution toggle of up to 40 pixels per degree, compared with a default of 26. UploadVR noted that the build first approved for the App Store was older than the latest TestFlight build and did not yet include some of these features.[28] The App Store listing names Max Thomas as the seller. It shows the app as free, requires visionOS 2.1 or later, and lists version 20.14.5 as the latest (July 2026). The listing describes support for hand gesture input, dual controllers such as Nintendo Joy-Cons, and Lighthouse base station setups, and recommends a 5 GHz 802.11ac router with the streaming PC connected to it by Ethernet. Its notes for the current version list a fix for PlayStation VR2 controllers and state that those controllers do not yet fully support button touches and grip or trigger proximity.[30] The app supports both the original Apple Vision Pro and the Apple Vision Pro M5.[31]

Distribution

The PC streamer and a launcher for Windows and Linux are distributed through the project's GitHub releases.[1] The Quest client is listed on the Meta Horizon Store as a free utility that needs the separate PC streamer from GitHub.[32] In the v20.14.0 notes the team said Pico headsets had no store release yet.[19] The README states that the ALVR apps do not directly collect personal data, and the project takes donations through an Open Source Collective account.[1]

Research

Networking researchers have used the open-source ALVR as a testbed for Wi-Fi VR streaming. Ferran Maura, Miguel Casasnovas and Boris Bellalta extended ALVR with a set of network performance metrics and used them to build and test NeSt-VR (Network-aware Step-wise ABR algorithm for VR streaming), an adaptive bitrate algorithm. Their paper appeared in the proceedings of ACM MobiCom 2024.[33] In a January 2026 preprint, Maura, Francesc Wilhelmi and Bellalta built an emulation framework that reproduces ALVR operation by feeding real HEVC video traffic into an 802.11 simulation model. They reported that intra-refresh coding reduced latency variability and that the network supported up to four concurrent VR users at a constant bitrate of 100 Mbps before the channel saturated.[34]

Reception

When the Vision Pro app reached the App Store, UploadVR called ALVR "a must-try for all Apple Vision Pro owners who also own a gaming PC".[28] AppleInsider wrote that ALVR and the iVRy app both "essentially demand a 5GHz router in close proximity" to the headset and the gaming PC, and that neither is "particularly tolerant of congested Wi-Fi".[29] On the Meta Horizon Store, the Quest app had an average user rating of 3.7 out of 5 from 162 reviews as of September 2026.[32]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "ALVR - Air Light VR (README)". GitHub. alvr-org. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "LICENSE". GitHub. alvr-org. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/blob/master/LICENSE. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 polygraphene. "ALVR - Air Light VR (original repository)". GitHub. https://github.com/polygraphene/ALVR. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Releases - polygraphene/ALVR". GitHub. https://github.com/polygraphene/ALVR/releases. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 David Heaney (2024-03-22). "ALVR For Apple Vision Pro Is Now Available To Download & Forwards Hand Tracking To SteamVR". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/alvr-apple-vision-pro-steamvr-now-on-testflight/. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 David Heaney (2019-05-09). "ALVR Developer Has 'A Plan' To Support Oculus Quest, But 'Don't Expect Too Much'". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/alvr-oculus-quest-plan/. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Experimental v1". GitHub. alvr-org. 2019-07-28. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/eV1. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "ALVR v12". GitHub. alvr-org. 2020-08-04. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v12.0.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  9. ↑ "ALVR v13.0.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2020-11-22. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v13.0.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "ALVR v15.0.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2021-02-28. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v15.0.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  11. ↑ "ALVR v17.0.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2022-01-23. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v17.0.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "ALVR v18.0.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2022-02-26. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v18.0.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "ALVR v19.0.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2022-10-30. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v19.0.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "ALVR v20.0.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2023-06-02. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v20.0.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 "ALVR v20.7.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2024-04-06. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v20.7.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "ALVR v20.9.1". GitHub. alvr-org. 2024-07-06. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v20.9.1. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 "ALVR v20.12.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2025-01-15. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v20.12.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 "ALVR v20.13.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2025-03-11. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v20.13.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "ALVR v20.14.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2025-06-30. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v20.14.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "ALVR v20.14.1". GitHub. alvr-org. 2025-07-14. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v20.14.1. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  21. ↑ "Cargo.toml (workspace manifest)". GitHub. alvr-org. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/blob/master/Cargo.toml. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  22. ↑ "ALVR - Air Light VR on Steam". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3312710/ALVR__Air_Light_VR/. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 "settings.rs (ALVR session settings)". GitHub. alvr-org. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/blob/master/alvr/session/src/settings.rs. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  24. ↑ "ALVR v20.11.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2024-09-10. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v20.11.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  25. ↑ "ALVR v20.2.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2023-08-26. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v20.2.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  26. ↑ "ALVR v20.6.0". GitHub. alvr-org. 2024-01-10. https://github.com/alvr-org/ALVR/releases/tag/v20.6.0. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  27. ↑ "alvr-org/alvr-visionos". GitHub. alvr-org. https://github.com/alvr-org/alvr-visionos. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 David Heaney (2024-06-18). "ALVR SteamVR Streaming App For Apple Vision Pro Now On The visionOS App Store". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/alvr-apple-vision-pro-now-on-app-store/. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 Mike Wuerthele (2024-06-18). "There are now two ways to stream Steam VR games to Apple Vision Pro". AppleInsider. https://appleinsider.com/articles/24/06/18/there-are-now-two-ways-to-stream-steam-vr-games-to-apple-vision-pro. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  30. ↑ "ALVR". App Store. Apple. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alvr/id6479728026. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  31. ↑ "ALVR (App Store lookup record)". iTunes Search API. Apple. https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=6479728026. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 "ALVR on Meta Quest". Meta Horizon Store. Meta Platforms. https://www.meta.com/experiences/alvr/7674846229245715/. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  33. ↑ Ferran Maura, Miguel Casasnovas, Boris Bellalta (2024-12-04). "Experimenting with Adaptive Bitrate Algorithms for Virtual Reality Streaming over Wi-Fi". Proceedings of the 30th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (ACM MobiCom 2024), pp. 1930-1937. arXiv:2407.15614. https://doi.org/10.1145/3636534.3697322. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
  34. ↑ Ferran Maura, Francesc Wilhelmi, Boris Bellalta (2026-01-23). "Evaluating Wi-Fi Performance for VR Streaming: A Study on Realistic HEVC Video Traffic". arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.16950. Retrieved 2026-09-29.
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