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Track Selection---------------
``--alang=<languagecode[,languagecode,...]>`` Specify a priority list of audio languages to use. Different container formats employ different language codes. DVDs use ISO 639-1 two-letter language codes, Matroska, MPEG-TS and NUT use ISO 639-2 three-letter language codes, while OGM uses a free-form identifier. See also ``--aid``.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``mpv dvd://1 --alang=hu,en`` chooses the Hungarian language track on a DVD and falls back on English if Hungarian is not available. - ``mpv --alang=jpn example.mkv`` plays a Matroska file with Japanese audio.
``--slang=<languagecode[,languagecode,...]>`` Specify a priority list of subtitle languages to use. Different container formats employ different language codes. DVDs use ISO 639-1 two letter language codes, Matroska uses ISO 639-2 three letter language codes while OGM uses a free-form identifier. See also ``--sid``.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``mpv dvd://1 --slang=hu,en`` chooses the Hungarian subtitle track on a DVD and falls back on English if Hungarian is not available. - ``mpv --slang=jpn example.mkv`` plays a Matroska file with Japanese subtitles.
``--vlang=<...>`` Equivalent to ``--alang`` and ``--slang``, for video tracks.
``--aid=<ID|auto|no>`` Select audio track. ``auto`` selects the default, ``no`` disables audio. See also ``--alang``. mpv normally prints available audio tracks on the terminal when starting playback of a file.
``--audio`` is an alias for ``--aid``.
``--aid=no`` or ``--audio=no`` or ``--no-audio`` disables audio playback. (The latter variant does not work with the client API.)
``--sid=<ID|auto|no>`` Display the subtitle stream specified by ``<ID>``. ``auto`` selects the default, ``no`` disables subtitles.
``--sub`` is an alias for ``--sid``.
``--sid=no`` or ``--sub=no`` or ``--no-sub`` disables subtitle decoding. (The latter variant does not work with the client API.)
``--vid=<ID|auto|no>`` Select video channel. ``auto`` selects the default, ``no`` disables video.
``--video`` is an alias for ``--vid``.
``--vid=no`` or ``--video=no`` or ``--no-video`` disables video playback. (The latter variant does not work with the client API.)
If video is disabled, mpv will try to download the audio only if media is streamed with youtube-dl, because it saves bandwidth. This is done by setting the ytdl_format to "bestaudio/best" in the ytdl_hook.lua script.
``--ff-aid=<ID|auto|no>``, ``--ff-sid=<ID|auto|no>``, ``--ff-vid=<ID|auto|no>`` Select audio/subtitle/video streams by the FFmpeg stream index. The FFmpeg stream index is relatively arbitrary, but useful when interacting with other software using FFmpeg (consider ``ffprobe``).
Note that with external tracks (added with ``--sub-files`` and similar options), there will be streams with duplicate IDs. In this case, the first stream in order is selected.
Deprecated.
``--edition=<ID|auto>`` (Matroska files only) Specify the edition (set of chapters) to use, where 0 is the first. If set to ``auto`` (the default), mpv will choose the first edition declared as a default, or if there is no default, the first edition defined.
``--track-auto-selection=<yes|no>`` Enable the default track auto-selection (default: yes). Enabling this will make the player select streams according to ``--aid``, ``--alang``, and others. If it is disabled, no tracks are selected. In addition, the player will not exit if no tracks are selected, and wait instead (this wait mode is similar to pausing, but the pause option is not set).
This is useful with ``--lavfi-complex``: you can start playback in this mode, and then set select tracks at runtime by setting the filter graph. Note that if ``--lavfi-complex`` is set before playback is started, the referenced tracks are always selected.
Playback Control----------------
``--start=<relative time>`` Seek to given time position.
The general format for absolute times is ``[[hh:]mm:]ss[.ms]``. If the time is given with a prefix of ``+`` or ``-``, the seek is relative from the start or end of the file. (Since mpv 0.14, the start of the file is always considered 0.)
``pp%`` seeks to percent position pp (0-100).
``#c`` seeks to chapter number c. (Chapters start from 1.)
``none`` resets any previously set option (useful for libmpv).
.. admonition:: Examples
``--start=+56``, ``--start=+00:56`` Seeks to the start time + 56 seconds. ``--start=-56``, ``--start=-00:56`` Seeks to the end time - 56 seconds. ``--start=01:10:00`` Seeks to 1 hour 10 min. ``--start=50%`` Seeks to the middle of the file. ``--start=30 --end=40`` Seeks to 30 seconds, plays 10 seconds, and exits. ``--start=-3:20 --length=10`` Seeks to 3 minutes and 20 seconds before the end of the file, plays 10 seconds, and exits. ``--start='#2' --end='#4'`` Plays chapters 2 and 3, and exits.
``--end=<time>`` Stop at given absolute time. Use ``--length`` if the time should be relative to ``--start``. See ``--start`` for valid option values and examples.
``--length=<relative time>`` Stop after a given time relative to the start time. See ``--start`` for valid option values and examples.
If both ``--end`` and ``--length`` are provided, playback will stop when it reaches either of the two endpoints.
``--rebase-start-time=<yes|no>`` Whether to move the file start time to ``00:00:00`` (default: yes). This is less awkward for files which start at a random timestamp, such as transport streams. On the other hand, if there are timestamp resets, the resulting behavior can be rather weird. For this reason, and in case you are actually interested in the real timestamps, this behavior can be disabled with ``no``.
``--speed=<0.01-100>`` Slow down or speed up playback by the factor given as parameter.
If ``--audio-pitch-correction`` (on by default) is used, playing with a speed higher than normal automatically inserts the ``scaletempo`` audio filter.
``--pause`` Start the player in paused state.
``--shuffle`` Play files in random order.
``--chapter=<start[-end]>`` Specify which chapter to start playing at. Optionally specify which chapter to end playing at.
See also: ``--start``.
``--playlist-start=<auto|index>`` Set which file on the internal playlist to start playback with. The index is an integer, with 0 meaning the first file. The value ``auto`` means that the selection of the entry to play is left to the playback resume mechanism (default). If an entry with the given index doesn't exist, the behavior is unspecified and might change in future mpv versions. The same applies if the playlist contains further playlists (don't expect any reasonable behavior). Passing a playlist file to mpv should work with this option, though. E.g. ``mpv playlist.m3u --playlist-start=123`` will work as expected, as long as ``playlist.m3u`` does not link to further playlists.
The value ``no`` is a deprecated alias for ``auto``.
``--playlist=<filename>`` Play files according to a playlist file (Supports some common formats. If no format is detected, it will be treated as list of files, separated by newline characters. Note that XML playlist formats are not supported.)
You can play playlists directly and without this option, however, this option disables any security mechanisms that might be in place. You may also need this option to load plaintext files as playlist.
.. warning::
The way mpv uses playlist files via ``--playlist`` is not safe against maliciously constructed files. Such files may trigger harmful actions. This has been the case for all mpv and MPlayer versions, but unfortunately this fact was not well documented earlier, and some people have even misguidedly recommended use of ``--playlist`` with untrusted sources. Do NOT use ``--playlist`` with random internet sources or files you do not trust!
Playlist can contain entries using other protocols, such as local files, or (most severely), special protocols like ``avdevice://``, which are inherently unsafe.
``--chapter-merge-threshold=<number>`` Threshold for merging almost consecutive ordered chapter parts in milliseconds (default: 100). Some Matroska files with ordered chapters have inaccurate chapter end timestamps, causing a small gap between the end of one chapter and the start of the next one when they should match. If the end of one playback part is less than the given threshold away from the start of the next one then keep playing video normally over the chapter change instead of doing a seek.
``--chapter-seek-threshold=<seconds>`` Distance in seconds from the beginning of a chapter within which a backward chapter seek will go to the previous chapter (default: 5.0). Past this threshold, a backward chapter seek will go to the beginning of the current chapter instead. A negative value means always go back to the previous chapter.
``--hr-seek=<no|absolute|yes>`` Select when to use precise seeks that are not limited to keyframes. Such seeks require decoding video from the previous keyframe up to the target position and so can take some time depending on decoding performance. For some video formats, precise seeks are disabled. This option selects the default choice to use for seeks; it is possible to explicitly override that default in the definition of key bindings and in input commands.
:no: Never use precise seeks. :absolute: Use precise seeks if the seek is to an absolute position in the file, such as a chapter seek, but not for relative seeks like the default behavior of arrow keys (default). :yes: Use precise seeks whenever possible. :always: Same as ``yes`` (for compatibility).
``--hr-seek-demuxer-offset=<seconds>`` This option exists to work around failures to do precise seeks (as in ``--hr-seek``) caused by bugs or limitations in the demuxers for some file formats. Some demuxers fail to seek to a keyframe before the given target position, going to a later position instead. The value of this option is subtracted from the time stamp given to the demuxer. Thus, if you set this option to 1.5 and try to do a precise seek to 60 seconds, the demuxer is told to seek to time 58.5, which hopefully reduces the chance that it erroneously goes to some time later than 60 seconds. The downside of setting this option is that precise seeks become slower, as video between the earlier demuxer position and the real target may be unnecessarily decoded.
``--hr-seek-framedrop=<yes|no>`` Allow the video decoder to drop frames during seek, if these frames are before the seek target. If this is enabled, precise seeking can be faster, but if you're using video filters which modify timestamps or add new frames, it can lead to precise seeking skipping the target frame. This e.g. can break frame backstepping when deinterlacing is enabled.
Default: ``yes``
``--index=<mode>`` Controls how to seek in files. Note that if the index is missing from a file, it will be built on the fly by default, so you don't need to change this. But it might help with some broken files.
:default: use an index if the file has one, or build it if missing :recreate: don't read or use the file's index
.. note::
This option only works if the underlying media supports seeking (i.e. not with stdin, pipe, etc).
``--load-unsafe-playlists`` Load URLs from playlists which are considered unsafe (default: no). This includes special protocols and anything that doesn't refer to normal files. Local files and HTTP links on the other hand are always considered safe.
Note that ``--playlist`` always loads all entries, so you use that instead if you really have the need for this functionality.
``--access-references=<yes|no>`` Follow any references in the file being opened (default: yes). Disabling this is helpful if the file is automatically scanned (e.g. thumbnail generation). If the thumbnail scanner for example encounters a playlist file, which contains network URLs, and the scanner should not open these, enabling this option will prevent it. This option also disables ordered chapters, mov reference files, opening of archives, and a number of other features.
On older FFmpeg versions, this will not work in some cases. Some FFmpeg demuxers might not respect this option.
This option does not prevent opening of paired subtitle files and such. Use ``--autoload-files=no`` to prevent this.
This option does not always work if you open non-files (for example using ``dvd://directory`` would open a whole bunch of files in the given directory). Prefixing the filename with ``./`` if it doesn't start with a ``/`` will avoid this.
``--loop-playlist=<N|inf|force|no>``, ``--loop-playlist`` Loops playback ``N`` times. A value of ``1`` plays it one time (default), ``2`` two times, etc. ``inf`` means forever. ``no`` is the same as ``1`` and disables looping. If several files are specified on command line, the entire playlist is looped. ``--loop-playlist`` is the same as ``--loop-playlist=inf``.
The ``force`` mode is like ``inf``, but does not skip playlist entries which have been marked as failing. This means the player might waste CPU time trying to loop a file that doesn't exist. But it might be useful for playing webradios under very bad network conditions.
``--loop-file=<N|inf|no>``, ``--loop=<N|inf|no>`` Loop a single file N times. ``inf`` means forever, ``no`` means normal playback. For compatibility, ``--loop-file`` and ``--loop-file=yes`` are also accepted, and are the same as ``--loop-file=inf``.
The difference to ``--loop-playlist`` is that this doesn't loop the playlist, just the file itself. If the playlist contains only a single file, the difference between the two option is that this option performs a seek on loop, instead of reloading the file.
``--loop`` is an alias for this option.
``--ab-loop-a=<time>``, ``--ab-loop-b=<time>`` Set loop points. If playback passes the ``b`` timestamp, it will seek to the ``a`` timestamp. Seeking past the ``b`` point doesn't loop (this is intentional).
If both options are set to ``no`` or unset, looping is disabled. Otherwise, the start/end of playback is used if one of the options is set to ``no`` or unset.
The loop-points can be adjusted at runtime with the corresponding properties. See also ``ab-loop`` command.
``--ordered-chapters``, ``--no-ordered-chapters`` Enabled by default. Disable support for Matroska ordered chapters. mpv will not load or search for video segments from other files, and will also ignore any chapter order specified for the main file.
``--ordered-chapters-files=<playlist-file>`` Loads the given file as playlist, and tries to use the files contained in it as reference files when opening a Matroska file that uses ordered chapters. This overrides the normal mechanism for loading referenced files by scanning the same directory the main file is located in.
Useful for loading ordered chapter files that are not located on the local filesystem, or if the referenced files are in different directories.
Note: a playlist can be as simple as a text file containing filenames separated by newlines.
``--chapters-file=<filename>`` Load chapters from this file, instead of using the chapter metadata found in the main file.
This accepts a media file (like mkv) or even a pseudo-format like ffmetadata and uses its chapters to replace the current file's chapters. This doesn't work with OGM or XML chapters directly.
``--sstep=<sec>`` Skip <sec> seconds after every frame.
.. note::
Without ``--hr-seek``, skipping will snap to keyframes.
``--stop-playback-on-init-failure=<yes|no>`` Stop playback if either audio or video fails to initialize (default: no). With ``no``, playback will continue in video-only or audio-only mode if one of them fails. This doesn't affect playback of audio-only or video-only files.
Program Behavior----------------
``--help``, ``--h`` Show short summary of options.
You can also pass a string to this option, which will list all top-level options which contain the string in the name, e.g. ``--h=scale`` for all options that contain the word ``scale``. The special string ``*`` lists all top-level options.
``-v`` Increment verbosity level, one level for each ``-v`` found on the command line.
``--version, -V`` Print version string and exit.
``--no-config`` Do not load default configuration files. This prevents loading of both the user-level and system-wide ``mpv.conf`` and ``input.conf`` files. Other configuration files are blocked as well, such as resume playback files.
.. note::
Files explicitly requested by command line options, like ``--include`` or ``--use-filedir-conf``, will still be loaded.
See also: ``--config-dir``.
``--list-options`` Prints all available options.
``--list-properties`` Print a list of the available properties.
``--list-protocols`` Print a list of the supported protocols.
``--log-file=<path>`` Opens the given path for writing, and print log messages to it. Existing files will be truncated. The log level is at least ``-v -v``, but can be raised via ``--msg-level`` (the option cannot lower it below the forced minimum log level).
``--config-dir=<path>`` Force a different configuration directory. If this is set, the given directory is used to load configuration files, and all other configuration directories are ignored. This means the global mpv configuration directory as well as per-user directories are ignored, and overrides through environment variables (``MPV_HOME``) are also ignored.
Note that the ``--no-config`` option takes precedence over this option.
``--save-position-on-quit`` Always save the current playback position on quit. When this file is played again later, the player will seek to the old playback position on start. This does not happen if playback of a file is stopped in any other way than quitting. For example, going to the next file in the playlist will not save the position, and start playback at beginning the next time the file is played.
This behavior is disabled by default, but is always available when quitting the player with Shift+Q.
``--watch-later-directory=<path>``
The directory in which to store the "watch later" temporary files.
The default is a subdirectory named "watch_later" underneath the config directory (usually ``~/.config/mpv/``).
``--dump-stats=<filename>`` Write certain statistics to the given file. The file is truncated on opening. The file will contain raw samples, each with a timestamp. To make this file into a readable, the script ``TOOLS/stats-conv.py`` can be used (which currently displays it as a graph).
This option is useful for debugging only.
``--idle=<no|yes|once>`` Makes mpv wait idly instead of quitting when there is no file to play. Mostly useful in input mode, where mpv can be controlled through input commands. (Default: ``no``)
``once`` will only idle at start and let the player close once the first playlist has finished playing back.
``--include=<configuration-file>`` Specify configuration file to be parsed after the default ones.
``--load-scripts=<yes|no>`` If set to ``no``, don't auto-load scripts from the ``scripts`` configuration subdirectory (usually ``~/.config/mpv/scripts/``). (Default: ``yes``)
``--script=<filename>`` Load a Lua script. You can load multiple scripts by separating them with commas (``,``).
``--script-opts=key1=value1,key2=value2,...`` Set options for scripts. A script can query an option by key. If an option is used and what semantics the option value has depends entirely on the loaded scripts. Values not claimed by any scripts are ignored.
``--merge-files`` Pretend that all files passed to mpv are concatenated into a single, big file. This uses timeline/EDL support internally.
``--no-resume-playback`` Do not restore playback position from the ``watch_later`` configuration subdirectory (usually ``~/.config/mpv/watch_later/``). See ``quit-watch-later`` input command.
``--profile=<profile1,profile2,...>`` Use the given profile(s), ``--profile=help`` displays a list of the defined profiles.
``--reset-on-next-file=<all|option1,option2,...>`` Normally, mpv will try to keep all settings when playing the next file on the playlist, even if they were changed by the user during playback. (This behavior is the opposite of MPlayer's, which tries to reset all settings when starting next file.)
Default: Do not reset anything.
This can be changed with this option. It accepts a list of options, and mpv will reset the value of these options on playback start to the initial value. The initial value is either the default value, or as set by the config file or command line.
In some cases, this might not work as expected. For example, ``--volume`` will only be reset if it is explicitly set in the config file or the command line.
The special name ``all`` resets as many options as possible.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``--reset-on-next-file=pause`` Reset pause mode when switching to the next file. - ``--reset-on-next-file=fullscreen,speed`` Reset fullscreen and playback speed settings if they were changed during playback. - ``--reset-on-next-file=all`` Try to reset all settings that were changed during playback.
``--write-filename-in-watch-later-config`` Prepend the watch later config files with the name of the file they refer to. This is simply written as comment on the top of the file.
.. warning::
This option may expose privacy-sensitive information and is thus disabled by default.
``--ignore-path-in-watch-later-config`` Ignore path (i.e. use filename only) when using watch later feature. (Default: disabled)
``--show-profile=<profile>`` Show the description and content of a profile.
``--use-filedir-conf`` Look for a file-specific configuration file in the same directory as the file that is being played. See `File-specific Configuration Files`_.
.. warning::
May be dangerous if playing from untrusted media.
``--ytdl``, ``--no-ytdl`` Enable the youtube-dl hook-script. It will look at the input URL, and will play the video located on the website. This works with many streaming sites, not just the one that the script is named after. This requires a recent version of youtube-dl to be installed on the system. (Enabled by default, except when the client API / libmpv is used.)
