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I've tried a lot of similar tools for sending files between devices in local area network and found that https://localsend.org works best. Yes, it requires an application installation, but the transfers are much more faster and reliable when browser is not involved. And its Android application works nicely on Google TV/Android TV, so I can send files there easily.

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For receiving you don't need to download an application. Localsend can act as an http server, where everyone can just access it through their browser.

How does localsend work exactly? I've read both their website and Github README as well as part of their protocol docs but I still have no idea. How does the initial device discovery work? For file transfer does it use the local wifi, some external server, …?

It looks like they implement something similar to Bonjour [1] using multicast DNS [2]. Not sure if it's basically a reimplementation like Avahi [3] or if it's a slightly different protocol (only skimmed the code [4] briefly).

[1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonjour_(software)

[2]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multicast_DNS

[3]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avahi_(software)

[4]: https://github.com/localsend/localsend/tree/main/app/lib/pro...

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