Chrome OS users can now stream to Chromecast through Google Drive

As if Android apps hitting Google’s Chrome OS wasn’t enough excitement for Mountain View’s operating system for one week. Now, you can play movies stored in Google Drive via the OS’ video player app on your Chromecast. According to Googler François Beaufort, doing so is pretty easy too: simply open the Files app, select a video clip from Drive and hit the sparkly new Cast icon. Voila, cloud-stored videos are now viewable on the biggest screen in your house and even more media functionality for your Chromebook. Of course, since this is in the developer channel there might be a few bugs here and there, if you spot ’em be sure to let the Chromium team know.

Google has added the ability to stream videos stored on Google Drive directly to a Chromecast in its latest Chrome OS developer build. The feature isn’t yet available to the public, but it should make its way into a final Chrome OS release once stable. With Google Drive streaming in Chrome OS, users can stream TV shows, movies, and other content that they have stored in the cloud directly to their TV. All that’s required is a Chromecast (obviously) and the Google Cast extension for Chrome, which is a free download from the Chrome Web Store. With these things in place, users will see a cast icon in the menu bar when they begin playing video files, and they’ll be able to specify which Chromecast they wish to stream it to if they have more than one their network. If you don’t see the cast button, and you’re running the latest Chrome OS developer build, “that means you may not have installed or enabled the Google Cast Extension,” according to François Beaufort, a member of the Chromium team who first highlighted the new feature in a Google+ post. Providing no major issues are discovered during developer testing, this feature should be rolled out to public Chrome OS releases soon.