Steam 360 Video Player

Steam 360 Video Player
Information
VR/AR	VR
Developer	Valve
Platform	SteamVR
Device	HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, OSVR
Operating System	Windows
Type	Software
Genre	360 Video
Input Device	Tracked Motion Controllers, Gamepad, Keyboard / Mouse
Play Area	Seated, Standing
Language	English
Release Date	May 10, 2017
Price	Free
App Store	Steam
Website	https://store.steampowered.com/app/613220/Steam_360_Video_Player/
Infobox Updated	10/20/2026

Steam 360 Video Player is a VR App developed by Valve for streaming 360-degree videos distributed through Steam. Valve launched the beta on 10 May 2017, using Pixvana's SPIN Studio technology for adaptive streaming to SteamVR headsets. The launch catalog included Alien: Covenant In Utero, LEGO Batman: The Batmersive Experience, Red vs. Blue 360 episodes and Silent Resonance.

Reviewed 20 October 2026. Steam streaming workflow, documented controls and formats, 2017-2018 release history, legacy Windows requirements, current store notice and narrowly scoped research use. Retained OSVR and seated/standing catalog tags were not independently tested. About review dates.

Description

The player handles Steam's streamed 360-video content. Its documented workflow adds individual videos to the Steam library, where their names carry a "[360]" suffix. The player itself is a separate tool installed through the library, or when first opening a compatible video.

Local video playback was handled by a different product in Valve's December 2017 documentation. That announcement directed users with local files to the separate SteamVR Media Player beta, launched through "Run Media Player" in the SteamVR monitor window. A merger of the two players was a plan for 2018, rather than a feature confirmed by that announcement.

On 20 October 2026, the direct store page displayed a publisher-requested unlisting notice and a free-use option. It also retained its beta description and July 2017 desktop-playback note.

Features

Headset and desktop playback

The June 2017 interface update moved the video title, playback status, quality level, format and buffering indicator into the headset view. This information appeared above a Vive controller or at the front of the video. The controller could also change streaming quality without leaving the headset.

Build #1945381, released on 7 July 2017, added an early desktop mode. Without SteamVR installed, a video opened in a desktop window, where dragging the left mouse button changed the viewing direction and right-clicking hid the help and network analytics. The update also added proper Oculus Touch and gamepad support, changed network requests to retrieve more data less often, and fixed a lockup during FOVAS playback. The FAQ specifies that desktop mode did not provide stereo playback.

Formats and streaming quality

Valve's FAQ distinguishes the eye images from their projection or streaming format:

Label	Meaning in the documented player
Mono	Both eyes receive the same view, without stereoscopic depth.
Stereo	Different left-eye and right-eye images provide stereoscopic depth.
Equirectangular	A rectangular panoramic frame is mapped onto a sphere for viewing.
FOVAS	Field of View Adaptive Streaming gives the current viewing direction more detail than the surrounding panorama, and changes the detailed area as the viewer turns.

Stereo FOVAS remained planned in the July 2017 release notes. December's build #2333444 added support for Pixvana's Diamond plane and Varisqueeze formats, while noting that their labels still needed to appear in the player interface and store. Ambisonic audio was then being tested. The notes titled "Build Notes - 3/12/2018" subsequently reported Diamond Plane exposure for 6K+ material and better ambisonics support. They also changed the displayed average bandwidth unit from MB/s to Mb/s.

Documented controls

The following mappings describe the legacy player, rather than a current runtime test.

Input	Playback and seeking	Quality and interface
HTC Vive controller	Touchpad up toggles playback; left/right seeks; down stops.	Trigger opens quality selection; up/down changes it; right restores automatic quality. Time and playback status appear above the active controller.
Oculus Touch	Thumbstick up toggles playback; left/right seeks; down stops.	Trigger opens quality selection; thumbstick up/down changes it; right restores automatic quality. The playback interface appears above an active controller.
Gamepad / XInput	Uses the same directional playback controls as Touch.	The interface has a fixed position in the headset or desktop window. The FAQ warns that gamepad input does not work with a Vive controller setup.
Keyboard	Space toggles playback; left/right arrows seek; Escape quits.	Up/down arrows select quality; A restores automatic quality.
Mouse, desktop mode	Left-button dragging changes viewing direction; the keyboard handles playback and seeking.	Right-click shows or hides help and analytics.

System requirements

These are the legacy minimum specifications still printed on the store listing when checked on 20 October 2026. They describe the listed software requirements, not verified compatibility with present-day headsets or SteamVR releases.

Component	Listed minimum
Operating system	Windows 10, 64-bit Only
Processor	Intel® i5-4590, AMD FX 8350 equivalent or better
Memory	4 GB RAM
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970, AMD Radeon™ R9 290 equivalent or better
Storage	500 MB available space

A broadband connection is required for streaming. The FAQ gives a smaller 50 MB storage figure than the store's 500 MB. It also lists a GTX 1070 or AMD equivalent for 4K x 4K stereo material, with automatic resolution reduction if full-resolution playback cannot be maintained. The store states that bandwidth depends on the video's resolution and quality.

Setup instructions

Valve's beta instructions required a Steam client released on or after 25 April 2017. Headset use required SteamVR; desktop use did not. The tool could be installed from the Steam library before opening a separately acquired 360 video. These instructions document the original library workflow. The current unlisted store page is accessible directly, but its notice says the player will not appear in store searches.

Release history

Date or build	Documented changes
10 May 2017	Public beta launch using Pixvana SPIN Studio streaming, with a catalog of linear VR films and shorts.
17 May 2017, #1828669	Initial viewing orientation became based on headset rotation when playback started. Fixes covered seeking, reversed left/right-eye projection in the Hunger Games video and some stereo-depth issues.
19 May 2017, #1834419	Scaling performance improvements and a fix for stereo rendering below the maximum streaming-quality setting.
June 2017, #1864698	More interface elements moved into the headset and streaming quality became adjustable with the Vive controller.
7 July 2017, #1945381	Early non-headset playback, Touch and gamepad controls, network analytics and a FOVAS lockup fix.
1 December 2017, #2333444	Pixvana SPIN SDK updates and Diamond plane/Varisqueeze support; ambisonics remained in testing.
March 2018	Diamond Plane and ambisonics updates, with bandwidth displayed in Mb/s.
13 July 2018	Updated Pixvana format support and faster mouse navigation without VR hardware.

Research use

A 2021 pilot study of VR sessions for people with multiple sclerosis used Steam 360 Video Player for its passive-video condition, viewed with an HTC Vive Pro. Sixteen participants were included in the analyses, following a protocol of eight sessions over four weeks. The other condition used interactive software, and both conditions ended with a guided meditation video. The investigators combined the conditions for their main analyses because the study was underpowered to compare them; the reported results therefore do not isolate the effects of this player. The paper also reports no significant difference between the conditions' average affect change scores.