What Is WebDAV? NAS Music Streaming (2026)

The one-paragraph version

Ordinary HTTP can fetch a file if you already know its address. WebDAV adds the verbs that make a server browsable: list a directory, create one, move a file, delete it, lock it. That is enough for a client to present a remote server as a folder tree. Because it rides on HTTP, it works over port 443 with a normal TLS certificate — which is why it crosses home routers and mobile networks that block everything else.

WebDAV vs SMB, in practice

Both let a music player reach a library on a NAS. They fail differently, and the difference decides which you should use.

SMB is the protocol Windows file sharing uses, and what macOS Finder speaks when you connect to a server. On a home network it is fast and it is what your NAS is probably already running. Off the local network it is a poor choice: SMB over the open internet is a well-known attack surface, and it expects a LAN's latency.

WebDAV is slower on paper and much better behaved over distance. It is HTTP, so TLS is ordinary, reverse proxies work, and a phone on a cellular connection reaches it without a VPN.

The rule of thumb most people converge on: SMB at home, WebDAV everywhere else. If you only ever listen on your own Wi-Fi, SMB is simpler. If you want the same library on the train, WebDAV is the one that works.

What speaks WebDAV already

More than people expect. If you run any of these, you have a WebDAV server:

• Synology DSM — the WebDAV Server package, one install from Package Center
• Nextcloud and ownCloud — WebDAV is their native file protocol
• QNAP, TrueNAS, OpenMediaVault — all ship a WebDAV service
• Apache and nginx — with mod_dav or the corresponding module
• Several commercial storage providers, including Box and pCloud

Apple's Music app cannot use any of it. Neither can the Files app in a way that gives you a music library rather than a folder listing.

The parts that actually go wrong

Having set this up more times than we would like: the failures are boringly consistent.

1. HTTP instead of HTTPS. iOS blocks plaintext HTTP by default. Get a certificate — Let's Encrypt is free and your NAS almost certainly automates it.
2. The path is not what you think. Synology serves from a share root, not from /. A URL that works in a browser may need /home or a share name appended for a client.
3. Special characters in the password. Some servers and some clients disagree about URL-encoding them. If everything looks right and authentication still fails, change the password to alphanumerics and retest before you debug anything else.
4. The port is not open, or is open to the whole internet. Neither state is good. Forward it deliberately, or put it behind a reverse proxy that already terminates TLS.

The full setup, step by step and with the checks in order, is here.

WebDAV in Trove

Trove connects directly to WebDAV and SMB servers on iPhone, iPad and Mac — browse the share, play from it, cache what you want offline, with tags, artwork and lyrics read from the files as they arrive. Nothing is uploaded anywhere and there is no account to create; the connection is between your device and your server.

Network sources are part of the one-time $9.99 Pro unlock rather than the free tier. The free app plays music from the device, the Files app and Wi-Fi transfer.

Related terms

• FLAC — the format most NAS libraries are stored in
• DSD — the format most likely to make streaming mandatory rather than optional
• Gapless playback — the thing streaming most often breaks