HomePod Can I Play MP4 Files on HomePod from ANY Apple Device? (& other movies?)

[HappyDude20]

I’m so close to biting the bullet and getting a HomePod but I was wondering...

I have quite a bit of MP4 files that I’ve saved from the internet throughout the years; the majority of which came from YouTube and were good videos I saved in case they were ever removed, mainly podcasts like Joe Rogan and recipes and etc.

I’m wondering if HomePod will play these files from either my iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro and AppleTV. I guess AppleTV would be the main one I want it to play from but I’m wondering if HomePod is limited mainly to music and not movies.
Movies and YouTube videos would be great; whether I saved the YouTube videos myself or from the YouTube app coming from my iOS device or AppleTV, or YouTube.com website from my Mac.

if HomePod could do this then I may be ready to get two for the stereo speaker experience.
I may as well ask if HomePod could get the sound from a Netflix movie or AppleTV+ show.

 

[zhenya]

HomePod is an AirPlay device so anything you can play on an iOS or macOS device can play through the HomePod. It does sound from the Appletv with some limitations- mainly they cannot be permanently set as the default sound output.

 

[HappyDude20]

HomePod is an AirPlay device so anything you can play on an iOS or macOS device can play through the HomePod. It does sound from the Appletv with some limitations- mainly they cannot be permanently set as the default sound output.

Okay I think I understand your comment. But considering AppleTV isn’t an iOS or MacOS device you’re suggesting AppleTV is more limited in how it interacts with HomePod?

Can I have audio from a YouTube video or Netflix movies go through the HomePod? I’m guessing with two HomePod it could then do stereo sound during movie playback?

 

[zhenya]

AppleTV is really a fork of iOS. Any sound that comes out of the ATV can be routed through the HomePod, including a stereo pair.

You can also use a HomePod as an audio device for any sound playing on an iphone, ipad, Mac, etc.

Again, it’s a bit of a beta with integration on the ATV at the moment, but we’ve been using it this way for over a year. You have to frequently re-set the connection between them, playing something through the Homepod will sometimes turn the TV on if you have HDMI CEC enabled, audio is sometimes out of sync until you restart the app, etc.