Is Kodi Legal to Use in 2024? Kodi You Need to Know – if you still don’t know it,Kodi is an absolutely complete media player, which can be used for practically any form of entertainment. Whether you wantto watch movies and TV seriesthat you have available on your computer, to watchstreaming programsfrom the internet or even simply toaccess TV channels from all over the world via IPTV, Kodi is right for you. But not only that, with Kodi you can alsolisten to music, access football matches and other streaming sports and much more. That’s why I decided to write this complete guide to Kodi.
Before starting, I want to clarify that this is a complete guide for basic Kodi. In fact, going forward, I will publish more articles and more detailed posts, illustrating even more advanced features to improve your experience with this fantastic media player, but it all starts from here. Having said that, let’s stop talking and let’s find out together everything there is to know about Kodi and how it works to learn how to use it to the fullest with my complete guide!
To make the most of the first part of this complete guide to Kodi, use this index to navigate directly to the section that interests you!
Table of Contents
What is Kodi?
As the first thing to talk about in this complete Kodi guide, let’s see together, for those who don’t already know it, what Kodi is.
Kodi is a free, open source media player built specifically for home entertainment. The first version of the program, born as Xbox Media Player , came out in 2002. The following year, it changed its name, thus becoming Xbox Media Center or XBMC. Finally, in 2014, the XBMC Foundation , the group working on the development of this program, renamed the media player Kodi and it has remained so until now.
In short, Kodi is one of the most powerful entertainment programs which, as anticipated at the beginning, can be used to stream movies, games, TV series and much more, obviously not counting the reproduction of any multimedia content we have available directly in the our PC. The program is available on virtually any platform, whether it’s Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and even the Amazon Fire TV Stick (read the full review ).
What does Kodi do and why use it?
We continue this complete guide to Kodi by going into a little more detail. In fact, let’s begin to see why Kodi is so useful and what makes it so special as an all-around multimedia entertainment software.
First, its extremely simple user interface makes it easier than ever to enjoy any media we have available on our hard drive: music, movies, TV series and photos . With Kodi, you can stream so much more, whether you’re using a desktop, laptop, smartphone, or even a TV.
Once your files are imported to Kodi you can add posters, fan art, trailers and much more . All automatically, thus having a well-organized and easy-to-consult library available.
Also, Kodi can be configured easily to watch real-time TV directly. Indeed, there are some Kodi add-ons that allow you to watch TV channels via IPTV , without the need for an antenna and from any country you are in. Do you want to see Italian channels but are you abroad ? Do you want to see foreign channels but are you in Italy ? Don’t want to miss a single match of your favorite sport ? Either way, with Kodi you can watch whatever you want.
Is Kodi Legal?
So far I have not hidden in any way that with this program it is possible to stream movies, TV series and matches. So let’s tackle the question of the legality of this media center right away in this complete Kodi guide.
In short, the basic version of Kodi is absolutely legal . In fact, it was acquired in part by Microsoft and is a general-purpose program, more or less like browsers for surfing the Internet, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Edge.
Just like a kitchen knife, a machine or even simply a blunt object it’s how it’s used that makes it legal . In fact, Kodi allows the installation of third-party add-ons, which therefore allow the streaming of video content, sometimes pirated or otherwise protected by copyright and therefore illegal. In fact, in many countries the use of some add-ons (only some) is considered illegal.
In fact, in the past, even the sale of some Kodi Boxes, or Android TV Boxes with particular Kodi Builds (we will see the Kodi Builds later), was considered illegal. But the purchase of an Android TV Box is absolutely legal, as is the subsequent installation of Kodi and various add-ons.
Don’t worry though, know that all the add-ons available through the official Kodi repository , i.e. those that you can install directly from Kodi without having to add other repositories, are ABSOLUTELY legal . In fact, like Chrome and Firefox, the browser is legal, using it to stream pirated or copyrighted content is another matter.
Stream safely and anonymously
Let’s continue this complete guide to Kodi by talking a little bit about privacy and security. As reiterated on several occasions, there are many add-ons for this program that allow you to watch movies, TV series and games in streaming, not even counting those for using Internet TV, IPTV.
As mentioned in the section dedicated to the legality of Kodi, sVPn
Read Also: 5 Best Kodi Alternatives (XBMC) to Use in 2024
So, whether you want to use these Kodi addons or simply enjoy the various IPTV services the program provides, using a VPN is ESSENTIAL . If you don’t know what it is, read my complete guide to VPNs now , but for convenience, here is a summary to briefly explain what they are for.
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) allows you to connect anonymously to the Internet via, precisely, a virtual private network, so that neither your ISP (Internet Service Provider, such as Fastweb, Vodafone, TIM, etc…) nor others” curious observers” can see how you use your connection. In fact, once connected to the VPN , the only thing your Internet provider will be able to see is that you are connected to the VPN, all the rest of the traffic will be hidden and encrypted .
Another reason why using a VPN is essential is that to enjoy some channels via IPTV you need to have an IP from the country of that TV station . That is, if you are abroad and want to watch RAI channels online, you will need to set up your VPN so that your connection is coming from World.
Sound complicated? Don’t worry, VPN apps are super easy to use and we’ll cover them in more detail later anyway.
If you don’t know any VPN that could be right for you, I can recommend 5 right away: NordVPN , PrivateVPN, PureVPN and IPVanish VPN , Surfshark . If you want to know more, read my article dedicated to VPNs for Kodi !
After this dutiful parenthesis, let’s immediately take up this complete guide and find out how to install Kodi on any device we have access to!