If the script can't do anything with an URL, it will do nothing.
The `exclude` script option accepts a ``|``-separated list of URL patterns which mpv should not use with youtube-dl. The patterns are matched after the ``http(s)://`` part of the URL.
``^`` matches the beginning of the URL, ``$`` matches its end, and you should use ``%`` before any of the characters ``^$()%|,.[]*+-?`` to match that character.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``--script-opts=ytdl_hook-exclude='^youtube%.com'`` will exclude any URL that starts with ``http://youtube.com`` or ``https://youtube.com``. - ``--script-opts=ytdl_hook-exclude='%.mkv$|%.mp4$'`` will exclude any URL that ends with ``.mkv`` or ``.mp4``.
See more lua patterns here: https://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/manual.html#5.4.1
``--ytdl-format=<best|worst|mp4|webm|...>`` Video format/quality that is directly passed to youtube-dl. The possible values are specific to the website and the video, for a given url the available formats can be found with the command ``youtube-dl --list-formats URL``. See youtube-dl's documentation for available aliases. (Default: youtube-dl's default, currently ``bestvideo+bestaudio/best``)
``--ytdl-raw-options=<key>=<value>[,<key>=<value>[,...]]`` Pass arbitrary options to youtube-dl. Parameter and argument should be passed as a key-value pair. Options without argument must include ``=``.
There is no sanity checking so it's possible to break things (i.e. passing invalid parameters to youtube-dl).
.. admonition:: Example
- ``--ytdl-raw-options=username=user,password=pass`` - ``--ytdl-raw-options=force-ipv6=``
``--load-stats-overlay=<yes|no>`` Enable the builtin script that shows useful playback information on a key binding (default: yes). By default, the ``i`` key is used (``I`` to make the overlay permanent).
``--player-operation-mode=<cplayer|pseudo-gui>`` For enabling "pseudo GUI mode", which means that the defaults for some options are changed. This option should not normally be used directly, but only by mpv internally, or mpv-provided scripts, config files, or .desktop files.
Video-----
``--vo=<driver>`` Specify the video output backend to be used. See `VIDEO OUTPUT DRIVERS`_ for details and descriptions of available drivers.
``--vd=<...>`` Specify a priority list of video decoders to be used, according to their family and name. See ``--ad`` for further details. Both of these options use the same syntax and semantics; the only difference is that they operate on different codec lists.
.. note::
See ``--vd=help`` for a full list of available decoders.
``--vf=<filter1[=parameter1:parameter2:...],filter2,...>`` Specify a list of video filters to apply to the video stream. See `VIDEO FILTERS`_ for details and descriptions of the available filters. The option variants ``--vf-add``, ``--vf-pre``, ``--vf-del`` and ``--vf-clr`` exist to modify a previously specified list, but you should not need these for typical use.
``--untimed`` Do not sleep when outputting video frames. Useful for benchmarks when used with ``--no-audio.``
``--framedrop=<mode>`` Skip displaying some frames to maintain A/V sync on slow systems, or playing high framerate video on video outputs that have an upper framerate limit.
The argument selects the drop methods, and can be one of the following:
<no> Disable any framedropping. <vo> Drop late frames on video output (default). This still decodes and filters all frames, but doesn't render them on the VO. It tries to query the display FPS (X11 only, not correct on multi-monitor systems), or assumes infinite display FPS if that fails. Drops are indicated in the terminal status line as ``Dropped:`` field. If the decoder is too slow, in theory all frames would have to be dropped (because all frames are too late) - to avoid this, frame dropping stops if the effective framerate is below 10 FPS. <decoder> Old, decoder-based framedrop mode. (This is the same as ``--framedrop=yes`` in mpv 0.5.x and before.) This tells the decoder to skip frames (unless they are needed to decode future frames). May help with slow systems, but can produce unwatchable choppy output, or even freeze the display completely. Not recommended. The ``--vd-lavc-framedrop`` option controls what frames to drop. <decoder+vo> Enable both modes. Not recommended.
.. note::
``--vo=vdpau`` has its own code for the ``vo`` framedrop mode. Slight differences to other VOs are possible.
``--display-fps=<fps>`` Set the display FPS used with the ``--video-sync=display-*`` modes. By default, a detected value is used. Keep in mind that setting an incorrect value (even if slightly incorrect) can ruin video playback. On multi-monitor systems, there is a chance that the detected value is from the wrong monitor.
Set this option only if you have reason to believe the automatically determined value is wrong.
``--hwdec=<api>`` Specify the hardware video decoding API that should be used if possible. Whether hardware decoding is actually done depends on the video codec. If hardware decoding is not possible, mpv will fall back on software decoding.
``<api>`` can be one of the following:
:no: always use software decoding (default) :auto: enable best hw decoder (see below) :yes: exactly the same as ``auto`` :auto-copy: enable best hw decoder with copy-back (see below) :vdpau: requires ``--vo=gpu`` or ``--vo=vdpau`` (Linux only) :vdpau-copy: copies video back into system RAM (Linux with some GPUs only) :vaapi: requires ``--vo=gpu`` or ``--vo=vaapi`` (Linux only) :vaapi-copy: copies video back into system RAM (Linux with some GPUs only) :videotoolbox: requires ``--vo=gpu`` (OS X 10.8 and up), or ``--vo=opengl-cb`` (iOS 9.0 and up) :videotoolbox-copy: copies video back into system RAM (OS X 10.8 or iOS 9.0 and up) :dxva2: requires ``--vo=gpu`` with ``--gpu-context=angle`` or ``--gpu-context=dxinterop`` (Windows only) :dxva2-copy: copies video back to system RAM (Windows only) :d3d11va: requires ``--vo=gpu`` with ``--gpu-context=d3d11`` or ``--gpu-context=angle`` (Windows 8+ only) :d3d11va-copy: copies video back to system RAM (Windows 8+ only) :mediacodec: requires ``--vo=mediacodec_embed`` (Android only) :mediacodec-copy: copies video back to system RAM (Android only) :mmal: requires ``--vo=gpu`` (Raspberry Pi only - default if available) :mmal-copy: copies video back to system RAM (Raspberry Pi only) :cuda: requires ``--vo=gpu`` (Any platform CUDA is available) :cuda-copy: copies video back to system RAM (Any platform CUDA is available) :nvdec: requires ``--vo=gpu`` (Any platform CUDA is available) :nvdec-copy: copies video back to system RAM (Any platform CUDA is available) :crystalhd: copies video back to system RAM (Any platform supported by hardware) :rkmpp: requires ``--vo=gpu`` (some RockChip devices only)
``auto`` tries to automatically enable hardware decoding using the first available method. This still depends what VO you are using. For example, if you are not using ``--vo=gpu`` or ``--vo=vdpau``, vdpau decoding will never be enabled. Also note that if the first found method doesn't actually work, it will always fall back to software decoding, instead of trying the next method (might matter on some Linux systems).
``auto-copy`` selects only modes that copy the video data back to system memory after decoding. This selects modes like ``vaapi-copy`` (and so on). If none of these work, hardware decoding is disabled. This mode is always guaranteed to incur no additional loss compared to software decoding, and will allow CPU processing with video filters.
The ``vaapi`` mode, if used with ``--vo=gpu``, requires Mesa 11 and most likely works with Intel GPUs only. It also requires the opengl EGL backend.
The ``cuda`` and ``cuda-copy`` modes provides deinterlacing in the decoder which is useful as there is no other deinterlacing mechanism in the opengl output path. To use this deinterlacing you must pass the option: ``vd-lavc-o=deint=[weave|bob|adaptive]``. Pass ``weave`` (or leave the option unset) to not attempt any deinterlacing. ``cuda`` should always be preferred unless the ``gpu`` vo is not being used or filters are required.
``nvdec`` is a newer implementation of CUVID/CUDA decoding, which uses the FFmpeg decoders for file parsing. Experimental, is known not to correctly check whether decoding is supported by the hardware at all. Deinterlacing is not supported. Since this uses FFmpeg's codec parsers, it is expected that this generally causes fewer issues than ``cuda``.
Most video filters will not work with hardware decoding as they are primarily implemented on the CPU. Some exceptions are ``vdpaupp``, ``vdpaurb`` and ``vavpp``. See `VIDEO FILTERS`_ for more details.
The ``...-copy`` modes (e.g. ``dxva2-copy``) allow you to use hardware decoding with any VO, backend or filter. Because these copy the decoded video back to system RAM, they're likely less efficient than the direct modes (like e.g. ``dxva2``), and probably not more efficient than software decoding except for some codecs (e.g. HEVC).
.. note::
When using this switch, hardware decoding is still only done for some codecs. See ``--hwdec-codecs`` to enable hardware decoding for more codecs.
.. admonition:: Quality reduction with hardware decoding
In theory, hardware decoding does not reduce video quality (at least for the codecs h264 and HEVC). However, due to restrictions in video output APIs, as well as bugs in the actual hardware decoders, there can be some loss, or even blatantly incorrect results.
In some cases, RGB conversion is forced, which means the RGB conversion is performed by the hardware decoding API, instead of the shaders used by ``--vo=gpu``. This means certain colorspaces may not display correctly, and certain filtering (such as debanding) cannot be applied in an ideal way. This will also usually force the use of low quality chroma scalers instead of the one specified by ``--cscale``. In other cases, hardware decoding can also reduce the bit depth of the decoded image, which can introduce banding or precision loss for 10-bit files.
``vdpau`` is usually safe. If deinterlacing enabled (or the ``vdpaupp`` video filter is active in general), it forces RGB conversion. The latter currently does not treat certain colorspaces like BT.2020 correctly (which is mostly a mpv-specific restriction). The ``vdpauprb`` video filter retrieves image data without RGB conversion and is safe (but precludes use of vdpau postprocessing).
``vaapi`` is safe if the ``vaapi-egl`` backend is indicated in the logs. If ``vaapi-glx`` is indicated, and the video colorspace is either BT.601 or BT.709, a forced, low-quality but correct RGB conversion is performed. Otherwise, the result will be totally incorrect.
``d3d11va`` is safe when used with the ``d3d11`` backend. If used with ``angle`` is it usually safe, except that 10 bit input (HEVC main 10 profiles) will be rounded down to 8 bits, which will result in reduced quality. Also note that with very old ANGLE builds (without ``EGL_KHR_stream path``,) all input will be converted to RGB.
``dxva2`` is not safe. It appears to always use BT.601 for forced RGB conversion, but actual behavior depends on the GPU drivers. Some drivers appear to convert to limited range RGB, which gives a faded appearance. In addition to driver-specific behavior, global system settings might affect this additionally. This can give incorrect results even with completely ordinary video sources.
``rpi`` always uses the hardware overlay renderer, even with ``--vo=gpu``.
``cuda`` should be safe, but it has been reported to corrupt the timestamps causing glitched, flashing frames on some files. It can also sometimes cause massive framedrops for unknown reasons. Caution is advised.
``crystalhd`` is not safe. It always converts to 4:2:2 YUV, which may be lossy, depending on how chroma sub-sampling is done during conversion. It also discards the top left pixel of each frame for some reason.
All other methods, in particular the copy-back methods (like ``dxva2-copy`` etc.) should hopefully be safe, although they can still cause random decoding issues. At the very least, they shouldn't affect the colors of the image.
In particular, ``auto-copy`` will only select "safe" modes (although potentially slower than other methods), but there's still no guarantee the chosen hardware decoder will actually work correctly.
In general, it's very strongly advised to avoid hardware decoding unless **absolutely** necessary, i.e. if your CPU is insufficient to decode the file in questions. If you run into any weird decoding issues, frame glitches or discoloration, and you have ``--hwdec`` turned on, the first thing you should try is disabling it.
``--gpu-hwdec-interop=<auto|all|no|name>`` This option is for troubleshooting hwdec interop issues. Since it's a debugging option, its semantics may change at any time.
This is useful for the ``gpu`` and ``opengl-cb`` VOs for selecting which hwdec interop context to use exactly. Effectively it also can be used to block loading of certain backends.
If set to ``auto`` (default), the behavior depends on the VO: for ``gpu``, it does nothing, and the interop context is loaded on demand (when the decoder probes for ``--hwdec`` support). For ``opengl-cb``, which has has no on-demand loading, this is equivalent to ``all``.
The empty string is equivalent to ``auto``.
If set to ``all``, it attempts to load all interop contexts at GL context creation time.
Other than that, a specific backend can be set, and the list of them can be queried with ``help`` (mpv CLI only).
Runtime changes to this are ignored (the current option value is used whenever the renderer is created).
The old aliases ``--opengl-hwdec-interop`` and ``--hwdec-preload`` are barely related to this anymore, but will be somewhat compatible in some cases.
``--hwdec-image-format=<name>`` Set the internal pixel format used by hardware decoding via ``--hwdec`` (default ``no``). The special value ``no`` selects an implementation specific standard format. Most decoder implementations support only one format, and will fail to initialize if the format is not supported.
Some implementations might support multiple formats. In particular, videotoolbox is known to require ``uyvy422`` for good performance on some older hardware. d3d11va can always use ``yuv420p``, which uses an opaque format, with likely no advantages.
``--videotoolbox-format=<name>`` Set the internal pixel format used by ``--hwdec=videotoolbox`` on OSX. The choice of the format can influence performance considerably. On the other hand, there doesn't appear to be a good way to detect the best format for the given hardware. ``nv12``, the default, works better on modern hardware, while ``uyvy422`` appears to be better for old hardware. ``yuv420p`` also works. Since mpv 0.25.0, ``no`` is an accepted value, which lets the decoder pick the format on newer FFmpeg versions (will use ``nv12`` on older versions).
Deprecated. Use ``--hwdec-image-format`` if you really need this. If both are specified, ``--hwdec-image-format`` wins.
``--panscan=<0.0-1.0>`` Enables pan-and-scan functionality (cropping the sides of e.g. a 16:9 video to make it fit a 4:3 display without black bands). The range controls how much of the image is cropped. May not work with all video output drivers.
This option has no effect if ``--video-unscaled`` option is used.
``--video-aspect=<ratio|no>`` Override video aspect ratio, in case aspect information is incorrect or missing in the file being played. See also ``--no-video-aspect``.
These values have special meaning:
:0: disable aspect ratio handling, pretend the video has square pixels :no: same as ``0`` :-1: use the video stream or container aspect (default)
But note that handling of these special values might change in the future.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``--video-aspect=4:3`` or ``--video-aspect=1.3333`` - ``--video-aspect=16:9`` or ``--video-aspect=1.7777`` - ``--no-video-aspect`` or ``--video-aspect=no``
``--video-aspect-method=<bitstream|container>`` This sets the default video aspect determination method (if the aspect is _not_ overridden by the user with ``--video-aspect`` or others).
:container: Strictly prefer the container aspect ratio. This is apparently the default behavior with VLC, at least with Matroska. Note that if the container has no aspect ratio set, the behavior is the same as with bitstream. :bitstream: Strictly prefer the bitstream aspect ratio, unless the bitstream aspect ratio is not set. This is apparently the default behavior with XBMC/kodi, at least with Matroska.
The current default for mpv is ``container``.
Normally you should not set this. Try the various choices if you encounter video that has the wrong aspect ratio in mpv, but seems to be correct in other players.
``--video-unscaled=<no|yes|downscale-big>`` Disable scaling of the video. If the window is larger than the video, black bars are added. Otherwise, the video is cropped, unless the option is set to ``downscale-big``, in which case the video is fit to window. The video still can be influenced by the other ``--video-...`` options. This option disables the effect of ``--panscan``.
Note that the scaler algorithm may still be used, even if the video isn't scaled. For example, this can influence chroma conversion. The video will also still be scaled in one dimension if the source uses non-square pixels (e.g. anamorphic widescreen DVDs).
This option is disabled if the ``--no-keepaspect`` option is used.
``--video-pan-x=<value>``, ``--video-pan-y=<value>`` Moves the displayed video rectangle by the given value in the X or Y direction. The unit is in fractions of the size of the scaled video (the full size, even if parts of the video are not visible due to panscan or other options).
For example, displaying a 1280x720 video fullscreen on a 1680x1050 screen with ``--video-pan-x=-0.1`` would move the video 168 pixels to the left (making 128 pixels of the source video invisible).
This option is disabled if the ``--no-keepaspect`` option is used.
``--video-rotate=<0-359|no>`` Rotate the video clockwise, in degrees. Currently supports 90° steps only. If ``no`` is given, the video is never rotated, even if the file has rotation metadata. (The rotation value is added to the rotation metadata, which means the value ``0`` would rotate the video according to the rotation metadata.)
``--video-stereo-mode=<no|mode>`` Set the stereo 3D output mode (default: ``mono``). This is mostly broken and thus deprecated.
The pseudo-mode ``no`` disables automatic conversion completely.
The mode ``mono`` is an alias to ``ml``, which refers to the left frame in 2D. This is the default, which means mpv will try to show 3D movies in 2D, instead of the mangled 3D image not intended for consumption (such as showing the left and right frame side by side, etc.).
Use ``--video-stereo-mode=help`` to list all available modes. Check with the ``stereo3d`` filter documentation to see what the names mean. Note that some names refer to modes not supported by ``stereo3d`` - these modes can appear in files, but can't be handled properly by mpv.
``--video-zoom=<value>`` Adjust the video display scale factor by the given value. The parameter is given log 2. For example, ``--video-zoom=0`` is unscaled, ``--video-zoom=1`` is twice the size, ``--video-zoom=-2`` is one fourth of the size, and so on.
This option is disabled if the ``--no-keepaspect`` option is used.
``--video-align-x=<-1-1>``, ``--video-align-y=<-1-1>`` Moves the video rectangle within the black borders, which are usually added to pad the video to screen if video and screen aspect ratios are different. ``--video-align-y=-1`` would move the video to the top of the screen (leaving a border only on the bottom), a value of ``0`` centers it (default), and a value of ``1`` would put the video at the bottom of the screen.
If video and screen aspect match perfectly, these options do nothing.
This option is disabled if the ``--no-keepaspect`` option is used.
``--correct-pts``, ``--no-correct-pts`` ``--no-correct-pts`` switches mpv to a mode where video timing is determined using a fixed framerate value (either using the ``--fps`` option, or using file information). Sometimes, files with very broken timestamps can be played somewhat well in this mode. Note that video filters, subtitle rendering and audio synchronization can be completely broken in this mode.
``--fps=<float>`` Override video framerate. Useful if the original value is wrong or missing.
.. note::
Works in ``--no-correct-pts`` mode only.
