Kodi 18.7 Download (Leia) + New Features

The official Kodi 18 download is now out! Install the latest version of Kodi so that you have the latest dependencies, addons, and modules loaded.

Development on the newest version of Kodi took place over more than.a year. Overall, the Kodi 18 download, Leia, has the following technical changes completed:

• More than 9386 commits (code chunks changed)
• More than 3000 pull-requests (collection of commits that were included in one go)
• More than 8638 changed files
• More than 503.000 code lines removed
• More than 427.000 code lines added
• Over 36 opensource developers
• A lot of free time developing and testing these changes

Kodi 18 Upgrade Tips

If you are looking to upgrade to Kodi 18, here are some helpful hints to get you started:

• It is a good idea to switch back to the default Estuary skin before updating. Due to backend Kodi changes, all skins need to be updated for Kodi 18. Revert back to Estuary before upgrading to ensure that you will at least see everything after you upgrade. Some of the skins that have been upgraded to support Kodi 18 include:
  • Confluence
  • Pellucid
  • Rapier
  • Transparency
• You are free to install Kodi 18 right over top of Kodi 17. Your operating system should work its magic in the background.
• If you want to backup your Kodi setup before updating, we have a handy Kodi backup guide that may be of use.

Kodi 18 Latest Update

V18.7

On May 21st, 2020, v18.7 of Kodi was released. This is another bug fixes focusing mostly on behind the scenes updates.

A full change log is:

Audio

• Fix to not reset user-set volume (Android)
• Fixes around multi-channel audio track support

Playback/Display

• Fixes to Bluray subtitle language recognition
• Fix playback of bus-encrypted bluray discs
• Improved library handing for plugins if media source is removed
• Use JNI instead of NDK for MediaCodec (Android)
• Further work on maximum width and height/vertical-shift (Android)
• Fixes around realtime handling of TS streams

Interface/Look-and-feel

• Fix for watch icons not showing when content type is not set (Estouchy)
• Fix navigation in skinsettings (Estuary)
• Fix crash in favourites dialog
• Apply safe area insets to Kodi GUI (iOS)
• Fixes around focus after touch action
• Improvements around dialog/toast handling
• Fixed behaviour when accessing locked media sources

Music

• Fixes around library handling of “isalbumartist” field
• Fixes around expansion of .ISO images to avoid GUI freezes
• Ensure album artist isn’t blanked out when scraping

Build System

• Fix downloading dependencies from mirrors (Windows)
• Library updates – bump gnutls (3.6.11.1) and nettle(3.5.1)

PVR

• Fix EPG corruption when new channels are added during startup

Network

• Improvements around handling of proxy credentials
• Fix for proxy empty fields (proxy, username, password)

Addons–

• Fix crash if an incompatible VFS addon is present
• Fix display of title for compressed package directories
• Fixes around addon settings folder naming

Subtitles

• Fixes around decoding of HTML escape characters
• Fix around SMI (SAMI) subtitles and quoted start tags

Profiles

• Fixes for issues related to switching profile
• Fixes to saving of lock preferences (master lock, lock video windows, etc.)

Other/General

• Add “Swiss German” and “Portuguese (Brazil)” to language codes
• Fix to guard against assert in tinyxml
• Fix stack overflow when trying to find NFO files in a RAR file
• Implement range checking in URIUtils::resolvePath
• Implement support for extended local headers in ZIP files used by some scrapers

It’s highly recommended that you update to v18.7 for maximum compatibility and less errors. Check out how to download and install it via the instructions below!

Check out the next section for a generalized list of new features included in the new Kodi 18 download.

Kodi 18 Features

Much of the work in Kodi 18 Leia has been to standardize the backend code, which should mean less errors and better video processing for everyone! Some of the other features noted in this Kodi 18 download:

• Button maps for controllers completed
• Improved playback on Android video and DTS-HD audio
• Revamped music library to read metadata instead of just file name.
• Live TV overhaul – Need a USB or network tuner such as HDHomeRun.
• Xbox One Support
• More standardized Android code: Now includes leanback search integration and Google Assistant voice integration
• Better remote and controller support
• Revamped video player support
• Digital Rights Management (DRM) support for login and subscription based DRM services.
• Libretro API added for full game client support. Libretro is the most popular backend for classic game emulators and inclusion into Kodi will open up a whole world of users who can emulate old games within the Kodi interface. Setup can be tricky for beginner users, so we are interested to see how each setup is on Kodi, particularly getting your game controllers (including Playstation and Xbox) to work.
• Improvements to nearly all backend PVR clients supported by Kodi including FilmOn, HDHomeRun ArgusTV, and others. This should mean better menus, feel, and look for viewing live TV channels via an over-the-air tuner.
• Improvements made to Inputstream clients, which improve network streaming protocols. This should hopefully open the door to creating native Kodi addons for online streaming services such as Sling TV, Youtube TV, and other live IPTV sources.
• Better Bluetooth support. This should allow controllers, remotes, keyboard, mouse, and other accessories better access to control Kodi.
• Speech-to-text and recommendations support on Android TV. This should allow Kodi to better integrate into the Android backend and be included in the recommendation tiles that come standard on newer Android devices (such as the nVidia Shield).
• Improved Python based  web scraper support.
• Added game client addons for many popular third-party game consoles
• Added new PVR clients for Zattoo Box, Teleboy, and Seldovanitv.
• Added ability to inspect addon dependencies before installing
• Added addons for game controllers and peripherals
• Audio engine improvements

Kodi 18 Skins

Note that all of the changes in Kodi 18 means that old skins are NOT compatible. This means that skin developers will need to add Kodi 18 support before you can use it. This happened back during the Kodi 16 to 17 transition as well.

If your skin is not supported with Kodi 18, you will most likely see the Kodi logo on startup and then Kodi will crash before it gets to your main menu. It is highly recommended that you change your skin back to the default Estuary before you upgrade.

Check out the guide below to get the Kodi 18 download today. The process runs the same across all operating systems.

Kodi 18 Download 

1. Visit the Kodi download page by clicking here or navigating to kodi.tv/download on your box..
2. Select your operating system. A popup will appear and you’ll want to click on the Development Builds tab.
3. Read the text warning you about what the nightly builds are meant for and refer to the guide on how to submit bug reports. When you are ready to download, click the appropriate button beside the word Nightly.
4. The nightly build will download. When it is complete, launch it and install just like any software.

Kodi 18 Amazon Fire Stick

Check out our Kodi install guide for the Amazon Fire TV including Firestick for full details on how to get the newest version of Kodi loaded onto your Amazon box.

Kodi 18 Android TV

As of right now, the release of the Kodi 18 download on the Android TV has not been updated on the Google Play Store. It is in the process of being updated in the next day ot so.

If you are using Android TV and need the new Kodi 18 download, you can download the file on your computer, move it to your Android device via USB stick and install by using ES File Explorer to launch the download.

If you don’t know how to do all of that, our suggestion is to bookmark this page or follow us on Twitter and we will keep you update to date.