Which Raspberry Pi do I need for digital signage?

A Raspberry Pi 4 with at least 4 GB of RAM, a Pi 400, or a Pi 5, running 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS with the desktop. Earlier boards such as the Pi 3 don't have the headroom for smooth playback and aren't recommended.

Does the Pi start playing again after a power cut?

Yes, if Raspberry Pi OS logs in to the desktop automatically. The CastWize player adds itself to start at login on its first run, so after a reboot it opens full screen and carries on with the playlist.

Can a Raspberry Pi play 4K video?

We don't recommend it. On the Pi, video is decoded in software rather than by the Pi's video hardware, so 4K or several videos at once are likely to stutter. A single 1080p loop, images, text and widgets are the comfortable range; test with your own content first.

What happens if the internet goes down?

The player keeps playing the media it has already downloaded, so a short outage doesn't blank the screen. Web pages, YouTube and live streams need the connection, and the screen shows as offline in Studio until it reconnects.

Do I need a CastWize box or a special SD card image?

No. You use a standard Raspberry Pi OS install and the free CastWize player app. You pay only the $5 per screen per month subscription, and the first screen is free for 30 days.

Players

Raspberry Pi digital signage.

A Pi 4 or Pi 5 behind the TV, the CastWize player in full screen, and everything else managed from a browser.

Get started free

A small, quiet signage player you can buy anywhere

A Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized computer that plugs into a TV's HDMI port and draws very little power. That makes it a popular choice for a screen that runs all day: a menu board, a waiting-room loop, an office announcement screen. The board costs far less than a dedicated signage box, and you can mount it out of sight behind the display.

CastWize runs on the Pi with the same player it uses on Linux desktops, built for 64-bit ARM. You install it once, it shows a pairing code, and from then on the screen is managed from CastWize Studio in your browser: what plays, when, and on which screens. There is no Pi-specific scripting, no SD-card image to maintain and no cron jobs to write.

One honest caveat up front: on the Pi, video is decoded in software rather than by the Pi's video hardware. Image slides, text, menus, widgets and a single 1080p video loop are the comfortable range. Busy multi-zone layouts or high-bitrate video need testing with your own content first, and a Pi 5 gives you the most headroom.

Who a Raspberry Pi player suits

Small businesses with one or two screens

A café menu board or a shop window loop, where a cheap, silent box behind the TV is all you need.

Makers and IT teams who already use Pis

If you keep a drawer of Pi 4s and 5s, each one can become a managed screen in a few minutes.

Image- and text-heavy content

Menus, price lists, schedules, announcements, QR codes and clocks, which are light work for the board.

How to set up a Raspberry Pi as a signage player

You need a Pi with 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS (the desktop version) already installed and connected to the internet.

1
Install the two libraries AppImages need
Open a terminal on the Pi and run: sudo apt install libfuse2 zlib1g-dev. You only do this once.
2
Download the Raspberry Pi player
Get the arm64 AppImage from the CastWize support page, then make it executable with chmod +x and the file name.
3
Run it and note the pairing code
The player opens full screen and shows a 6-character pairing code. The code is valid for 15 minutes.
4
Add the screen in CastWize Studio
In Studio, go to Screens → Add screen and type the code. The screen comes online and starts playing whatever you assign to it.
5
Make it survive a power cut
After the first launch, the player adds itself to start at login. Set Raspberry Pi OS to log in to the desktop automatically and turn off screen blanking (both are in raspi-config), so the screen comes back by itself after the power goes off.

What the Pi player does

Full-screen kiosk window: No desktop, taskbar or browser bar on screen: just your content.
Starts itself at login: Once auto-login is on, a reboot or a power cut brings the screen straight back to your playlist.
Watchdog restarts: A separate watchdog process relaunches the player if it ever hangs.
Keeps playing through internet drops: Media is downloaded to the Pi (up to a 500 MB cache, checksum-verified) and keeps playing if the Wi-Fi blips.
Remote screenshots: See what the screen is actually showing from Studio, without walking to it.
Everything the canvas offers: Multi-zone layouts, images, video, text, web pages, live streams and widgets such as a clock, QR code or weather.

Requirements and limits

Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB RAM or more), Pi 400 or Pi 5. Pi 3 and older boards are not recommended.
64-bit Raspberry Pi OS with the desktop. The player is an arm64 AppImage.
An internet connection (wired Ethernet is the most reliable) and a TV or monitor with HDMI.
Updates on the Pi are manual for now: download the newer AppImage from the support page when one is released.
Video plays muted, and video is decoded in software on the Pi, so a Pi 5 is the better choice for video-heavy playlists.
After a restart with no internet connection, the player needs to reconnect before it plays again.

We haven't certified the player on every Pi setup, so test with your real playlist before you mount the screen. If your content is mostly long, high-bitrate video, an Android TV box or a small Windows PC is the safer choice.

Pricing

One flat plan: $5 per screen per month, every feature and every player included, no tiers and no contract. Your first screen is free for 30 days with no credit card. See the pricing page for the calculator.

Raspberry Pi: FAQs

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Ready to put your first screen up?

$5/screen/month, first screen free for 30 days, no credit card required.