``--deinterlace=<yes|no>`` Enable or disable interlacing (default: no). Interlaced video shows ugly comb-like artifacts, which are visible on fast movement. Enabling this typically inserts the yadif video filter in order to deinterlace the video, or lets the video output apply deinterlacing if supported.
This behaves exactly like the ``deinterlace`` input property (usually mapped to ``d``).
Keep in mind that this **will** conflict with manually inserted deinterlacing filters, unless you take care. (Since mpv 0.27.0, even the hardware deinterlace filters will conflict. Also since that version, ``--deinterlace=auto`` was removed, which used to mean that the default interlacing option of possibly inserted video filters was used.)
``--frames=<number>`` Play/convert only first ``<number>`` video frames, then quit.
``--frames=0`` loads the file, but immediately quits before initializing playback. (Might be useful for scripts which just want to determine some file properties.)
For audio-only playback, any value greater than 0 will quit playback immediately after initialization. The value 0 works as with video.
``--video-output-levels=<outputlevels>`` RGB color levels used with YUV to RGB conversion. Normally, output devices such as PC monitors use full range color levels. However, some TVs and video monitors expect studio RGB levels. Providing full range output to a device expecting studio level input results in crushed blacks and whites, the reverse in dim gray blacks and dim whites.
Not all VOs support this option. Some will silently ignore it.
Available color ranges are:
:auto: automatic selection (equals to full range) (default) :limited: limited range (16-235 per component), studio levels :full: full range (0-255 per component), PC levels
.. note::
It is advisable to use your graphics driver's color range option instead, if available.
``--hwdec-codecs=<codec1,codec2,...|all>`` Allow hardware decoding for a given list of codecs only. The special value ``all`` always allows all codecs.
You can get the list of allowed codecs with ``mpv --vd=help``. Remove the prefix, e.g. instead of ``lavc:h264`` use ``h264``.
By default, this is set to ``h264,vc1,wmv3,hevc,mpeg2video,vp9``. Note that the hardware acceleration special codecs like ``h264_vdpau`` are not relevant anymore, and in fact have been removed from Libav in this form.
This is usually only needed with broken GPUs, where a codec is reported as supported, but decoding causes more problems than it solves.
.. admonition:: Example
``mpv --hwdec=vdpau --vo=vdpau --hwdec-codecs=h264,mpeg2video`` Enable vdpau decoding for h264 and mpeg2 only.
``--vd-lavc-check-hw-profile=<yes|no>`` Check hardware decoder profile (default: yes). If ``no`` is set, the highest profile of the hardware decoder is unconditionally selected, and decoding is forced even if the profile of the video is higher than that. The result is most likely broken decoding, but may also help if the detected or reported profiles are somehow incorrect.
``--vd-lavc-software-fallback=<yes|no|N>`` Fallback to software decoding if the hardware-accelerated decoder fails (default: 3). If this is a number, then fallback will be triggered if N frames fail to decode in a row. 1 is equivalent to ``yes``.
``--vd-lavc-dr=<yes|no>`` Enable direct rendering (default: no). If this is set to ``yes``, the video will be decoded directly to GPU video memory (or staging buffers). This can speed up video upload, and may help with large resolutions or slow hardware. This works only with the following VOs:
- ``gpu``: requires at least OpenGL 4.4.
(In particular, this can't be made work with ``opengl-cb``.)
Using video filters of any kind that write to the image data (or output newly allocated frames) will silently disable the DR code path.
There are some corner cases that will result in undefined behavior (crashes and other strange behavior) if this option is enabled. These are pending towards being fixed properly at a later point.
``--vd-lavc-bitexact`` Only use bit-exact algorithms in all decoding steps (for codec testing).
``--vd-lavc-fast`` (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and H.264 only) Enable optimizations which do not comply with the format specification and potentially cause problems, like simpler dequantization, simpler motion compensation, assuming use of the default quantization matrix, assuming YUV 4:2:0 and skipping a few checks to detect damaged bitstreams.
``--vd-lavc-o=<key>=<value>[,<key>=<value>[,...]]`` Pass AVOptions to libavcodec decoder. Note, a patch to make the ``o=`` unneeded and pass all unknown options through the AVOption system is welcome. A full list of AVOptions can be found in the FFmpeg manual.
Some options which used to be direct options can be set with this mechanism, like ``bug``, ``gray``, ``idct``, ``ec``, ``vismv``, ``skip_top`` (was ``st``), ``skip_bottom`` (was ``sb``), ``debug``.
.. admonition:: Example
``--vd-lavc-o=debug=pict``
``--vd-lavc-show-all=<yes|no>`` Show even broken/corrupt frames (default: no). If this option is set to no, libavcodec won't output frames that were either decoded before an initial keyframe was decoded, or frames that are recognized as corrupted.
``--vd-lavc-skiploopfilter=<skipvalue> (H.264 only)`` Skips the loop filter (AKA deblocking) during H.264 decoding. Since the filtered frame is supposed to be used as reference for decoding dependent frames, this has a worse effect on quality than not doing deblocking on e.g. MPEG-2 video. But at least for high bitrate HDTV, this provides a big speedup with little visible quality loss.
``<skipvalue>`` can be one of the following:
:none: Never skip. :default: Skip useless processing steps (e.g. 0 size packets in AVI). :nonref: Skip frames that are not referenced (i.e. not used for decoding other frames, the error cannot "build up"). :bidir: Skip B-Frames. :nonkey: Skip all frames except keyframes. :all: Skip all frames.
``--vd-lavc-skipidct=<skipvalue> (MPEG-1/2 only)`` Skips the IDCT step. This degrades quality a lot in almost all cases (see skiploopfilter for available skip values).
``--vd-lavc-skipframe=<skipvalue>`` Skips decoding of frames completely. Big speedup, but jerky motion and sometimes bad artifacts (see skiploopfilter for available skip values).
``--vd-lavc-framedrop=<skipvalue>`` Set framedropping mode used with ``--framedrop`` (see skiploopfilter for available skip values).
``--vd-lavc-threads=<N>`` Number of threads to use for decoding. Whether threading is actually supported depends on codec (default: 0). 0 means autodetect number of cores on the machine and use that, up to the maximum of 16. You can set more than 16 threads manually.
``--vd-lavc-assume-old-x264=<yes|no>`` Assume the video was encoded by an old, buggy x264 version (default: no). Normally, this is autodetected by libavcodec. But if the bitstream contains no x264 version info (or it was somehow skipped), and the stream was in fact encoded by an old x264 version (build 150 or earlier), and if the stream uses ``4:4:4`` chroma, then libavcodec will by default show corrupted video. This option sets the libavcodec ``x264_build`` option to ``150``, which means that if the stream contains no version info, or was not encoded by x264 at all, it assumes it was encoded by the old version. Enabling this option is pretty safe if you want your broken files to work, but in theory this can break on streams not encoded by x264, or if a stream encoded by a newer x264 version contains no version info.
Audio-----
``--audio-pitch-correction=<yes|no>`` If this is enabled (default), playing with a speed different from normal automatically inserts the ``scaletempo`` audio filter. For details, see audio filter section.
``--audio-device=<name>`` Use the given audio device. This consists of the audio output name, e.g. ``alsa``, followed by ``/``, followed by the audio output specific device name. The default value for this option is ``auto``, which tries every audio output in preference order with the default device.
You can list audio devices with ``--audio-device=help``. This outputs the device name in quotes, followed by a description. The device name is what you have to pass to the ``--audio-device`` option. The list of audio devices can be retrieved by API by using the ``audio-device-list`` property.
While the option normally takes one of the strings as indicated by the methods above, you can also force the device for most AOs by building it manually. For example ``name/foobar`` forces the AO ``name`` to use the device ``foobar``.
.. admonition:: Example for ALSA
MPlayer and mplayer2 required you to replace any ',' with '.' and any ':' with '=' in the ALSA device name. For example, to use the device named ``dmix:default``, you had to do:
``-ao alsa:device=dmix=default``
In mpv you could instead use:
``--audio-device=alsa/dmix:default``
``--audio-exclusive=<yes|no>`` Enable exclusive output mode. In this mode, the system is usually locked out, and only mpv will be able to output audio.
This only works for some audio outputs, such as ``wasapi`` and ``coreaudio``. Other audio outputs silently ignore this options. They either have no concept of exclusive mode, or the mpv side of the implementation is missing.
``--audio-fallback-to-null=<yes|no>`` If no audio device can be opened, behave as if ``--ao=null`` was given. This is useful in combination with ``--audio-device``: instead of causing an error if the selected device does not exist, the client API user (or a Lua script) could let playback continue normally, and check the ``current-ao`` and ``audio-device-list`` properties to make high-level decisions about how to continue.
``--ao=<driver>`` Specify the audio output drivers to be used. See `AUDIO OUTPUT DRIVERS`_ for details and descriptions of available drivers.
``--af=<filter1[=parameter1:parameter2:...],filter2,...>`` Specify a list of audio filters to apply to the audio stream. See `AUDIO FILTERS`_ for details and descriptions of the available filters. The option variants ``--af-add``, ``--af-pre``, ``--af-del`` and ``--af-clr`` exist to modify a previously specified list, but you should not need these for typical use.
``--audio-spdif=<codecs>`` List of codecs for which compressed audio passthrough should be used. This works for both classic S/PDIF and HDMI.
Possible codecs are ``ac3``, ``dts``, ``dts-hd``, ``eac3``, ``truehd``. Multiple codecs can be specified by separating them with ``,``. ``dts`` refers to low bitrate DTS core, while ``dts-hd`` refers to DTS MA (receiver and OS support varies). If both ``dts`` and ``dts-hd`` are specified, it behaves equivalent to specifying ``dts-hd`` only.
In earlier mpv versions you could use ``--ad`` to force the spdif wrapper. This does not work anymore.
.. admonition:: Warning
There is not much reason to use this. HDMI supports uncompressed multichannel PCM, and mpv supports lossless DTS-HD decoding via FFmpeg's new DCA decoder (based on libdcadec).
``--ad=<decoder1,decoder2,...[-]>`` Specify a priority list of audio decoders to be used, according to their decoder name. When determining which decoder to use, the first decoder that matches the audio format is selected. If that is unavailable, the next decoder is used. Finally, it tries all other decoders that are not explicitly selected or rejected by the option.
``-`` at the end of the list suppresses fallback on other available decoders not on the ``--ad`` list. ``+`` in front of an entry forces the decoder. Both of these should not normally be used, because they break normal decoder auto-selection! Both of these methods are deprecated.
.. admonition:: Examples
``--ad=mp3float`` Prefer the FFmpeg/Libav ``mp3float`` decoder over all other MP3 decoders.
``--ad=help`` List all available decoders.
.. admonition:: Warning
Enabling compressed audio passthrough (AC3 and DTS via SPDIF/HDMI) with this option is not possible. Use ``--audio-spdif`` instead.
``--volume=<value>`` Set the startup volume. 0 means silence, 100 means no volume reduction or amplification. Negative values can be passed for compatibility, but are treated as 0.
Since mpv 0.18.1, this always controls the internal mixer (aka "softvol").
``--replaygain=<no|track|album>`` Adjust volume gain according to the track-gain or album-gain replaygain value stored in the file metadata (default: no replaygain).
``--replaygain-preamp=<db>`` Pre-amplification gain in dB to apply to the selected replaygain gain (default: 0).
``--replaygain-clip=<yes|no>`` Prevent clipping caused by replaygain by automatically lowering the gain (default). Use ``--replaygain-clip=no`` to disable this.
``--replaygain-fallback=<db>`` Gain in dB to apply if the file has no replay gain tags. This option is always applied if the replaygain logic is somehow inactive. If this is applied, no other replaygain options are applied.
``--audio-delay=<sec>`` Audio delay in seconds (positive or negative float value). Positive values delay the audio, and negative values delay the video.
``--mute=<yes|no|auto>`` Set startup audio mute status (default: no).
``auto`` is a deprecated possible value that is equivalent to ``no``.
See also: ``--volume``.
``--softvol=<no|yes|auto>`` Deprecated/unfunctional. Before mpv 0.18.1, this used to control whether to use the volume controls of the audio output driver or the internal mpv volume filter.
The current behavior is that softvol is always enabled, i.e. as if this option is set to ``yes``. The other behaviors are not available anymore, although ``auto`` almost matches current behavior in most cases.
The ``no`` behavior is still partially available through the ``ao-volume`` and ``ao-mute`` properties. But there are no options to reset these.
``--audio-demuxer=<[+]name>`` Use this audio demuxer type when using ``--audio-file``. Use a '+' before the name to force it; this will skip some checks. Give the demuxer name as printed by ``--audio-demuxer=help``.
``--ad-lavc-ac3drc=<level>`` Select the Dynamic Range Compression level for AC-3 audio streams. ``<level>`` is a float value ranging from 0 to 1, where 0 means no compression (which is the default) and 1 means full compression (make loud passages more silent and vice versa). Values up to 6 are also accepted, but are purely experimental. This option only shows an effect if the AC-3 stream contains the required range compression information.
The standard mandates that DRC is enabled by default, but mpv (and some other players) ignore this for the sake of better audio quality.
``--ad-lavc-downmix=<yes|no>`` Whether to request audio channel downmixing from the decoder (default: yes). Some decoders, like AC-3, AAC and DTS, can remix audio on decoding. The requested number of output channels is set with the ``--audio-channels`` option. Useful for playing surround audio on a stereo system.
``--ad-lavc-threads=<0-16>`` Number of threads to use for decoding. Whether threading is actually supported depends on codec. As of this writing, it's supported for some lossless codecs only. 0 means autodetect number of cores on the machine and use that, up to the maximum of 16 (default: 1).
``--ad-lavc-o=<key>=<value>[,<key>=<value>[,...]]`` Pass AVOptions to libavcodec decoder. Note, a patch to make the o= unneeded and pass all unknown options through the AVOption system is welcome. A full list of AVOptions can be found in the FFmpeg manual.
``--ad-spdif-dtshd=<yes|no>``, ``--dtshd``, ``--no-dtshd`` If DTS is passed through, use DTS-HD.
.. admonition:: Warning
This and enabling passthrough via ``--ad`` are deprecated in favor of using ``--audio-spdif=dts-hd``.
``--audio-channels=<auto-safe|auto|layouts>`` Control which audio channels are output (e.g. surround vs. stereo). There are the following possibilities:
- ``--audio-channels=auto-safe`` Use the system's preferred channel layout. If there is none (such as when accessing a hardware device instead of the system mixer), force stereo. Some audio outputs might simply accept any layout and do downmixing on their own.
This is the default. - ``--audio-channels=auto`` Send the audio device whatever it accepts, preferring the audio's original channel layout. Can cause issues with HDMI (see the warning below). - ``--audio-channels=layout1,layout2,...`` List of ``,``-separated channel layouts which should be allowed. Technically, this only adjusts the filter chain output to the best matching layout in the list, and passes the result to the audio API. It's possible that the audio API will select a different channel layout.
Using this mode is recommended for direct hardware output, especially over HDMI (see HDMI warning below). - ``--audio-channels=stereo`` Force a plain stereo downmix. This is a special-case of the previous item. (See paragraphs below for implications.)
If a list of layouts is given, each item can be either an explicit channel layout name (like ``5.1``), or a channel number. Channel numbers refer to default layouts, e.g. 2 channels refer to stereo, 6 refers to 5.1.
See ``--audio-channels=help`` output for defined default layouts. This also lists speaker names, which can be used to express arbitrary channel layouts (e.g. ``fl-fr-lfe`` is 2.1).
If the list of channel layouts has only 1 item, the decoder is asked to produce according output. This sometimes triggers decoder-downmix, which might be different from the normal mpv downmix. (Only some decoders support remixing audio, like AC-3, AAC or DTS. You can use ``--ad-lavc-downmix=no`` to make the decoder always output its native layout.) One consequence is that ``--audio-channels=stereo`` triggers decoder downmix, while ``auto`` or ``auto-safe`` never will, even if they end up selecting stereo. This happens because the decision whether to use decoder downmix happens long before the audio device is opened.
If the channel layout of the media file (i.e. the decoder) and the AO's channel layout don't match, mpv will attempt to insert a conversion filter. You may need to change the channel layout of the system mixer to achieve your desired output as mpv does not have control over it. Another work-around for this on some AOs is to use ``--audio-exclusive=yes`` to circumvent the system mixer entirely.
.. admonition:: Warning
Using ``auto`` can cause issues when using audio over HDMI. The OS will typically report all channel layouts that _can_ go over HDMI, even if the receiver does not support them. If a receiver gets an unsupported channel layout, random things can happen, such as dropping the additional channels, or adding noise.
You are recommended to set an explicit whitelist of the layouts you want. For example, most A/V receivers connected via HDMI and that can do 7.1 would be served by: ``--audio-channels=7.1,5.1,stereo``
``--audio-normalize-downmix=<yes|no>`` Enable/disable normalization if surround audio is downmixed to stereo (default: no). If this is disabled, downmix can cause clipping. If it's enabled, the output might be too silent. It depends on the source audio.
Technically, this changes the ``normalize`` suboption of the ``lavrresample`` audio filter, which performs the downmixing.
If downmix happens outside of mpv for some reason, this has no effect.
``--audio-display=<no|attachment>`` Setting this option to ``attachment`` (default) will display image attachments (e.g. album cover art) when playing audio files. It will display the first image found, and additional images are available as video tracks.
Setting this option to ``no`` disables display of video entirely when playing audio files.
This option has no influence on files with normal video tracks.
``--audio-files=<files>`` Play audio from an external file while viewing a video.
This is a list option. See `List Options`_ for details.
``--audio-file=<file>`` CLI/config file only alias for ``--audio-files-append``. Each use of this option will add a new audio track. The details are similar to how ``--sub-file`` works.
``--audio-format=<format>`` Select the sample format used for output from the audio filter layer to the sound card. The values that ``<format>`` can adopt are listed below in the description of the ``format`` audio filter.
``--audio-samplerate=<Hz>`` Select the output sample rate to be used (of course sound cards have limits on this). If the sample frequency selected is different from that of the current media, the lavrresample audio filter will be inserted into the audio filter layer to compensate for the difference.
``--gapless-audio=<no|yes|weak>`` Try to play consecutive audio files with no silence or disruption at the point of file change. Default: ``weak``.
