XBMC 13.0 Released with Android Hardware Decoding

The final build of XBMC 13.0 Gotham edition has been released! There have been around 530 commits (chunks of code change) done by 51 developers over the past several months to make improvements over the 12.x releases. One of the big changes is that XBMC will now support Android hardware decoding when run on Android 4.0 and higher. Due to this, XBMC is now available in two separate builds – one for ARM and the other for x86. Android-powered devices will see a significant performance improvements, which is great news Android and low-powered Raspberry Pi device owners. Other improvements include stereoscopic 3D rendering, improved touchscreen support, UPnP capabilities and a radically reworked audio engine.

The bad news about XBMC 13 is that support for Windows XP has been ended. Some people will find this upsetting, but Microsoft no longer supports Windows XP and it is no longer a secure operating system.

XBMC 13.0 FINAL is available now as a free open-source download for Windows, OS X, Linux, Android and Raspberry Pi. If you downloaded XBMC 13.0 release on Sunday morning May 4, please re-download and install it again. Video playback may have been affected in that version.