HELP CENTER · CONFIGURATION

Multi-monitor, your way.

Two monitors on the Mac Studio? Four on the gaming PC? Remio streams each one at full native resolution and lets you flip between them from the client in a single click. Or roll your own with a virtual display — the OS sees it as real, no extra cable required.

Last updated 2026-05-27 3 steps · ~3 min Up to 8 displays

A typical Remio host has at least two displays attached — a primary for video output, a secondary for chat windows, a Slack channel, a code reference. Remio supports up to eight (six physical plus two virtual) and lets the client choose which one is active at any moment. This page covers the host-side selection, client-side switching, virtual-display creation, and the bandwidth tradeoffs of each choice.

Overview

Remio streams one display per session by default. That keeps bandwidth predictable and the client interface clean. Switching between displays during a session is one click from the client toolbar; the host re-encodes at the target display's native resolution in under a second. For headless hosts or when you want extra real estate the physical hardware does not have, Remio installs a virtual display driver on both macOS and Windows.

Prerequisites

  • Host: Remio Host installed and paired with at least one client. macOS 15 Sequoia or later, or Windows 10 22H2 / Windows 11.
  • Displays: two or more, real or virtual. Remio Host enumerates everything macOS or Windows lists.
  • Client: any Remio Client (Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows). The display switcher is on every platform.
  • Bandwidth headroom: ~25 Mbps for 4K60 HEVC, ~15 Mbps for 1440p60. Streaming one display at a time keeps this from multiplying.
  1. 01

    Choose the default display the host streams

    Open the Remio Host menu bar (macOS) or system tray (Windows) and select Settings → Display. You see a list of every monitor the host knows about, with a thumbnail of each. Pick one of:

    • Primary — follows the OS's notion of the main display. If you swap your primary in macOS Displays, Remio follows.
    • Named display — pin to a specific monitor (e.g., Studio Display, LG UltraFine). Survives display reorders.
    • All — stream a virtual stitched canvas of every monitor. Higher bandwidth (sum of resolutions) but lets the client pan a single window across the whole desktop.
    • Virtual display — stream the virtual display you created in step 3 below.

    Your choice becomes the default the next time a client connects. The setting is per-host, not per-client.

    TIP

    On macOS, drag the monitor arrangement in System Settings → Displays before pairing if you care which one Remio picks as Primary. The OS's primary display is the one with the menu bar.

  2. 02

    Switch displays from the client during a session

    In any active session, hover near the top of the client window (or top of the screen on iPad) to reveal the toolbar. Click the Display switcher icon — a small icon of two stacked rectangles. A pop-up shows every display the host has, with a live thumbnail of each.

    Click the one you want. The host stops the current encode, starts a new one at the target display's native resolution, and the client resyncs in under a second. The session HUD updates with the new resolution and DPI.

    Display switching is per-session — your choice does not change the host's default for the next connect.

    SCREENSHOT Display switcher in the client toolbar · live thumbnails
  3. 03

    Create a virtual display

    Virtual displays are software-defined monitors. The OS treats them as real — you can drag windows onto them, set their resolution and refresh rate, even change their DPI. They show up alongside physical displays in macOS Displays or Windows Display Settings.

    To add one: Settings → Display → Virtual Display → Add. Pick a resolution (1080p, 1440p, 4K, 5K) and refresh rate (60 Hz, 120 Hz). The display appears immediately. Stream just that virtual canvas to the client and the host's physical monitors stay untouched.