:no: Disable gapless audio. :yes: The audio device is opened using parameters chosen for the first file played and is then kept open for gapless playback. This means that if the first file for example has a low sample rate, then the following files may get resampled to the same low sample rate, resulting in reduced sound quality. If you play files with different parameters, consider using options such as ``--audio-samplerate`` and ``--audio-format`` to explicitly select what the shared output format will be. :weak: Normally, the audio device is kept open (using the format it was first initialized with). If the audio format the decoder output changes, the audio device is closed and reopened. This means that you will normally get gapless audio with files that were encoded using the same settings, but might not be gapless in other cases. (Unlike with ``yes``, you don't have to worry about corner cases like the first file setting a very low quality output format, and ruining the playback of higher quality files that follow.)
.. note::
This feature is implemented in a simple manner and relies on audio output device buffering to continue playback while moving from one file to another. If playback of the new file starts slowly, for example because it is played from a remote network location or because you have specified cache settings that require time for the initial cache fill, then the buffered audio may run out before playback of the new file can start.
``--initial-audio-sync``, ``--no-initial-audio-sync`` When starting a video file or after events such as seeking, mpv will by default modify the audio stream to make it start from the same timestamp as video, by either inserting silence at the start or cutting away the first samples. Disabling this option makes the player behave like older mpv versions did: video and audio are both started immediately even if their start timestamps differ, and then video timing is gradually adjusted if necessary to reach correct synchronization later.
``--volume-max=<100.0-1000.0>``, ``--softvol-max=<...>`` Set the maximum amplification level in percent (default: 130). A value of 130 will allow you to adjust the volume up to about double the normal level.
``--softvol-max`` is a deprecated alias and should not be used.
``--audio-file-auto=<no|exact|fuzzy|all>``, ``--no-audio-file-auto`` Load additional audio files matching the video filename. The parameter specifies how external audio files are matched.
:no: Don't automatically load external audio files (default). :exact: Load the media filename with audio file extension. :fuzzy: Load all audio files containing media filename. :all: Load all audio files in the current and ``--audio-file-paths`` directories.
``--audio-file-paths=<path1:path2:...>`` Equivalent to ``--sub-file-paths`` option, but for auto-loaded audio files.
``--audio-client-name=<name>`` The application name the player reports to the audio API. Can be useful if you want to force a different audio profile (e.g. with PulseAudio), or to set your own application name when using libmpv.
``--audio-buffer=<seconds>`` Set the audio output minimum buffer. The audio device might actually create a larger buffer if it pleases. If the device creates a smaller buffer, additional audio is buffered in an additional software buffer.
Making this larger will make soft-volume and other filters react slower, introduce additional issues on playback speed change, and block the player on audio format changes. A smaller buffer might lead to audio dropouts.
This option should be used for testing only. If a non-default value helps significantly, the mpv developers should be contacted.
Default: 0.2 (200 ms).
``--audio-stream-silence=<yes|no>`` Cash-grab consumer audio hardware (such as A/V receivers) often ignore initial audio sent over HDMI. This can happen every time audio over HDMI is stopped and resumed. In order to compensate for this, you can enable this option to not to stop and restart audio on seeks, and fill the gaps with silence. Likewise, when pausing playback, audio is not stopped, and silence is played while paused. Note that if no audio track is selected, the audio device will still be closed immediately.
Not all AOs support this.
``--audio-wait-open=<secs>`` This makes sense for use with ``--audio-stream-silence=yes``. If this option is given, the player will wait for the given amount of seconds after opening the audio device before sending actual audio data to it. Useful if your expensive hardware discards the first 1 or 2 seconds of audio data sent to it. If ``--audio-stream-silence=yes`` is not set, this option will likely just waste time.
Subtitles---------
.. note::
Changing styling and position does not work with all subtitles. Image-based subtitles (DVD, Bluray/PGS, DVB) cannot changed for fundamental reasons. Subtitles in ASS format are normally not changed intentionally, but overriding them can be controlled with ``--sub-ass-override``.
Previously some options working on text subtitles were called ``--sub-text-*``, they are now named ``--sub-*``, and those specifically for ASS have been renamed from ``--ass-*`` to ``--sub-ass-*``. They are now all in this section.
``--sub-demuxer=<[+]name>`` Force subtitle demuxer type for ``--sub-file``. Give the demuxer name as printed by ``--sub-demuxer=help``.
``--sub-delay=<sec>`` Delays subtitles by ``<sec>`` seconds. Can be negative.
``--sub-files=<file-list>``, ``--sub-file=<filename>`` Add a subtitle file to the list of external subtitles.
If you use ``--sub-file`` only once, this subtitle file is displayed by default.
If ``--sub-file`` is used multiple times, the subtitle to use can be switched at runtime by cycling subtitle tracks. It's possible to show two subtitles at once: use ``--sid`` to select the first subtitle index, and ``--secondary-sid`` to select the second index. (The index is printed on the terminal output after the ``--sid=`` in the list of streams.)
``--sub-files`` is a list option (see `List Options`_ for details), and can take multiple file names separated by ``:`` (Unix) or ``;`` (Windows), while ``--sub-file`` takes a single filename, but can be used multiple times to add multiple files. Technically, ``--sub-file`` is a CLI/config file only alias for ``--sub-files-append``.
``--secondary-sid=<ID|auto|no>`` Select a secondary subtitle stream. This is similar to ``--sid``. If a secondary subtitle is selected, it will be rendered as toptitle (i.e. on the top of the screen) alongside the normal subtitle, and provides a way to render two subtitles at once.
There are some caveats associated with this feature. For example, bitmap subtitles will always be rendered in their usual position, so selecting a bitmap subtitle as secondary subtitle will result in overlapping subtitles. Secondary subtitles are never shown on the terminal if video is disabled.
.. note::
Styling and interpretation of any formatting tags is disabled for the secondary subtitle. Internally, the same mechanism as ``--no-sub-ass`` is used to strip the styling.
.. note::
If the main subtitle stream contains formatting tags which display the subtitle at the top of the screen, it will overlap with the secondary subtitle. To prevent this, you could use ``--no-sub-ass`` to disable styling in the main subtitle stream.
``--sub-scale=<0-100>`` Factor for the text subtitle font size (default: 1).
.. note::
This affects ASS subtitles as well, and may lead to incorrect subtitle rendering. Use with care, or use ``--sub-font-size`` instead.
``--sub-scale-by-window=<yes|no>`` Whether to scale subtitles with the window size (default: yes). If this is disabled, changing the window size won't change the subtitle font size.
Like ``--sub-scale``, this can break ASS subtitles.
``--sub-scale-with-window=<yes|no>`` Make the subtitle font size relative to the window, instead of the video. This is useful if you always want the same font size, even if the video doesn't cover the window fully, e.g. because screen aspect and window aspect mismatch (and the player adds black bars).
Default: yes.
This option is misnamed. The difference to the confusingly similar sounding option ``--sub-scale-by-window`` is that ``--sub-scale-with-window`` still scales with the approximate window size, while the other option disables this scaling.
Affects plain text subtitles only (or ASS if ``--sub-ass-override`` is set high enough).
``--sub-ass-scale-with-window=<yes|no>`` Like ``--sub-scale-with-window``, but affects subtitles in ASS format only. Like ``--sub-scale``, this can break ASS subtitles.
Default: no.
``--embeddedfonts``, ``--no-embeddedfonts`` Use fonts embedded in Matroska container files and ASS scripts (default: enabled). These fonts can be used for SSA/ASS subtitle rendering.
``--sub-pos=<0-100>`` Specify the position of subtitles on the screen. The value is the vertical position of the subtitle in % of the screen height.
.. note::
This affects ASS subtitles as well, and may lead to incorrect subtitle rendering. Use with care, or use ``--sub-margin-y`` instead.
``--sub-speed=<0.1-10.0>`` Multiply the subtitle event timestamps with the given value. Can be used to fix the playback speed for frame-based subtitle formats. Affects text subtitles only.
.. admonition:: Example
``--sub-speed=25/23.976`` plays frame based subtitles which have been loaded assuming a framerate of 23.976 at 25 FPS.
``--sub-ass-force-style=<[Style.]Param=Value[,...]>`` Override some style or script info parameters.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``--sub-ass-force-style=FontName=Arial,Default.Bold=1`` - ``--sub-ass-force-style=PlayResY=768``
.. note::
Using this option may lead to incorrect subtitle rendering.
``--sub-ass-hinting=<none|light|normal|native>`` Set font hinting type. <type> can be:
:none: no hinting (default) :light: FreeType autohinter, light mode :normal: FreeType autohinter, normal mode :native: font native hinter
.. admonition:: Warning
Enabling hinting can lead to mispositioned text (in situations it's supposed to match up video background), or reduce the smoothness of animations with some badly authored ASS scripts. It is recommended to not use this option, unless really needed.
``--sub-ass-line-spacing=<value>`` Set line spacing value for SSA/ASS renderer.
``--sub-ass-shaper=<simple|complex>`` Set the text layout engine used by libass.
:simple: uses Fribidi only, fast, doesn't render some languages correctly :complex: uses HarfBuzz, slower, wider language support
``complex`` is the default. If libass hasn't been compiled against HarfBuzz, libass silently reverts to ``simple``.
``--sub-ass-styles=<filename>`` Load all SSA/ASS styles found in the specified file and use them for rendering text subtitles. The syntax of the file is exactly like the ``[V4 Styles]`` / ``[V4+ Styles]`` section of SSA/ASS.
.. note::
Using this option may lead to incorrect subtitle rendering.
``--sub-ass-override=<yes|no|force|scale|strip>`` Control whether user style overrides should be applied. Note that all of these overrides try to be somewhat smart about figuring out whether or not a subtitle is considered a "sign".
:no: Render subtitles as specified by the subtitle scripts, without overrides. :yes: Apply all the ``--sub-ass-*`` style override options. Changing the default for any of these options can lead to incorrect subtitle rendering (default). :force: Like ``yes``, but also force all ``--sub-*`` options. Can break rendering easily. :scale: Like ``yes``, but also apply ``--sub-scale``. :strip: Radically strip all ASS tags and styles from the subtitle. This is equivalent to the old ``--no-ass`` / ``--no-sub-ass`` options.
``--sub-ass-force-margins`` Enables placing toptitles and subtitles in black borders when they are available, if the subtitles are in the ASS format.
Default: no.
``--sub-use-margins`` Enables placing toptitles and subtitles in black borders when they are available, if the subtitles are in a plain text format (or ASS if ``--sub-ass-override`` is set high enough).
Default: yes.
Renamed from ``--sub-ass-use-margins``. To place ASS subtitles in the borders too (like the old option did), also add ``--sub-ass-force-margins``.
``--sub-ass-vsfilter-aspect-compat=<yes|no>`` Stretch SSA/ASS subtitles when playing anamorphic videos for compatibility with traditional VSFilter behavior. This switch has no effect when the video is stored with square pixels.
The renderer historically most commonly used for the SSA/ASS subtitle formats, VSFilter, had questionable behavior that resulted in subtitles being stretched too if the video was stored in anamorphic format that required scaling for display. This behavior is usually undesirable and newer VSFilter versions may behave differently. However, many existing scripts compensate for the stretching by modifying things in the opposite direction. Thus, if such scripts are displayed "correctly", they will not appear as intended. This switch enables emulation of the old VSFilter behavior (undesirable but expected by many existing scripts).
Enabled by default.
``--sub-ass-vsfilter-blur-compat=<yes|no>`` Scale ``\blur`` tags by video resolution instead of script resolution (enabled by default). This is bug in VSFilter, which according to some, can't be fixed anymore in the name of compatibility.
Note that this uses the actual video resolution for calculating the offset scale factor, not what the video filter chain or the video output use.
``--sub-ass-vsfilter-color-compat=<basic|full|force-601|no>`` Mangle colors like (xy-)vsfilter do (default: basic). Historically, VSFilter was not color space aware. This was no problem as long as the color space used for SD video (BT.601) was used. But when everything switched to HD (BT.709), VSFilter was still converting RGB colors to BT.601, rendered them into the video frame, and handled the frame to the video output, which would use BT.709 for conversion to RGB. The result were mangled subtitle colors. Later on, bad hacks were added on top of the ASS format to control how colors are to be mangled.
:basic: Handle only BT.601->BT.709 mangling, if the subtitles seem to indicate that this is required (default). :full: Handle the full ``YCbCr Matrix`` header with all video color spaces supported by libass and mpv. This might lead to bad breakages in corner cases and is not strictly needed for compatibility (hopefully), which is why this is not default. :force-601: Force BT.601->BT.709 mangling, regardless of subtitle headers or video color space. :no: Disable color mangling completely. All colors are RGB.
Choosing anything other than ``no`` will make the subtitle color depend on the video color space, and it's for example in theory not possible to reuse a subtitle script with another video file. The ``--sub-ass-override`` option doesn't affect how this option is interpreted.
``--stretch-dvd-subs=<yes|no>`` Stretch DVD subtitles when playing anamorphic videos for better looking fonts on badly mastered DVDs. This switch has no effect when the video is stored with square pixels - which for DVD input cannot be the case though.
Many studios tend to use bitmap fonts designed for square pixels when authoring DVDs, causing the fonts to look stretched on playback on DVD players. This option fixes them, however at the price of possibly misaligning some subtitles (e.g. sign translations).
Disabled by default.
``--stretch-image-subs-to-screen=<yes|no>`` Stretch DVD and other image subtitles to the screen, ignoring the video margins. This has a similar effect as ``--sub-use-margins`` for text subtitles, except that the text itself will be stretched, not only just repositioned. (At least in general it is unavoidable, as an image bitmap can in theory consist of a single bitmap covering the whole screen, and the player won't know where exactly the text parts are located.)
This option does not display subtitles correctly. Use with care.
Disabled by default.
``--image-subs-video-resolution=<yes|no>`` Override the image subtitle resolution with the video resolution (default: no). Normally, the subtitle canvas is fit into the video canvas (e.g. letterboxed). Setting this option uses the video size as subtitle canvas size. Can be useful to test broken subtitles, which often happen when the video was trancoded, while attempting to keep the old subtitles.
``--sub-ass``, ``--no-sub-ass`` Render ASS subtitles natively (enabled by default).
.. note::
This has been deprecated by ``--sub-ass-override=strip``. You also may need ``--embeddedfonts=no`` to get the same behavior. Also, using ``--sub-ass-override=style`` should give better results without breaking subtitles too much.
If ``--no-sub-ass`` is specified, all tags and style declarations are stripped and ignored on display. The subtitle renderer uses the font style as specified by the ``--sub-`` options instead.
.. note::
Using ``--no-sub-ass`` may lead to incorrect or completely broken rendering of ASS/SSA subtitles. It can sometimes be useful to forcibly override the styling of ASS subtitles, but should be avoided in general.
``--sub-auto=<no|exact|fuzzy|all>``, ``--no-sub-auto`` Load additional subtitle files matching the video filename. The parameter specifies how external subtitle files are matched. ``exact`` is enabled by default.
:no: Don't automatically load external subtitle files. :exact: Load the media filename with subtitle file extension (default). :fuzzy: Load all subs containing media filename. :all: Load all subs in the current and ``--sub-file-paths`` directories.
``--sub-codepage=<codepage>`` You can use this option to specify the subtitle codepage. uchardet will be used to guess the charset. (If mpv was not compiled with uchardet, then ``utf-8`` is the effective default.)
The default value for this option is ``auto``, which enables autodetection.
The following steps are taken to determine the final codepage, in order:
- if the specific codepage has a ``+``, use that codepage - if the data looks like UTF-8, assume it is UTF-8 - if ``--sub-codepage`` is set to a specific codepage, use that - run uchardet, and if successful, use that - otherwise, use ``UTF-8-BROKEN``
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``--sub-codepage=latin2`` Use Latin 2 if input is not UTF-8. - ``--sub-codepage=+cp1250`` Always force recoding to cp1250.
The pseudo codepage ``UTF-8-BROKEN`` is used internally. If it's set, subtitles are interpreted as UTF-8 with "Latin 1" as fallback for bytes which are not valid UTF-8 sequences. iconv is never involved in this mode.
This option changed in mpv 0.23.0. Support for the old syntax was fully removed in mpv 0.24.0.
``--sub-fix-timing=<yes|no>`` Adjust subtitle timing is to remove minor gaps or overlaps between subtitles (if the difference is smaller than 210 ms, the gap or overlap is removed).
``--sub-forced-only`` Display only forced subtitles for the DVD subtitle stream selected by e.g. ``--slang``.
``--sub-fps=<rate>`` Specify the framerate of the subtitle file (default: video fps). Affects text subtitles only.
.. note::
``<rate>`` > video fps speeds the subtitles up for frame-based subtitle files and slows them down for time-based ones.
See also: ``--sub-speed``.
``--sub-gauss=<0.0-3.0>`` Apply Gaussian blur to image subtitles (default: 0). This can help to make pixelated DVD/Vobsubs look nicer. A value other than 0 also switches to software subtitle scaling. Might be slow.
.. note::
Never applied to text subtitles.
``--sub-gray`` Convert image subtitles to grayscale. Can help to make yellow DVD/Vobsubs look nicer.
.. note::
Never applied to text subtitles.
``--sub-paths=<path1:path2:...>`` Deprecated, use ``--sub-file-paths``.
``--sub-file-paths=<path-list>`` Specify extra directories to search for subtitles matching the video. Multiple directories can be separated by ":" (";" on Windows). Paths can be relative or absolute. Relative paths are interpreted relative to video file directory. If the file is a URL, only absolute paths and ``sub`` configuration subdirectory will be scanned.
.. admonition:: Example
Assuming that ``/path/to/video/video.avi`` is played and ``--sub-file-paths=sub:subtitles`` is specified, mpv searches for subtitle files in these directories:
- ``/path/to/video/`` - ``/path/to/video/sub/`` - ``/path/to/video/subtitles/`` - the ``sub`` configuration subdirectory (usually ``~/.config/mpv/sub/``)
This is a list option. See `List Options`_ for details.
``--sub-visibility``, ``--no-sub-visibility`` Can be used to disable display of subtitles, but still select and decode them.
``--sub-clear-on-seek`` (Obscure, rarely useful.) Can be used to play broken mkv files with duplicate ReadOrder fields. ReadOrder is the first field in a Matroska-style ASS subtitle packets. It should be unique, and libass uses it for fast elimination of duplicates. This option disables caching of subtitles across seeks, so after a seek libass can't eliminate subtitle packets with the same ReadOrder as earlier packets.
``--teletext-page=<1-999>`` This works for ``dvb_teletext`` subtitle streams, and if FFmpeg has been compiled with support for it.
