[valiant55]

When I first bought a Chromecast I was disappointed how much of a pain it was to play content I already had on my computer. I shouldn't have to spin up a Plex server just to get acceptable streaming capabilities.

[lozaning]

The VideoStream chrome plugin is spectacular for this. Of all the chrome plugins I've installed over the years, this is still the only one I continue to donate towards.

https://getvideostream.com/

[psanford]

These days you can cast with VLC which makes this much easier.

[odensc]

You can do this natively with Chrome. Just go to the overflow menu in the top right > Cast... > Sources > Cast file.