First beta version of Kodi 18 is available

After three alpha versions, the first beta version of Kodi 18 has appeared. According to the team behind the open source media player software, the final release is near. No more new features will be added, the team will now focus on fixing bugs.

The makers of Kodi say that the beta version is recommended to try, but that the software is not quite ready for use in the living room. Users are recommended to create a backup. According to the developers, it is estimated that there are already tens of thousands of users who work with Kodi 18.

A major innovation in Kodi 18 compared to version 17, is that the video player has been split into its own component. It gets the highest priority over other actions, such as navigation. Optimizations have also been made to reduce the CPU load. In addition, Kodi supports 18 drm with add-ons. That allows publishers to release official add-ons to play DRM protected videos.

Now that a beta of Kodi 18 is available, the number of users of the new version will grow. When the final release will follow, the team does not yet know. That depends on the stability of the software with a large user group. Kodi 18 has been working on since the end of last year. The first alpha version was released in March.