``--sub-font=<name>`` Specify font to use for subtitles that do not themselves specify a particular font. The default is ``sans-serif``.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``--sub-font='Bitstream Vera Sans'`` - ``--sub-font='Comic Sans MS'``
.. note::
The ``--sub-font`` option (and many other style related ``--sub-`` options) are ignored when ASS-subtitles are rendered, unless the ``--no-sub-ass`` option is specified.
This used to support fontconfig patterns. Starting with libass 0.13.0, this stopped working.
``--sub-font-size=<size>`` Specify the sub font size. The unit is the size in scaled pixels at a window height of 720. The actual pixel size is scaled with the window height: if the window height is larger or smaller than 720, the actual size of the text increases or decreases as well.
Default: 55.
``--sub-back-color=<color>`` See ``--sub-color``. Color used for sub text background.
``--sub-blur=<0..20.0>`` Gaussian blur factor. 0 means no blur applied (default).
``--sub-bold=<yes|no>`` Format text on bold.
``--sub-italic=<yes|no>`` Format text on italic.
``--sub-border-color=<color>`` See ``--sub-color``. Color used for the sub font border.
.. note::
ignored when ``--sub-back-color`` is specified (or more exactly: when that option is not set to completely transparent).
``--sub-border-size=<size>`` Size of the sub font border in scaled pixels (see ``--sub-font-size`` for details). A value of 0 disables borders.
Default: 3.
``--sub-color=<color>`` Specify the color used for unstyled text subtitles.
The color is specified in the form ``r/g/b``, where each color component is specified as number in the range 0.0 to 1.0. It's also possible to specify the transparency by using ``r/g/b/a``, where the alpha value 0 means fully transparent, and 1.0 means opaque. If the alpha component is not given, the color is 100% opaque.
Passing a single number to the option sets the sub to gray, and the form ``gray/a`` lets you specify alpha additionally.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``--sub-color=1.0/0.0/0.0`` set sub to opaque red - ``--sub-color=1.0/0.0/0.0/0.75`` set sub to opaque red with 75% alpha - ``--sub-color=0.5/0.75`` set sub to 50% gray with 75% alpha
Alternatively, the color can be specified as a RGB hex triplet in the form ``#RRGGBB``, where each 2-digit group expresses a color value in the range 0 (``00``) to 255 (``FF``). For example, ``#FF0000`` is red. This is similar to web colors. Alpha is given with ``#AARRGGBB``.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``--sub-color='#FF0000'`` set sub to opaque red - ``--sub-color='#C0808080'`` set sub to 50% gray with 75% alpha
``--sub-margin-x=<size>`` Left and right screen margin for the subs in scaled pixels (see ``--sub-font-size`` for details).
This option specifies the distance of the sub to the left, as well as at which distance from the right border long sub text will be broken.
Default: 25.
``--sub-margin-y=<size>`` Top and bottom screen margin for the subs in scaled pixels (see ``--sub-font-size`` for details).
This option specifies the vertical margins of unstyled text subtitles. If you just want to raise the vertical subtitle position, use ``--sub-pos``.
Default: 22.
``--sub-align-x=<left|center|right>`` Control to which corner of the screen text subtitles should be aligned to (default: ``center``).
Never applied to ASS subtitles, except in ``--no-sub-ass`` mode. Likewise, this does not apply to image subtitles.
``--sub-align-y=<top|center|bottom>`` Vertical position (default: ``bottom``). Details see ``--sub-align-x``.
``--sub-justify=<auto|left|center|right>`` Control how multi line subs are justified irrespective of where they are aligned (default: ``auto`` which justifies as defined by ``--sub-align-y``). Left justification is recommended to make the subs easier to read as it is easier for the eyes.
``--sub-ass-justify=<yes|no>`` Applies justification as defined by ``--sub-justify`` on ASS subtitles if ``--sub-ass-override`` is not set to ``no``. Default: ``no``.
``--sub-shadow-color=<color>`` See ``--sub-color``. Color used for sub text shadow.
``--sub-shadow-offset=<size>`` Displacement of the sub text shadow in scaled pixels (see ``--sub-font-size`` for details). A value of 0 disables shadows.
Default: 0.
``--sub-spacing=<size>`` Horizontal sub font spacing in scaled pixels (see ``--sub-font-size`` for details). This value is added to the normal letter spacing. Negative values are allowed.
Default: 0.
``--sub-filter-sdh=<yes|no>`` Applies filter removing subtitle additions for the deaf or hard-of-hearing (SDH). This is intended for English, but may in part work for other languages too. The intention is that it can be always enabled so may not remove all parts added. It removes speaker labels (like MAN:), upper case text in parentheses and any text in brackets.
Default: ``no``.
``--sub-filter-sdh-harder=<yes|no>`` Do harder SDH filtering (if enabled by ``--sub-filter-sdh``). Will also remove speaker labels and text within parentheses using both lower and upper case letters.
Default: ``no``.
``--sub-create-cc-track=<yes|no>`` For every video stream, create a closed captions track (default: no). The only purpose is to make the track available for selection at the start of playback, instead of creating it lazily. This applies only to ``ATSC A53 Part 4 Closed Captions`` (displayed by mpv as subtitle tracks using the codec ``eia_608``). The CC track is marked "default" and selected according to the normal subtitle track selection rules. You can then use ``--sid`` to explicitly select the correct track too.
If the video stream contains no closed captions, or if no video is being decoded, the CC track will remain empty and will not show any text.
Window------
``--title=<string>`` Set the window title. This is used for the video window, and if possible, also sets the audio stream title.
Properties are expanded. (See `Property Expansion`_.)
.. warning::
There is a danger of this causing significant CPU usage, depending on the properties used. Changing the window title is often a slow operation, and if the title changes every frame, playback can be ruined.
``--screen=<default|0-32>`` In multi-monitor configurations (i.e. a single desktop that spans across multiple displays), this option tells mpv which screen to display the video on.
.. admonition:: Note (X11)
This option does not work properly with all window managers. In these cases, you can try to use ``--geometry`` to position the window explicitly. It's also possible that the window manager provides native features to control which screens application windows should use.
See also ``--fs-screen``.
``--fullscreen``, ``--fs`` Fullscreen playback.
``--fs-screen=<all|current|0-32>`` In multi-monitor configurations (i.e. a single desktop that spans across multiple displays), this option tells mpv which screen to go fullscreen to. If ``default`` is provided mpv will fallback on using the behavior depending on what the user provided with the ``screen`` option.
.. admonition:: Note (X11)
This option does works properly only with window managers which understand the EWMH ``_NET_WM_FULLSCREEN_MONITORS`` hint.
.. admonition:: Note (OS X)
``all`` does not work on OS X and will behave like ``current``.
See also ``--screen``.
``--keep-open=<yes|no|always>`` Do not terminate when playing or seeking beyond the end of the file, and there is not next file to be played (and ``--loop`` is not used). Instead, pause the player. When trying to seek beyond end of the file, the player will attempt to seek to the last frame.
Normally, this will act like ``set pause yes`` on EOF, unless the ``--keep-open-pause=no`` option is set.
The following arguments can be given:
:no: If the current file ends, go to the next file or terminate. (Default.) :yes: Don't terminate if the current file is the last playlist entry. Equivalent to ``--keep-open`` without arguments. :always: Like ``yes``, but also applies to files before the last playlist entry. This means playback will never automatically advance to the next file.
.. note::
This option is not respected when using ``--frames``. Explicitly skipping to the next file if the binding uses ``force`` will terminate playback as well.
Also, if errors or unusual circumstances happen, the player can quit anyway.
Since mpv 0.6.0, this doesn't pause if there is a next file in the playlist, or the playlist is looped. Approximately, this will pause when the player would normally exit, but in practice there are corner cases in which this is not the case (e.g. ``mpv --keep-open file.mkv /dev/null`` will play file.mkv normally, then fail to open ``/dev/null``, then exit). (In mpv 0.8.0, ``always`` was introduced, which restores the old behavior.)
``--keep-open-pause=<yes|no>`` If set to ``no``, instead of pausing when ``--keep-open`` is active, just stop at end of file and continue playing forward when you seek backwards until end where it stops again. Default: ``yes``.
``--image-display-duration=<seconds|inf>`` If the current file is an image, play the image for the given amount of seconds (default: 1). ``inf`` means the file is kept open forever (until the user stops playback manually).
Unlike ``--keep-open``, the player is not paused, but simply continues playback until the time has elapsed. (It should not use any resources during "playback".)
This affects image files, which are defined as having only 1 video frame and no audio. The player may recognize certain non-images as images, for example if ``--length`` is used to reduce the length to 1 frame, or if you seek to the last frame.
This option does not affect the framerate used for ``mf://`` or ``--merge-files``. For that, use ``--mf-fps`` instead.
Setting ``--image-display-duration`` hides the OSC and does not track playback time on the command-line output, and also does not duplicate the image frame when encoding. To force the player into "dumb mode" and actually count out seconds, or to duplicate the image when encoding, you need to use ``--demuxer=lavf --demuxer-lavf-o=loop=1``, and use ``--length`` or ``--frames`` to stop after a particular time.
``--force-window=<yes|no|immediate>`` Create a video output window even if there is no video. This can be useful when pretending that mpv is a GUI application. Currently, the window always has the size 640x480, and is subject to ``--geometry``, ``--autofit``, and similar options.
.. warning::
The window is created only after initialization (to make sure default window placement still works if the video size is different from the ``--force-window`` default window size). This can be a problem if initialization doesn't work perfectly, such as when opening URLs with bad network connection, or opening broken video files. The ``immediate`` mode can be used to create the window always on program start, but this may cause other issues.
``--taskbar-progress``, ``--no-taskbar-progress`` (Windows only) Enable/disable playback progress rendering in taskbar (Windows 7 and above).
Enabled by default.
``--snap-window`` (Windows only) Snap the player window to screen edges.
``--ontop`` Makes the player window stay on top of other windows.
On Windows, if combined with fullscreen mode, this causes mpv to be treated as exclusive fullscreen window that bypasses the Desktop Window Manager.
``--ontop-level=<window|system|level>`` (OS X only) Sets the level of an ontop window (default: window).
:window: On top of all other windows. :system: On top of system elements like Taskbar, Menubar and Dock. :level: A level as integer.
``--border``, ``--no-border`` Play video with window border and decorations. Since this is on by default, use ``--no-border`` to disable the standard window decorations.
``--fit-border``, ``--no-fit-border`` (Windows only) Fit the whole window with border and decorations on the screen. Since this is on by default, use ``--no-fit-border`` to make mpv try to only fit client area with video on the screen. This behavior only applied to window/video with size exceeding size of the screen.
``--on-all-workspaces`` (X11 only) Show the video window on all virtual desktops.
``--geometry=<[W[xH]][+-x+-y]>``, ``--geometry=<x:y>`` Adjust the initial window position or size. ``W`` and ``H`` set the window size in pixels. ``x`` and ``y`` set the window position, measured in pixels from the top-left corner of the screen to the top-left corner of the image being displayed. If a percentage sign (``%``) is given after the argument, it turns the value into a percentage of the screen size in that direction. Positions are specified similar to the standard X11 ``--geometry`` option format, in which e.g. +10-50 means "place 10 pixels from the left border and 50 pixels from the lower border" and "--20+-10" means "place 20 pixels beyond the right and 10 pixels beyond the top border".
If an external window is specified using the ``--wid`` option, this option is ignored.
The coordinates are relative to the screen given with ``--screen`` for the video output drivers that fully support ``--screen``.
.. note::
Generally only supported by GUI VOs. Ignored for encoding.
.. admonition: Note (OS X)
On Mac OS X the origin of the screen coordinate system is located on the bottom-left corner. For instance, ``0:0`` will place the window at the bottom-left of the screen.
.. admonition:: Note (X11)
This option does not work properly with all window managers.
.. admonition:: Examples
``50:40`` Places the window at x=50, y=40. ``50%:50%`` Places the window in the middle of the screen. ``100%:100%`` Places the window at the bottom right corner of the screen. ``50%`` Sets the window width to half the screen width. Window height is set so that the window has the video aspect ratio. ``50%x50%`` Forces the window width and height to half the screen width and height. Will show black borders to compensate for the video aspect ratio (with most VOs and without ``--no-keepaspect``). ``50%+10+10`` Sets the window to half the screen widths, and positions it 10 pixels below/left of the top left corner of the screen.
See also ``--autofit`` and ``--autofit-larger`` for fitting the window into a given size without changing aspect ratio.
``--autofit=<[W[xH]]>`` Set the initial window size to a maximum size specified by ``WxH``, without changing the window's aspect ratio. The size is measured in pixels, or if a number is followed by a percentage sign (``%``), in percents of the screen size.
This option never changes the aspect ratio of the window. If the aspect ratio mismatches, the window's size is reduced until it fits into the specified size.
Window position is not taken into account, nor is it modified by this option (the window manager still may place the window differently depending on size). Use ``--geometry`` to change the window position. Its effects are applied after this option.
See ``--geometry`` for details how this is handled with multi-monitor setups.
Use ``--autofit-larger`` instead if you just want to limit the maximum size of the window, rather than always forcing a window size.
Use ``--geometry`` if you want to force both window width and height to a specific size.
.. note::
Generally only supported by GUI VOs. Ignored for encoding.
.. admonition:: Examples
``70%`` Make the window width 70% of the screen size, keeping aspect ratio. ``1000`` Set the window width to 1000 pixels, keeping aspect ratio. ``70%x60%`` Make the window as large as possible, without being wider than 70% of the screen width, or higher than 60% of the screen height.
``--autofit-larger=<[W[xH]]>`` This option behaves exactly like ``--autofit``, except the window size is only changed if the window would be larger than the specified size.
.. admonition:: Example
``90%x80%`` If the video is larger than 90% of the screen width or 80% of the screen height, make the window smaller until either its width is 90% of the screen, or its height is 80% of the screen.
``--autofit-smaller=<[W[xH]]>`` This option behaves exactly like ``--autofit``, except that it sets the minimum size of the window (just as ``--autofit-larger`` sets the maximum).
.. admonition:: Example
``500x500`` Make the window at least 500 pixels wide and 500 pixels high (depending on the video aspect ratio, the width or height will be larger than 500 in order to keep the aspect ratio the same).
``--window-scale=<factor>`` Resize the video window to a multiple (or fraction) of the video size. This option is applied before ``--autofit`` and other options are applied (so they override this option).
For example, ``--window-scale=0.5`` would show the window at half the video size.
``--cursor-autohide=<number|no|always>`` Make mouse cursor automatically hide after given number of milliseconds. ``no`` will disable cursor autohide. ``always`` means the cursor will stay hidden.
``--cursor-autohide-fs-only`` If this option is given, the cursor is always visible in windowed mode. In fullscreen mode, the cursor is shown or hidden according to ``--cursor-autohide``.
``--no-fixed-vo``, ``--fixed-vo`` ``--no-fixed-vo`` enforces closing and reopening the video window for multiple files (one (un)initialization for each file).
``--force-rgba-osd-rendering`` Change how some video outputs render the OSD and text subtitles. This does not change appearance of the subtitles and only has performance implications. For VOs which support native ASS rendering (like ``gpu``, ``vdpau``, ``direct3d``), this can be slightly faster or slower, depending on GPU drivers and hardware. For other VOs, this just makes rendering slower.
``--force-window-position`` Forcefully move mpv's video output window to default location whenever there is a change in video parameters, video stream or file. This used to be the default behavior. Currently only affects X11 VOs.
``--no-keepaspect``, ``--keepaspect`` ``--no-keepaspect`` will always stretch the video to window size, and will disable the window manager hints that force the window aspect ratio. (Ignored in fullscreen mode.)
``--no-keepaspect-window``, ``--keepaspect-window`` ``--keepaspect-window`` (the default) will lock the window size to the video aspect. ``--no-keepaspect-window`` disables this behavior, and will instead add black bars if window aspect and video aspect mismatch. Whether this actually works depends on the VO backend. (Ignored in fullscreen mode.)
``--monitoraspect=<ratio>`` Set the aspect ratio of your monitor or TV screen. A value of 0 disables a previous setting (e.g. in the config file). Overrides the ``--monitorpixelaspect`` setting if enabled.
See also ``--monitorpixelaspect`` and ``--video-aspect``.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``--monitoraspect=4:3`` or ``--monitoraspect=1.3333`` - ``--monitoraspect=16:9`` or ``--monitoraspect=1.7777``
``--hidpi-window-scale``, ``--no-hidpi-window-scale`` (OS X and X11 only) Scale the window size according to the backing scale factor (default: yes). On regular HiDPI resolutions the window opens with double the size but appears as having the same size as on none-HiDPI resolutions. This is the default OS X behavior.
``--native-fs``, ``--no-native-fs`` (OS X only) Uses the native fullscreen mechanism of the OS (default: yes).
``--monitorpixelaspect=<ratio>`` Set the aspect of a single pixel of your monitor or TV screen (default: 1). A value of 1 means square pixels (correct for (almost?) all LCDs). See also ``--monitoraspect`` and ``--video-aspect``.
``--stop-screensaver``, ``--no-stop-screensaver`` Turns off the screensaver (or screen blanker and similar mechanisms) at startup and turns it on again on exit (default: yes). The screensaver is always re-enabled when the player is paused.
This is not supported on all video outputs or platforms. Sometimes it is implemented, but does not work (known to happen with GNOME). You might be able to work around this using ``--heartbeat-cmd`` instead.
``--wid=<ID>`` This tells mpv to attach to an existing window. If a VO is selected that supports this option, it will use that window for video output. mpv will scale the video to the size of this window, and will add black bars to compensate if the aspect ratio of the video is different.
On X11, the ID is interpreted as a ``Window`` on X11. Unlike MPlayer/mplayer2, mpv always creates its own window, and sets the wid window as parent. The window will always be resized to cover the parent window fully. The value ``0`` is interpreted specially, and mpv will draw directly on the root window.
On win32, the ID is interpreted as ``HWND``. Pass it as value cast to ``intptr_t``. mpv will create its own window, and set the wid window as parent, like with X11.
On OSX/Cocoa, the ID is interpreted as ``NSView*``. Pass it as value cast to ``intptr_t``. mpv will create its own sub-view. Because OSX does not support window embedding of foreign processes, this works only with libmpv, and will crash when used from the command line.
On Android, the ID is interpreted as ``android.view.Surface``. Pass it as a value cast to ``intptr_t``. Use with ``--vo=mediacodec_embed`` and ``--hwdec=mediacodec`` for direct rendering using MediaCodec, or with ``--vo=gpu --gpu-context=android`` (with or without ``--hwdec=mediacodec-copy``).