    Common reasons to create one:

    • Headless Windows host — laptop lid closed, no monitor attached. Virtual display becomes the primary so the host has something to capture.
    • Different aspect ratio on the client — Mac host with a 5K display, iPad client wants 16:10. Create a 16:10 virtual display, drag the active windows onto it, stream that.
    • Sandbox a sensitive window — drag your password manager or banking tab to a virtual display the streaming client cannot select. The host's physical screen sees it; the client does not.
    • Higher resolution than the physical display — your host laptop has a 1440p screen; you want to stream at 4K. Create a 4K virtual display and stream it.
    # macOS & Windows treat the virtual display as real
host:    Displays panel shows 2 physical + 1 virtual
window:  drag any app onto virtual canvas
remio:   stream virtual display to client
client:  sees full virtual resolution, native DPI

Bandwidth implications

Streaming a single display at a time keeps Remio's bandwidth predictable. The encoder operates on one canvas; doubling the number of physical monitors attached does not double the data on the wire. Approximate bandwidth per active display:

  • 1080p60 HEVC — ~8 Mbps. Comfortable on any home Wi-Fi.
  • 1440p60 HEVC — ~15 Mbps. Needs 5 GHz Wi-Fi or wired.
  • 4K60 HEVC — ~25-35 Mbps. Wired or strong 5 GHz Wi-Fi.
  • 5K60 HEVC — ~50 Mbps. Wired strongly recommended.
  • AV1 — roughly half of HEVC at the same quality. Requires both ends to support AV1.

If you stream All displays at once (virtual stitched canvas), bandwidth is the sum of each display's bitrate. Two 4K displays = ~60 Mbps. Useful occasionally; not the default for good reason.

Troubleshooting multi-monitor sessions

  • Display switcher shows fewer monitors than expected — the host might be in a sleep-related state where a display is enumerated but not active. Close and reopen the host menu, or wake all monitors on the host.
  • Switching displays causes a several-second freeze — large resolution jumps (1080p to 5K) trigger a codec re-init. This is normal on first switch; subsequent switches are sub-second.
  • Virtual display does not appear in macOS — Remio Host needs Screen Recording permission to enumerate displays, including virtual ones. Re-grant Screen Recording in System Settings.
  • Virtual display on Windows shows the wrong resolution — Windows applies its own DPI scaling. Open Display Settings, find the Remio Virtual Display, and set Scale to 100% if you want pixel-exact streaming.
  • Cursor jumps to wrong location after switching — coordinate system mismatch. Move the cursor on the client; the host will resync within one input event.
FREQUENTLY ASKED

Multi-monitor questions

How many monitors can Remio stream from one host?

Remio detects up to eight displays on the host (six real plus two virtual). You stream one at a time per session for bandwidth efficiency; switching between them is one click in the client toolbar. The host detects new monitors as you plug them in — no restart required.

What is the bandwidth cost per monitor?

Around 8 Mbps for 1080p60, 15 Mbps for 1440p60, and 25-35 Mbps for 4K60 with HEVC. AV1 cuts each of those in half. Remio only encodes the active monitor, so the cost does not multiply with the number of attached displays. Streaming All displays at once sums per-monitor bandwidth — use sparingly.

What is a virtual display and when do I want one?

A virtual display is a software-defined output your OS treats as a real monitor. Use it when the host has no physical second monitor but you want extra screen real estate, when you want a different resolution than the physical display, when running a Windows host headless with the lid closed, or to sandbox sensitive windows on a canvas the client cannot select.

Can I stream displays of different DPIs in the same session?

Yes. Each display has its own DPI, and Remio re-encodes at the target display's native resolution when you switch. The client compensates for cursor and pointer scaling automatically. Switching from a 5K Studio Display to a 1080p second monitor takes about one second.

Does Remio support portrait orientation on the host?

Yes. If a host monitor is set to portrait orientation in macOS Displays or Windows Display Settings, Remio streams it portrait; the client window shapes itself accordingly. Useful for streaming code editors or documentation displays. The same applies to virtual displays — set them portrait in the Remio Virtual Display config.

Can two clients connect at once and view different displays?

Yes. Remio supports multiple simultaneous clients connected to the same host. Each client can choose its own display independently — your MacBook upstairs viewing the main monitor, your iPad in the kitchen viewing a second monitor. Encoding cost on the host scales with the number of unique displays being streamed, not the number of clients.