DLNA is old and unfashionable, and it runs on almost every NAS, smart TV and games console. webDLNA exists because all those devices deserve a decent modern client, one that runs in a browser tab.
How it works
Browsers can't do SSDP multicast, so discovery runs through a small local helper, or you enter your server's address. After that everything is plain HTTP: ContentDirectory browsing, media streaming straight from the server, and AVTransport control for casting to renderers.
Private by architecture
There is no cloud component. Your browser talks to your NAS across your LAN. The only external request the app makes is for its own static files, and self-hosting removes that too.
Open source
Release update, September 2026. webDLNA is now live at webdlna.com, with a public repository under the GNU AGPL v3.0 licence.