``--no-window-dragging`` Don't move the window when clicking on it and moving the mouse pointer.
``--x11-name`` Set the window class name for X11-based video output methods.
``--x11-netwm=<yes|no|auto>`` (X11 only) Control the use of NetWM protocol features.
This may or may not help with broken window managers. This provides some functionality that was implemented by the now removed ``--fstype`` option. Actually, it is not known to the developers to which degree this option was needed, so feedback is welcome.
Specifically, ``yes`` will force use of NetWM fullscreen support, even if not advertised by the WM. This can be useful for WMs that are broken on purpose, like XMonad. (XMonad supposedly doesn't advertise fullscreen support, because Flash uses it. Apparently, applications which want to use fullscreen anyway are supposed to either ignore the NetWM support hints, or provide a workaround. Shame on XMonad for deliberately breaking X protocols (as if X isn't bad enough already).
By default, NetWM support is autodetected (``auto``).
This option might be removed in the future.
``--x11-bypass-compositor=<yes|no|fs-only|never>`` If set to ``yes``, then ask the compositor to unredirect the mpv window (default: ``fs-only``). This uses the ``_NET_WM_BYPASS_COMPOSITOR`` hint.
``fs-only`` asks the window manager to disable the compositor only in fullscreen mode.
``no`` sets ``_NET_WM_BYPASS_COMPOSITOR`` to 0, which is the default value as declared by the EWMH specification, i.e. no change is done.
``never`` asks the window manager to never disable the compositor.
Disc Devices------------
``--cdrom-device=<path>`` Specify the CD-ROM device (default: ``/dev/cdrom``).
``--dvd-device=<path>`` Specify the DVD device or .iso filename (default: ``/dev/dvd``). You can also specify a directory that contains files previously copied directly from a DVD (with e.g. vobcopy).
.. admonition:: Example
``mpv dvd:// --dvd-device=/path/to/dvd/``
``--bluray-device=<path>`` (Blu-ray only) Specify the Blu-ray disc location. Must be a directory with Blu-ray structure.
.. admonition:: Example
``mpv bd:// --bluray-device=/path/to/bd/``
``--cdda-...`` These options can be used to tune the CD Audio reading feature of mpv.
``--cdda-speed=<value>`` Set CD spin speed.
``--cdda-paranoia=<0-2>`` Set paranoia level. Values other than 0 seem to break playback of anything but the first track.
:0: disable checking (default) :1: overlap checking only :2: full data correction and verification
``--cdda-sector-size=<value>`` Set atomic read size.
``--cdda-overlap=<value>`` Force minimum overlap search during verification to <value> sectors.
``--cdda-toc-bias`` Assume that the beginning offset of track 1 as reported in the TOC will be addressed as LBA 0. Some discs need this for getting track boundaries correctly.
``--cdda-toc-offset=<value>`` Add ``<value>`` sectors to the values reported when addressing tracks. May be negative.
``--cdda-skip=<yes|no>`` (Never) accept imperfect data reconstruction.
``--cdda-cdtext=<yes|no>`` Print CD text. This is disabled by default, because it ruins performance with CD-ROM drives for unknown reasons.
``--dvd-speed=<speed>`` Try to limit DVD speed (default: 0, no change). DVD base speed is 1385 kB/s, so an 8x drive can read at speeds up to 11080 kB/s. Slower speeds make the drive more quiet. For watching DVDs, 2700 kB/s should be quiet and fast enough. mpv resets the speed to the drive default value on close. Values of at least 100 mean speed in kB/s. Values less than 100 mean multiples of 1385 kB/s, i.e. ``--dvd-speed=8`` selects 11080 kB/s.
.. note::
You need write access to the DVD device to change the speed.
``--dvd-angle=<ID>`` Some DVDs contain scenes that can be viewed from multiple angles. This option tells mpv which angle to use (default: 1).
Equalizer---------
``--brightness=<-100-100>`` Adjust the brightness of the video signal (default: 0). Not supported by all video output drivers.
``--contrast=<-100-100>`` Adjust the contrast of the video signal (default: 0). Not supported by all video output drivers.
``--saturation=<-100-100>`` Adjust the saturation of the video signal (default: 0). You can get grayscale output with this option. Not supported by all video output drivers.
``--gamma=<-100-100>`` Adjust the gamma of the video signal (default: 0). Not supported by all video output drivers.
``--hue=<-100-100>`` Adjust the hue of the video signal (default: 0). You can get a colored negative of the image with this option. Not supported by all video output drivers.
Demuxer-------
``--demuxer=<[+]name>`` Force demuxer type. Use a '+' before the name to force it; this will skip some checks. Give the demuxer name as printed by ``--demuxer=help``.
``--demuxer-lavf-analyzeduration=<value>`` Maximum length in seconds to analyze the stream properties.
``--demuxer-lavf-probe-info=<yes|no|auto>`` Whether to probe stream information (default: auto). Technically, this controls whether libavformat's ``avformat_find_stream_info()`` function is called. Usually it's safer to call it, but it can also make startup slower.
The ``auto`` choice (the default) tries to skip this for a few know-safe whitelisted formats, while calling it for everything else.
``--demuxer-lavf-probescore=<1-100>`` Minimum required libavformat probe score. Lower values will require less data to be loaded (makes streams start faster), but makes file format detection less reliable. Can be used to force auto-detected libavformat demuxers, even if libavformat considers the detection not reliable enough. (Default: 26.)
``--demuxer-lavf-allow-mimetype=<yes|no>`` Allow deriving the format from the HTTP MIME type (default: yes). Set this to no in case playing things from HTTP mysteriously fails, even though the same files work from local disk.
This is default in order to reduce latency when opening HTTP streams.
``--demuxer-lavf-format=<name>`` Force a specific libavformat demuxer.
``--demuxer-lavf-hacks=<yes|no>`` By default, some formats will be handled differently from other formats by explicitly checking for them. Most of these compensate for weird or imperfect behavior from libavformat demuxers. Passing ``no`` disables these. For debugging and testing only.
``--demuxer-lavf-genpts-mode=<no|lavf>`` Mode for deriving missing packet PTS values from packet DTS. ``lavf`` enables libavformat's ``genpts`` option. ``no`` disables it. This used to be enabled by default, but then it was deemed as not needed anymore. Enabling this might help with timestamp problems, or make them worse.
``--demuxer-lavf-o=<key>=<value>[,<key>=<value>[,...]]`` Pass AVOptions to libavformat demuxer.
Note, a patch to make the *o=* unneeded and pass all unknown options through the AVOption system is welcome. A full list of AVOptions can be found in the FFmpeg manual. Note that some options may conflict with mpv options.
.. admonition:: Example
``--demuxer-lavf-o=fflags=+ignidx``
``--demuxer-lavf-probesize=<value>`` Maximum amount of data to probe during the detection phase. In the case of MPEG-TS this value identifies the maximum number of TS packets to scan.
``--demuxer-lavf-buffersize=<value>`` Size of the stream read buffer allocated for libavformat in bytes (default: 32768). Lowering the size could lower latency. Note that libavformat might reallocate the buffer internally, or not fully use all of it.
``--demuxer-mkv-subtitle-preroll=<yes|index|no>``, ``--mkv-subtitle-preroll`` Try harder to show embedded soft subtitles when seeking somewhere. Normally, it can happen that the subtitle at the seek target is not shown due to how some container file formats are designed. The subtitles appear only if seeking before or exactly to the position a subtitle first appears. To make this worse, subtitles are often timed to appear a very small amount before the associated video frame, so that seeking to the video frame typically does not demux the subtitle at that position.
Enabling this option makes the demuxer start reading data a bit before the seek target, so that subtitles appear correctly. Note that this makes seeking slower, and is not guaranteed to always work. It only works if the subtitle is close enough to the seek target.
Works with the internal Matroska demuxer only. Always enabled for absolute and hr-seeks, and this option changes behavior with relative or imprecise seeks only.
You can use the ``--demuxer-mkv-subtitle-preroll-secs`` option to specify how much data the demuxer should pre-read at most in order to find subtitle packets that may overlap. Setting this to 0 will effectively disable this preroll mechanism. Setting a very large value can make seeking very slow, and an extremely large value would completely reread the entire file from start to seek target on every seek - seeking can become slower towards the end of the file. The details are messy, and the value is actually rounded down to the cluster with the previous video keyframe.
Some files, especially files muxed with newer mkvmerge versions, have information embedded that can be used to determine what subtitle packets overlap with a seek target. In these cases, mpv will reduce the amount of data read to a minimum. (Although it will still read *all* data between the cluster that contains the first wanted subtitle packet, and the seek target.) If the ``index`` choice (which is the default) is specified, then prerolling will be done only if this information is actually available. If this method is used, the maximum amount of data to skip can be additionally controlled by ``--demuxer-mkv-subtitle-preroll-secs-index`` (it still uses the value of the option without ``-index`` if that is higher).
See also ``--hr-seek-demuxer-offset`` option. This option can achieve a similar effect, but only if hr-seek is active. It works with any demuxer, but makes seeking much slower, as it has to decode audio and video data instead of just skipping over it.
``--mkv-subtitle-preroll`` is a deprecated alias.
``--demuxer-mkv-subtitle-preroll-secs=<value>`` See ``--demuxer-mkv-subtitle-preroll``.
``--demuxer-mkv-subtitle-preroll-secs-index=<value>`` See ``--demuxer-mkv-subtitle-preroll``.
``--demuxer-mkv-probe-video-duration=<yes|no|full>`` When opening the file, seek to the end of it, and check what timestamp the last video packet has, and report that as file duration. This is strictly for compatibility with Haali only. In this mode, it's possible that opening will be slower (especially when playing over http), or that behavior with broken files is much worse. So don't use this option.
The ``yes`` mode merely uses the index and reads a small number of blocks from the end of the file. The ``full`` mode actually traverses the entire file and can make a reliable estimate even without an index present (such as partial files).
``--demuxer-rawaudio-channels=<value>`` Number of channels (or channel layout) if ``--demuxer=rawaudio`` is used (default: stereo).
``--demuxer-rawaudio-format=<value>`` Sample format for ``--demuxer=rawaudio`` (default: s16le). Use ``--demuxer-rawaudio-format=help`` to get a list of all formats.
``--demuxer-rawaudio-rate=<value>`` Sample rate for ``--demuxer=rawaudio`` (default: 44 kHz).
``--demuxer-rawvideo-fps=<value>`` Rate in frames per second for ``--demuxer=rawvideo`` (default: 25.0).
``--demuxer-rawvideo-w=<value>``, ``--demuxer-rawvideo-h=<value>`` Image dimension in pixels for ``--demuxer=rawvideo``.
.. admonition:: Example
Play a raw YUV sample::
mpv sample-720x576.yuv --demuxer=rawvideo \ --demuxer-rawvideo-w=720 --demuxer-rawvideo-h=576
``--demuxer-rawvideo-format=<value>`` Color space (fourcc) in hex or string for ``--demuxer=rawvideo`` (default: ``YV12``).
``--demuxer-rawvideo-mp-format=<value>`` Color space by internal video format for ``--demuxer=rawvideo``. Use ``--demuxer-rawvideo-mp-format=help`` for a list of possible formats.
``--demuxer-rawvideo-codec=<value>`` Set the video codec instead of selecting the rawvideo codec when using ``--demuxer=rawvideo``. This uses the same values as codec names in ``--vd`` (but it does not accept decoder names).
``--demuxer-rawvideo-size=<value>`` Frame size in bytes when using ``--demuxer=rawvideo``.
``--demuxer-max-bytes=<bytes>`` This controls how much the demuxer is allowed to buffer ahead. The demuxer will normally try to read ahead as much as necessary, or as much is requested with ``--demuxer-readahead-secs``. The option can be used to restrict the maximum readahead. This limits excessive readahead in case of broken files or desynced playback. The demuxer will stop reading additional packets as soon as one of the limits is reached. (The limits still can be slightly overstepped due to technical reasons.)
Set these limits higher if you get a packet queue overflow warning, and you think normal playback would be possible with a larger packet queue.
See ``--list-options`` for defaults and value range.
``--demuxer-max-back-bytes=<value>`` This controls how much past data the demuxer is allowed to preserve. This is useful only if the ``--demuxer-seekable-cache`` option is enabled. Unlike the forward cache, there is no control how many seconds are actually cached - it will simply use as much memory this option allows. Setting this option to 0 will strictly disable any back buffer, but this will lead to the situation that the forward seek range starts after the current playback position (as it removes past packets that are seek points).
Keep in mind that other buffers in the player (like decoders) will cause the demuxer to cache "future" frames in the back buffer, which can skew the impression about how much data the backbuffer contains.
See ``--list-options`` for defaults and value range.
``--demuxer-seekable-cache=<yes|no|auto>`` This controls whether seeking can use the demuxer cache (default: auto). If enabled, short seek offsets will not trigger a low level demuxer seek (which means for example that slow network round trips or FFmpeg seek bugs can be avoided). If a seek cannot happen within the cached range, a low level seek will be triggered. Seeking outside of the cache will start a new cached range, but can discard the old cache range if the demuxer exhibits certain unsupported behavior.
Keep in mind that some events can flush the cache or force a low level seek anyway, such as switching tracks, or attempting to seek before the start or after the end of the file. This option is experimental - thus disabled, and bugs are to be expected.
The special value ``auto`` means ``yes`` in the same situation as ``--cache-secs`` is used (i.e. when the stream appears to be a network stream or the stream cache is enabled).
``--demuxer-thread=<yes|no>`` Run the demuxer in a separate thread, and let it prefetch a certain amount of packets (default: yes). Having this enabled may lead to smoother playback, but on the other hand can add delays to seeking or track switching.
``--demuxer-readahead-secs=<seconds>`` If ``--demuxer-thread`` is enabled, this controls how much the demuxer should buffer ahead in seconds (default: 1). As long as no packet has a timestamp difference higher than the readahead amount relative to the last packet returned to the decoder, the demuxer keeps reading.
Note that the ``--cache-secs`` option will override this value if a cache is enabled, and the value is larger.
(This value tends to be fuzzy, because many file formats don't store linear timestamps.)
``--prefetch-playlist=<yes|no>`` Prefetch next playlist entry while playback of the current entry is ending (default: no). This merely opens the URL of the next playlist entry as soon as the current URL is fully read.
This does **not** work with URLs resolved by the ``youtube-dl`` wrapper, and it won't.
This does not affect HLS (``.m3u8`` URLs) - HLS prefetching depends on the demuxer cache settings and is on by default.
This can give subtly wrong results if per-file options are used, or if options are changed in the time window between prefetching start and next file played.
This can occasionally make wrong prefetching decisions. For example, it can't predict whether you go backwards in the playlist, and assumes you won't edit the playlist.
Highly experimental.
``--force-seekable=<yes|no>`` If the player thinks that the media is not seekable (e.g. playing from a pipe, or it's an http stream with a server that doesn't support range requests), seeking will be disabled. This option can forcibly enable it. For seeks within the cache, there's a good chance of success.
Input-----
``--native-keyrepeat`` Use system settings for keyrepeat delay and rate, instead of ``--input-ar-delay`` and ``--input-ar-rate``. (Whether this applies depends on the VO backend and how it handles keyboard input. Does not apply to terminal input.)
``--input-ar-delay`` Delay in milliseconds before we start to autorepeat a key (0 to disable).
``--input-ar-rate`` Number of key presses to generate per second on autorepeat.
``--input-conf=<filename>`` Specify input configuration file other than the default location in the mpv configuration directory (usually ``~/.config/mpv/input.conf``).
``--no-input-default-bindings`` Disable mpv default (built-in) key bindings.
``--input-cmdlist`` Prints all commands that can be bound to keys.
``--input-doubleclick-time=<milliseconds>`` Time in milliseconds to recognize two consecutive button presses as a double-click (default: 300).
``--input-keylist`` Prints all keys that can be bound to commands.
``--input-key-fifo-size=<2-65000>`` Specify the size of the FIFO that buffers key events (default: 7). If it is too small, some events may be lost. The main disadvantage of setting it to a very large value is that if you hold down a key triggering some particularly slow command then the player may be unresponsive while it processes all the queued commands.
``--input-test`` Input test mode. Instead of executing commands on key presses, mpv will show the keys and the bound commands on the OSD. Has to be used with a dummy video, and the normal ways to quit the player will not work (key bindings that normally quit will be shown on OSD only, just like any other binding). See `INPUT.CONF`_.
``--input-file=<filename>`` Read commands from the given file. Mostly useful with a FIFO. Since mpv 0.7.0 also understands JSON commands (see `JSON IPC`_), but you can't get replies or events. Use ``--input-ipc-server`` for something bi-directional. On MS Windows, JSON commands are not available.
This can also specify a direct file descriptor with ``fd://N`` (UNIX only). In this case, JSON replies will be written if the FD is writable.
.. note::
When the given file is a FIFO mpv opens both ends, so you can do several `echo "seek 10" > mp_pipe` and the pipe will stay valid.
``--input-terminal``, ``--no-input-terminal`` ``--no-input-terminal`` prevents the player from reading key events from standard input. Useful when reading data from standard input. This is automatically enabled when ``-`` is found on the command line. There are situations where you have to set it manually, e.g. if you open ``/dev/stdin`` (or the equivalent on your system), use stdin in a playlist or intend to read from stdin later on via the loadfile or loadlist input commands.
``--input-ipc-server=<filename>`` Enable the IPC support and create the listening socket at the given path.
On Linux and Unix, the given path is a regular filesystem path. On Windows, named pipes are used, so the path refers to the pipe namespace (``\\.\pipe\<name>``). If the ``\\.\pipe\`` prefix is missing, mpv will add it automatically before creating the pipe, so ``--input-ipc-server=/tmp/mpv-socket`` and ``--input-ipc-server=\\.\pipe\tmp\mpv-socket`` are equivalent for IPC on Windows.
See `JSON IPC`_ for details.
``--input-appleremote=<yes|no>`` (OS X only) Enable/disable Apple Remote support. Enabled by default (except for libmpv).
``--input-cursor``, ``--no-input-cursor`` Permit mpv to receive pointer events reported by the video output driver. Necessary to use the OSC, or to select the buttons in DVD menus. Support depends on the VO in use.
``--input-media-keys=<yes|no>`` (OS X and Windows only) Enable/disable media keys support. Enabled by default (except for libmpv).
``--input-right-alt-gr``, ``--no-input-right-alt-gr`` (Cocoa and Windows only) Use the right Alt key as Alt Gr to produce special characters. If disabled, count the right Alt as an Alt modifier key. Enabled by default.
``--input-vo-keyboard=<yes|no>`` Disable all keyboard input on for VOs which can't participate in proper keyboard input dispatching. May not affect all VOs. Generally useful for embedding only.
On X11, a sub-window with input enabled grabs all keyboard input as long as it is 1. a child of a focused window, and 2. the mouse is inside of the sub-window. It can steal away all keyboard input from the application embedding the mpv window, and on the other hand, the mpv window will receive no input if the mouse is outside of the mpv window, even though mpv has focus. Modern toolkits work around this weird X11 behavior, but naively embedding foreign windows breaks it.
The only way to handle this reasonably is using the XEmbed protocol, which was designed to solve these problems. GTK provides ``GtkSocket``, which supports XEmbed. Qt doesn't seem to provide anything working in newer versions.
If the embedder supports XEmbed, input should work with default settings and with this option disabled. Note that ``input-default-bindings`` is disabled by default in libmpv as well - it should be enabled if you want the mpv default key bindings.
(This option was renamed from ``--input-x11-keyboard``.)
OSD---
``--osc``, ``--no-osc`` Whether to load the on-screen-controller (default: yes).
``--no-osd-bar``, ``--osd-bar`` Disable display of the OSD bar. This will make some things (like seeking) use OSD text messages instead of the bar.
You can configure this on a per-command basis in input.conf using ``osd-`` prefixes, see ``Input command prefixes``. If you want to disable the OSD completely, use ``--osd-level=0``.
``--osd-duration=<time>`` Set the duration of the OSD messages in ms (default: 1000).
``--osd-font=<name>`` Specify font to use for OSD. The default is ``sans-serif``.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``--osd-font='Bitstream Vera Sans'`` - ``--osd-font='Comic Sans MS'``
``--osd-font-size=<size>`` Specify the OSD font size. See ``--sub-font-size`` for details.
Default: 55.
``--osd-msg1=<string>`` Show this string as message on OSD with OSD level 1 (visible by default). The message will be visible by default, and as long no other message covers it, and the OSD level isn't changed (see ``--osd-level``). Expands properties; see `Property Expansion`_.
``--osd-msg2=<string>`` Similar as ``--osd-msg1``, but for OSD level 2. If this is an empty string (default), then the playback time is shown.
``--osd-msg3=<string>`` Similar as ``--osd-msg1``, but for OSD level 3. If this is an empty string (default), then the playback time, duration, and some more information is shown.
This is also used for the ``show-progress`` command (by default mapped to ``P``), or in some non-default cases when seeking.
``--osd-status-msg`` is a legacy equivalent (but with a minor difference).
``--osd-status-msg=<string>`` Show a custom string during playback instead of the standard status text. This overrides the status text used for ``--osd-level=3``, when using the ``show-progress`` command (by default mapped to ``P``), or in some non-default cases when seeking. Expands properties. See `Property Expansion`_.
This option has been replaced with ``--osd-msg3``. The only difference is that this option implicitly includes ``${osd-sym-cc}``. This option is ignored if ``--osd-msg3`` is not empty.
``--osd-playing-msg=<string>`` Show a message on OSD when playback starts. The string is expanded for properties, e.g. ``--osd-playing-msg='file: ${filename}'`` will show the message ``file:`` followed by a space and the currently played filename.
See `Property Expansion`_.
``--osd-bar-align-x=<-1-1>`` Position of the OSD bar. -1 is far left, 0 is centered, 1 is far right. Fractional values (like 0.5) are allowed.
``--osd-bar-align-y=<-1-1>`` Position of the OSD bar. -1 is top, 0 is centered, 1 is bottom. Fractional values (like 0.5) are allowed.
``--osd-bar-w=<1-100>`` Width of the OSD bar, in percentage of the screen width (default: 75). A value of 50 means the bar is half the screen wide.
``--osd-bar-h=<0.1-50>`` Height of the OSD bar, in percentage of the screen height (default: 3.125).
``--osd-back-color=<color>`` See ``--osd-color``. Color used for OSD text background.
``--osd-blur=<0..20.0>`` Gaussian blur factor. 0 means no blur applied (default).
``--osd-bold=<yes|no>`` Format text on bold.
``--osd-italic=<yes|no>`` Format text on italic.
``--osd-border-color=<color>`` See ``--osd-color``. Color used for the OSD font border.
.. note::
ignored when ``--osd-back-color`` is specified (or more exactly: when that option is not set to completely transparent).
``--osd-border-size=<size>`` Size of the OSD font border in scaled pixels (see ``--sub-font-size`` for details). A value of 0 disables borders.
Default: 3.
``--osd-color=<color>`` Specify the color used for OSD. See ``--sub-color`` for details.
``--osd-fractions`` Show OSD times with fractions of seconds (in millisecond precision). Useful to see the exact timestamp of a video frame.
``--osd-level=<0-3>`` Specifies which mode the OSD should start in.
:0: OSD completely disabled (subtitles only) :1: enabled (shows up only on user interaction) :2: enabled + current time visible by default :3: enabled + ``--osd-status-msg`` (current time and status by default)
``--osd-margin-x=<size>`` Left and right screen margin for the OSD in scaled pixels (see ``--sub-font-size`` for details).
This option specifies the distance of the OSD to the left, as well as at which distance from the right border long OSD text will be broken.
Default: 25.
``--osd-margin-y=<size>`` Top and bottom screen margin for the OSD in scaled pixels (see ``--sub-font-size`` for details).
This option specifies the vertical margins of the OSD.
Default: 22.
``--osd-align-x=<left|center|right>`` Control to which corner of the screen OSD should be aligned to (default: ``left``).
``--osd-align-y=<top|center|bottom>`` Vertical position (default: ``top``). Details see ``--osd-align-x``.
``--osd-scale=<factor>`` OSD font size multiplier, multiplied with ``--osd-font-size`` value.
``--osd-scale-by-window=<yes|no>`` Whether to scale the OSD with the window size (default: yes). If this is disabled, ``--osd-font-size`` and other OSD options that use scaled pixels are always in actual pixels. The effect is that changing the window size won't change the OSD font size.
``--osd-shadow-color=<color>`` See ``--sub-color``. Color used for OSD shadow.
``--osd-shadow-offset=<size>`` Displacement of the OSD shadow in scaled pixels (see ``--sub-font-size`` for details). A value of 0 disables shadows.
Default: 0.
``--osd-spacing=<size>`` Horizontal OSD/sub font spacing in scaled pixels (see ``--sub-font-size`` for details). This value is added to the normal letter spacing. Negative values are allowed.
Default: 0.
``--video-osd=<yes|no>`` Enabled OSD rendering on the video window (default: yes). This can be used in situations where terminal OSD is preferred. If you just want to disable all OSD rendering, use ``--osd-level=0``.
It does not affect subtitles or overlays created by scripts (in particular, the OSC needs to be disabled with ``--no-osc``).
This option is somewhat experimental and could be replaced by another mechanism in the future.
Screenshot----------
``--screenshot-format=<type>`` Set the image file type used for saving screenshots.
Available choices:
:png: PNG :jpg: JPEG (default) :jpeg: JPEG (alias for jpg)
``--screenshot-tag-colorspace=<yes|no>`` Tag screenshots with the appropriate colorspace.
Note that not all formats are supported.
Default: ``no``.
``--screenshot-high-bit-depth=<yes|no>`` If possible, write screenshots with a bit depth similar to the source video (default: yes). This is interesting in particular for PNG, as this sometimes triggers writing 16 bit PNGs with huge file sizes.
``--screenshot-template=<template>`` Specify the filename template used to save screenshots. The template specifies the filename without file extension, and can contain format specifiers, which will be substituted when taking a screenshot. By default, the template is ``mpv-shot%n``, which results in filenames like ``mpv-shot0012.png`` for example.
The template can start with a relative or absolute path, in order to specify a directory location where screenshots should be saved.
If the final screenshot filename points to an already existing file, the file will not be overwritten. The screenshot will either not be saved, or if the template contains ``%n``, saved using different, newly generated filename.
Allowed format specifiers:
``%[#][0X]n`` A sequence number, padded with zeros to length X (default: 04). E.g. passing the format ``%04n`` will yield ``0012`` on the 12th screenshot. The number is incremented every time a screenshot is taken or if the file already exists. The length ``X`` must be in the range 0-9. With the optional # sign, mpv will use the lowest available number. For example, if you take three screenshots--0001, 0002, 0003--and delete the first two, the next two screenshots will not be 0004 and 0005, but 0001 and 0002 again. ``%f`` Filename of the currently played video. ``%F`` Same as ``%f``, but strip the file extension, including the dot. ``%x`` Directory path of the currently played video. If the video is not on the filesystem (but e.g. ``http://``), this expand to an empty string. ``%X{fallback}`` Same as ``%x``, but if the video file is not on the filesystem, return the fallback string inside the ``{...}``. ``%p`` Current playback time, in the same format as used in the OSD. The result is a string of the form "HH:MM:SS". For example, if the video is at the time position 5 minutes and 34 seconds, ``%p`` will be replaced with "00:05:34". ``%P`` Similar to ``%p``, but extended with the playback time in milliseconds. It is formatted as "HH:MM:SS.mmm", with "mmm" being the millisecond part of the playback time.
.. note::
This is a simple way for getting unique per-frame timestamps. (Frame numbers would be more intuitive, but are not easily implementable because container formats usually use time stamps for identifying frames.) ``%wX`` Specify the current playback time using the format string ``X``. ``%p`` is like ``%wH:%wM:%wS``, and ``%P`` is like ``%wH:%wM:%wS.%wT``.
Valid format specifiers: ``%wH`` hour (padded with 0 to two digits) ``%wh`` hour (not padded) ``%wM`` minutes (00-59) ``%wm`` total minutes (includes hours, unlike ``%wM``) ``%wS`` seconds (00-59) ``%ws`` total seconds (includes hours and minutes) ``%wf`` like ``%ws``, but as float ``%wT`` milliseconds (000-999)
``%tX`` Specify the current local date/time using the format ``X``. This format specifier uses the UNIX ``strftime()`` function internally, and inserts the result of passing "%X" to ``strftime``. For example, ``%tm`` will insert the number of the current month as number. You have to use multiple ``%tX`` specifiers to build a full date/time string. ``%{prop[:fallback text]}`` Insert the value of the input property 'prop'. E.g. ``%{filename}`` is the same as ``%f``. If the property does not exist or is not available, an error text is inserted, unless a fallback is specified. ``%%`` Replaced with the ``%`` character itself.
``--screenshot-directory=<path>`` Store screenshots in this directory. This path is joined with the filename generated by ``--screenshot-template``. If the template filename is already absolute, the directory is ignored.
If the directory does not exist, it is created on the first screenshot. If it is not a directory, an error is generated when trying to write a screenshot.
This option is not set by default, and thus will write screenshots to the directory from which mpv was started. In pseudo-gui mode (see `PSEUDO GUI MODE`_), this is set to the desktop.
``--screenshot-jpeg-quality=<0-100>`` Set the JPEG quality level. Higher means better quality. The default is 90.
``--screenshot-jpeg-source-chroma=<yes|no>`` Write JPEG files with the same chroma subsampling as the video (default: yes). If disabled, the libjpeg default is used.
``--screenshot-png-compression=<0-9>`` Set the PNG compression level. Higher means better compression. This will affect the file size of the written screenshot file and the time it takes to write a screenshot. Too high compression might occupy enough CPU time to interrupt playback. The default is 7.
``--screenshot-png-filter=<0-5>`` Set the filter applied prior to PNG compression. 0 is none, 1 is "sub", 2 is "up", 3 is "average", 4 is "Paeth", and 5 is "mixed". This affects the level of compression that can be achieved. For most images, "mixed" achieves the best compression ratio, hence it is the default.
Software Scaler---------------
``--sws-scaler=<name>`` Specify the software scaler algorithm to be used with ``--vf=scale``. This also affects video output drivers which lack hardware acceleration, e.g. ``x11``. See also ``--vf=scale``.
To get a list of available scalers, run ``--sws-scaler=help``.
Default: ``bicubic``.
``--sws-lgb=<0-100>`` Software scaler Gaussian blur filter (luma). See ``--sws-scaler``.
``--sws-cgb=<0-100>`` Software scaler Gaussian blur filter (chroma). See ``--sws-scaler``.
``--sws-ls=<-100-100>`` Software scaler sharpen filter (luma). See ``--sws-scaler``.
``--sws-cs=<-100-100>`` Software scaler sharpen filter (chroma). See ``--sws-scaler``.
``--sws-chs=<h>`` Software scaler chroma horizontal shifting. See ``--sws-scaler``.
``--sws-cvs=<v>`` Software scaler chroma vertical shifting. See ``--sws-scaler``.
Terminal--------
``--quiet`` Make console output less verbose; in particular, prevents the status line (i.e. AV: 3.4 (00:00:03.37) / 5320.6 ...) from being displayed. Particularly useful on slow terminals or broken ones which do not properly handle carriage return (i.e. ``\r``).
See also: ``--really-quiet`` and ``--msg-level``.
``--really-quiet`` Display even less output and status messages than with ``--quiet``.
``--no-terminal``, ``--terminal`` Disable any use of the terminal and stdin/stdout/stderr. This completely silences any message output.
Unlike ``--really-quiet``, this disables input and terminal initialization as well.
``--no-msg-color`` Disable colorful console output on terminals.
``--msg-level=<module1=level1,module2=level2,...>`` Control verbosity directly for each module. The ``all`` module changes the verbosity of all the modules. The verbosity changes from this option are applied in order from left to right, and each item can override a previous one.
Run mpv with ``--msg-level=all=trace`` to see all messages mpv outputs. You can use the module names printed in the output (prefixed to each line in ``[...]``) to limit the output to interesting modules.
This also affects ``--log-file``, and in certain cases libmpv API logging.
.. note::
Some messages are printed before the command line is parsed and are therefore not affected by ``--msg-level``. To control these messages, you have to use the ``MPV_VERBOSE`` environment variable; see `ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES`_ for details.
Available levels:
:no: complete silence :fatal: fatal messages only :error: error messages :warn: warning messages :info: informational messages :status: status messages (default) :v: verbose messages :debug: debug messages :trace: very noisy debug messages
.. admonition:: Example
::
mpv --msg-level=ao/sndio=no
Completely silences the output of ao_sndio, which uses the log prefix ``[ao/sndio]``.
::
mpv --msg-level=all=warn,ao/alsa=error
Only show warnings or worse, and let the ao_alsa output show errors only.
``--term-osd=<auto|no|force>`` Control whether OSD messages are shown on the console when no video output is available (default: auto).
:auto: use terminal OSD if no video output active :no: disable terminal OSD :force: use terminal OSD even if video output active
The ``auto`` mode also enables terminal OSD if ``--video-osd=no`` was set.
``--term-osd-bar``, ``--no-term-osd-bar`` Enable printing a progress bar under the status line on the terminal. (Disabled by default.)
``--term-osd-bar-chars=<string>`` Customize the ``--term-osd-bar`` feature. The string is expected to consist of 5 characters (start, left space, position indicator, right space, end). You can use Unicode characters, but note that double- width characters will not be treated correctly.
Default: ``[-+-]``.
``--term-playing-msg=<string>`` Print out a string after starting playback. The string is expanded for properties, e.g. ``--term-playing-msg='file: ${filename}'`` will print the string ``file:`` followed by a space and the currently played filename.
See `Property Expansion`_.
``--term-status-msg=<string>`` Print out a custom string during playback instead of the standard status line. Expands properties. See `Property Expansion`_.
``--msg-module`` Prepend module name to each console message.
``--msg-time`` Prepend timing information to each console message.
TV--
``--tv-...`` These options tune various properties of the TV capture module. For watching TV with mpv, use ``tv://`` or ``tv://<channel_number>`` or even ``tv://<channel_name>`` (see option ``tv-channels`` for ``channel_name`` below) as a media URL. You can also use ``tv:///<input_id>`` to start watching a video from a composite or S-Video input (see option ``input`` for details).
``--tv-device=<value>`` Specify TV device (default: ``/dev/video0``).
``--tv-channel=<value>`` Set tuner to <value> channel.
``--no-tv-audio`` no sound
``--tv-automute=<0-255> (v4l and v4l2 only)`` If signal strength reported by device is less than this value, audio and video will be muted. In most cases automute=100 will be enough. Default is 0 (automute disabled).
``--tv-driver=<value>`` See ``--tv=driver=help`` for a list of compiled-in TV input drivers. available: dummy, v4l2 (default: autodetect)
``--tv-input=<value>`` Specify input (default: 0 (TV), see console output for available inputs).
``--tv-freq=<value>`` Specify the frequency to set the tuner to (e.g. 511.250). Not compatible with the channels parameter.
``--tv-outfmt=<value>`` Specify the output format of the tuner with a preset value supported by the V4L driver (YV12, UYVY, YUY2, I420) or an arbitrary format given as hex value.
``--tv-width=<value>`` output window width
``--tv-height=<value>`` output window height
``--tv-fps=<value>`` framerate at which to capture video (frames per second)
``--tv-buffersize=<value>`` maximum size of the capture buffer in megabytes (default: dynamical)
``--tv-norm=<value>`` See the console output for a list of all available norms.
See also: ``--tv-normid``.
``--tv-normid=<value> (v4l2 only)`` Sets the TV norm to the given numeric ID. The TV norm depends on the capture card. See the console output for a list of available TV norms.
``--tv-chanlist=<value>`` available: argentina, australia, china-bcast, europe-east, europe-west, france, ireland, italy, japan-bcast, japan-cable, newzealand, russia, southafrica, us-bcast, us-cable, us-cable-hrc
``--tv-channels=<chan>-<name>[=<norm>],<chan>-<name>[=<norm>],...`` Set names for channels.
.. note::
If <chan> is an integer greater than 1000, it will be treated as frequency (in kHz) rather than channel name from frequency table. Use _ for spaces in names (or play with quoting ;-) ). The channel names will then be written using OSD, and the input commands ``tv_step_channel``, ``tv_set_channel`` and ``tv_last_channel`` will be usable for a remote control. Not compatible with the ``frequency`` parameter.
.. note::
The channel number will then be the position in the 'channels' list, beginning with 1.
.. admonition:: Examples
``tv://1``, ``tv://TV1``, ``tv_set_channel 1``, ``tv_set_channel TV1``
``--tv-[brightness|contrast|hue|saturation]=<-100-100>`` Set the image equalizer on the card.
``--tv-audiorate=<value>`` Set input audio sample rate.
``--tv-forceaudio`` Capture audio even if there are no audio sources reported by v4l.
``--tv-alsa`` Capture from ALSA.
``--tv-amode=<0-3>`` Choose an audio mode:
:0: mono :1: stereo :2: language 1 :3: language 2
``--tv-forcechan=<1-2>`` By default, the count of recorded audio channels is determined automatically by querying the audio mode from the TV card. This option allows forcing stereo/mono recording regardless of the amode option and the values returned by v4l. This can be used for troubleshooting when the TV card is unable to report the current audio mode.
``--tv-adevice=<value>`` Set an audio device. <value> should be ``/dev/xxx`` for OSS and a hardware ID for ALSA. You must replace any ':' by a '.' in the hardware ID for ALSA.
``--tv-audioid=<value>`` Choose an audio output of the capture card, if it has more than one.
``--tv-[volume|bass|treble|balance]=<0-100>`` These options set parameters of the mixer on the video capture card. They will have no effect, if your card does not have one. For v4l2 50 maps to the default value of the control, as reported by the driver.
``--tv-gain=<0-100>`` Set gain control for video devices (usually webcams) to the desired value and switch off automatic control. A value of 0 enables automatic control. If this option is omitted, gain control will not be modified.
``--tv-immediatemode=<bool>`` A value of 0 means capture and buffer audio and video together. A value of 1 (default) means to do video capture only and let the audio go through a loopback cable from the TV card to the sound card.
``--tv-mjpeg`` Use hardware MJPEG compression (if the card supports it). When using this option, you do not need to specify the width and height of the output window, because mpv will determine it automatically from the decimation value (see below).
``--tv-decimation=<1|2|4>`` choose the size of the picture that will be compressed by hardware MJPEG compression:
:1: full size
- 704x576 PAL - 704x480 NTSC
:2: medium size
- 352x288 PAL - 352x240 NTSC
:4: small size
- 176x144 PAL - 176x120 NTSC
``--tv-quality=<0-100>`` Choose the quality of the JPEG compression (< 60 recommended for full size).
``--tv-scan-autostart`` Begin channel scanning immediately after startup (default: disabled).
``--tv-scan-period=<0.1-2.0>`` Specify delay in seconds before switching to next channel (default: 0.5). Lower values will cause faster scanning, but can detect inactive TV channels as active.
``--tv-scan-threshold=<1-100>`` Threshold value for the signal strength (in percent), as reported by the device (default: 50). A signal strength higher than this value will indicate that the currently scanning channel is active.
Cache-----
``--cache=<kBytes|yes|no|auto>`` Set the size of the cache in kilobytes, disable it with ``no``, or automatically enable it if needed with ``auto`` (default: ``auto``). With ``auto``, the cache will usually be enabled for network streams, using the size set by ``--cache-default``. With ``yes``, the cache will always be enabled with the size set by ``--cache-default`` (unless the stream cannot be cached, or ``--cache-default`` disables caching).
May be useful when playing files from slow media, but can also have negative effects, especially with file formats that require a lot of seeking, such as MP4.
Note that half the cache size will be used to allow fast seeking back. This is also the reason why a full cache is usually not reported as 100% full. The cache fill display does not include the part of the cache reserved for seeking back. The actual maximum percentage will usually be the ratio between readahead and backbuffer sizes.
``--cache-default=<kBytes|no>`` Set the size of the cache in kilobytes (default: 10000 KB). Using ``no`` will not automatically enable the cache e.g. when playing from a network stream. Note that using ``--cache`` will always override this option.
``--cache-initial=<kBytes>`` Playback will start when the cache has been filled up with this many kilobytes of data (default: 0).
``--cache-seek-min=<kBytes>`` If a seek is to be made to a position within ``<kBytes>`` of the cache size from the current position, mpv will wait for the cache to be filled to this position rather than performing a stream seek (default: 500).
This matters for small forward seeks. With slow streams (especially HTTP streams) there is a tradeoff between skipping the data between current position and seek destination, or performing an actual seek. Depending on the situation, either of these might be slower than the other method. This option allows control over this.
``--cache-backbuffer=<kBytes>`` Size of the cache back buffer (default: 10000 KB). This will add to the total cache size, and reserved the amount for seeking back. The reserved amount will not be used for readahead, and instead preserves already read data to enable fast seeking back.
``--cache-file=<TMP|path>`` Create a cache file on the filesystem.
There are two ways of using this:
1. Passing a path (a filename). The file will always be overwritten. When the general cache is enabled, this file cache will be used to store whatever is read from the source stream.
This will always overwrite the cache file, and you can't use an existing cache file to resume playback of a stream. (Technically, mpv wouldn't even know which blocks in the file are valid and which not.)
The resulting file will not necessarily contain all data of the source stream. For example, if you seek, the parts that were skipped over are never read and consequently are not written to the cache. The skipped over parts are filled with zeros. This means that the cache file doesn't necessarily correspond to a full download of the source stream.
Both of these issues could be improved if there is any user interest.
.. warning:: Causes random corruption when used with ordered chapters or with ``--audio-file``.
2. Passing the string ``TMP``. This will not be interpreted as filename. Instead, an invisible temporary file is created. It depends on your C library where this file is created (usually ``/tmp/``), and whether filename is visible (the ``tmpfile()`` function is used). On some systems, automatic deletion of the cache file might not be guaranteed.
If you want to use a file cache, this mode is recommended, because it doesn't break ordered chapters or ``--audio-file``. These modes open multiple cache streams, and using the same file for them obviously clashes.
See also: ``--cache-file-size``.
``--cache-file-size=<kBytes>`` Maximum size of the file created with ``--cache-file``. For read accesses above this size, the cache is simply not used.
Keep in mind that some use-cases, like playing ordered chapters with cache enabled, will actually create multiple cache files, each of which will use up to this much disk space.
(Default: 1048576, 1 GB.)
``--no-cache`` Turn off input stream caching. See ``--cache``.
``--cache-secs=<seconds>`` How many seconds of audio/video to prefetch if the cache is active. This overrides the ``--demuxer-readahead-secs`` option if and only if the cache is enabled and the value is larger. The default value is set to something very high, so the actually achieved readahead will usually be limited by the value of the ``--demuxer-max-bytes`` option.
``--cache-pause``, ``--no-cache-pause`` Whether the player should automatically pause when the cache runs low, and unpause once more data is available ("buffering").
Network-------
``--user-agent=<string>`` Use ``<string>`` as user agent for HTTP streaming.
``--cookies``, ``--no-cookies`` Support cookies when making HTTP requests. Disabled by default.
``--cookies-file=<filename>`` Read HTTP cookies from <filename>. The file is assumed to be in Netscape format.
``--http-header-fields=<field1,field2>`` Set custom HTTP fields when accessing HTTP stream.
.. admonition:: Example
::
mpv --http-header-fields='Field1: value1','Field2: value2' \ http://localhost:1234
Will generate HTTP request::
GET / HTTP/1.0 Host: localhost:1234 User-Agent: MPlayer Icy-MetaData: 1 Field1: value1 Field2: value2 Connection: close
``--tls-ca-file=<filename>`` Certificate authority database file for use with TLS. (Silently fails with older FFmpeg or Libav versions.)
``--tls-verify`` Verify peer certificates when using TLS (e.g. with ``https://...``). (Silently fails with older FFmpeg or Libav versions.)
``--tls-cert-file`` A file containing a certificate to use in the handshake with the peer.
``--tls-key-file`` A file containing the private key for the certificate.
``--referrer=<string>`` Specify a referrer path or URL for HTTP requests.
``--network-timeout=<seconds>`` Specify the network timeout in seconds. This affects at least HTTP. The special value 0 (default) uses the FFmpeg/Libav defaults. If a protocol is used which does not support timeouts, this option is silently ignored.
``--rtsp-transport=<lavf|udp|tcp|http>`` Select RTSP transport method (default: tcp). This selects the underlying network transport when playing ``rtsp://...`` URLs. The value ``lavf`` leaves the decision to libavformat.
``--hls-bitrate=<no|min|max|<rate>>`` If HLS streams are played, this option controls what streams are selected by default. The option allows the following parameters:
:no: Don't do anything special. Typically, this will simply pick the first audio/video streams it can find. :min: Pick the streams with the lowest bitrate. :max: Same, but highest bitrate. (Default.)
Additionally, if the option is a number, the stream with the highest rate equal or below the option value is selected.
The bitrate as used is sent by the server, and there's no guarantee it's actually meaningful.
DVB---
``--dvbin-card=<1-4>`` Specifies using card number 1-4 (default: 1).
``--dvbin-file=<filename>`` Instructs mpv to read the channels list from ``<filename>``. The default is in the mpv configuration directory (usually ``~/.config/mpv``) with the filename ``channels.conf.{sat,ter,cbl,atsc}`` (based on your card type) or ``channels.conf`` as a last resort. For DVB-S/2 cards, a VDR 1.7.x format channel list is recommended as it allows tuning to DVB-S2 channels, enabling subtitles and decoding the PMT (which largely improves the demuxing). Classic mplayer format channel lists are still supported (without these improvements), and for other card types, only limited VDR format channel list support is implemented (patches welcome). For channels with dynamic PID switching or incomplete ``channels.conf``, ``--dvbin-full-transponder`` or the magic PID ``8192`` are recommended.
``--dvbin-timeout=<1-30>`` Maximum number of seconds to wait when trying to tune a frequency before giving up (default: 30).
``--dvbin-full-transponder=<yes|no>`` Apply no filters on program PIDs, only tune to frequency and pass full transponder to demuxer. The player frontend selects the streams from the full TS in this case, so the program which is shown initially may not match the chosen channel. Switching between the programs is possible by cycling the ``program`` property. This is useful to record multiple programs on a single transponder, or to work around issues in the ``channels.conf``. It is also recommended to use this for channels which switch PIDs on-the-fly, e.g. for regional news.
Default: ``no``
ALSA audio output options-------------------------
``--alsa-device=<device>`` Deprecated, use ``--audio-device`` (requires ``alsa/`` prefix).
``--alsa-resample=yes`` Enable ALSA resampling plugin. (This is disabled by default, because some drivers report incorrect audio delay in some cases.)
``--alsa-mixer-device=<device>`` Set the mixer device used with ``ao-volume`` (default: ``default``).
``--alsa-mixer-name=<name>`` Set the name of the mixer element (default: ``Master``). This is for example ``PCM`` or ``Master``.
``--alsa-mixer-index=<number>`` Set the index of the mixer channel (default: 0). Consider the output of "``amixer scontrols``", then the index is the number that follows the name of the element.
``--alsa-non-interleaved`` Allow output of non-interleaved formats (if the audio decoder uses this format). Currently disabled by default, because some popular ALSA plugins are utterly broken with non-interleaved formats.
``--alsa-ignore-chmap`` Don't read or set the channel map of the ALSA device - only request the required number of channels, and then pass the audio as-is to it. This option most likely should not be used. It can be useful for debugging, or for static setups with a specially engineered ALSA configuration (in this case you should always force the same layout with ``--audio-channels``, or it will work only for files which use the layout implicit to your ALSA device).
GPU renderer options-----------------------
The following video options are currently all specific to ``--vo=gpu`` and``--vo=opengl-cb`` only, which are the only VOs that implement them.
``--scale=<filter>`` The filter function to use when upscaling video.
``bilinear`` Bilinear hardware texture filtering (fastest, very low quality). This is the default for compatibility reasons.
``spline36`` Mid quality and speed. This is the default when using ``gpu-hq``.
``lanczos`` Lanczos scaling. Provides mid quality and speed. Generally worse than ``spline36``, but it results in a slightly sharper image which is good for some content types. The number of taps can be controlled with ``scale-radius``, but is best left unchanged.
(This filter is an alias for ``sinc``-windowed ``sinc``)
``ewa_lanczos`` Elliptic weighted average Lanczos scaling. Also known as Jinc. Relatively slow, but very good quality. The radius can be controlled with ``scale-radius``. Increasing the radius makes the filter sharper but adds more ringing.
(This filter is an alias for ``jinc``-windowed ``jinc``)
``ewa_lanczossharp`` A slightly sharpened version of ewa_lanczos, preconfigured to use an ideal radius and parameter. If your hardware can run it, this is probably what you should use by default.
``mitchell`` Mitchell-Netravali. The ``B`` and ``C`` parameters can be set with ``--scale-param1`` and ``--scale-param2``. This filter is very good at downscaling (see ``--dscale``).
``oversample`` A version of nearest neighbour that (naively) oversamples pixels, so that pixels overlapping edges get linearly interpolated instead of rounded. This essentially removes the small imperfections and judder artifacts caused by nearest-neighbour interpolation, in exchange for adding some blur. This filter is good at temporal interpolation, and also known as "smoothmotion" (see ``--tscale``).
``linear`` A ``--tscale`` filter.
There are some more filters, but most are not as useful. For a complete list, pass ``help`` as value, e.g.::
mpv --scale=help
``--cscale=<filter>`` As ``--scale``, but for interpolating chroma information. If the image is not subsampled, this option is ignored entirely.
``--dscale=<filter>`` Like ``--scale``, but apply these filters on downscaling instead. If this option is unset, the filter implied by ``--scale`` will be applied.
``--tscale=<filter>`` The filter used for interpolating the temporal axis (frames). This is only used if ``--interpolation`` is enabled. The only valid choices for ``--tscale`` are separable convolution filters (use ``--tscale=help`` to get a list). The default is ``mitchell``.
Common ``--tscale`` choices include ``oversample``, ``linear``, ``catmull_rom``, ``mitchell``, ``gaussian``, or ``bicubic``. These are listed in increasing order of smoothness/blurriness, with ``bicubic`` being the smoothest/blurriest and ``oversample`` being the sharpest/least smooth.
``--scale-param1=<value>``, ``--scale-param2=<value>``, ``--cscale-param1=<value>``, ``--cscale-param2=<value>``, ``--dscale-param1=<value>``, ``--dscale-param2=<value>``, ``--tscale-param1=<value>``, ``--tscale-param2=<value>`` Set filter parameters. Ignored if the filter is not tunable. Currently, this affects the following filter parameters:
bcspline Spline parameters (``B`` and ``C``). Defaults to 0.5 for both.
gaussian Scale parameter (``t``). Increasing this makes the result blurrier. Defaults to 1.
oversample Minimum distance to an edge before interpolation is used. Setting this to 0 will always interpolate edges, whereas setting it to 0.5 will never interpolate, thus behaving as if the regular nearest neighbour algorithm was used. Defaults to 0.0.
``--scale-blur=<value>``, ``--scale-wblur=<value>``, ``--cscale-blur=<value>``, ``--cscale-wblur=<value>``, ``--dscale-blur=<value>``, ``--dscale-wblur=<value>``, ``--tscale-blur=<value>``, ``--tscale-wblur=<value>`` Kernel/window scaling factor (also known as a blur factor). Decreasing this makes the result sharper, increasing it makes it blurrier (default 0). If set to 0, the kernel's preferred blur factor is used. Note that setting this too low (eg. 0.5) leads to bad results. It's generally recommended to stick to values between 0.8 and 1.2.
``--scale-clamp=<0.0-1.0>``, ``--cscale-clamp``, ``--dscale-clamp``, ``--tscale-clamp`` Specifies a weight bias to multiply into negative coefficients. Specifying ``--scale-clamp=1`` has the effect of removing negative weights completely, thus effectively clamping the value range to [0-1]. Values between 0.0 and 1.0 can be specified to apply only a moderate diminishment of negative weights. This is especially useful for ``--tscale``, where it reduces excessive ringing artifacts in the temporal domain (which typically manifest themselves as short flashes or fringes of black, mostly around moving edges) in exchange for potentially adding more blur. The default for ``--tscale-clamp`` is 1.0, the others default to 0.0.
``--scale-cutoff=<value>``, ``--cscale-cutoff=<value>``, ``--dscale-cutoff=<value>`` Cut off the filter kernel prematurely once the value range drops below this threshold. Doing so allows more aggressive pruning of skippable coefficients by disregarding parts of the LUT which are effectively zeroed out by the window function. Only affects polar (EWA) filters. The default is 0.001 for each, which is perceptually transparent but provides a 10%-20% speedup, depending on the exact radius and filter kernel chosen.
``--scale-taper=<value>``, ``--scale-wtaper=<value>``, ``--dscale-taper=<value>``, ``--dscale-wtaper=<value>``, ``--cscale-taper=<value>``, ``--cscale-wtaper=<value>``, ``--tscale-taper=<value>``, ``--tscale-wtaper=<value>`` Kernel/window taper factor. Increasing this flattens the filter function. Value range is 0 to 1. A value of 0 (the default) means no flattening, a value of 1 makes the filter completely flat (equivalent to a box function). Values in between mean that some portion will be flat and the actual filter function will be squeezed into the space in between.
``--scale-radius=<value>``, ``--cscale-radius=<value>``, ``--dscale-radius=<value>``, ``--tscale-radius=<value>`` Set radius for tunable filters, must be a float number between 0.5 and 16.0. Defaults to the filter's preferred radius if not specified. Doesn't work for every scaler and VO combination.
Note that depending on filter implementation details and video scaling ratio, the radius that actually being used might be different (most likely being increased a bit).
``--scale-antiring=<value>``, ``--cscale-antiring=<value>``, ``--dscale-antiring=<value>``, ``--tscale-antiring=<value>`` Set the antiringing strength. This tries to eliminate ringing, but can introduce other artifacts in the process. Must be a float number between 0.0 and 1.0. The default value of 0.0 disables antiringing entirely.
Note that this doesn't affect the special filters ``bilinear`` and ``bicubic_fast``, nor does it affect any polar (EWA) scalers.
``--scale-window=<window>``, ``--cscale-window=<window>``, ``--dscale-window=<window>``, ``--tscale-window=<window>`` (Advanced users only) Choose a custom windowing function for the kernel. Defaults to the filter's preferred window if unset. Use ``--scale-window=help`` to get a list of supported windowing functions.
``--scale-wparam=<window>``, ``--cscale-wparam=<window>``, ``--cscale-wparam=<window>``, ``--tscale-wparam=<window>`` (Advanced users only) Configure the parameter for the window function given by ``--scale-window`` etc. Ignored if the window is not tunable. Currently, this affects the following window parameters:
kaiser Window parameter (alpha). Defaults to 6.33. blackman Window parameter (alpha). Defaults to 0.16. gaussian Scale parameter (t). Increasing this makes the window wider. Defaults to 1.
``--scaler-lut-size=<4..10>`` Set the size of the lookup texture for scaler kernels (default: 6). The actual size of the texture is ``2^N`` for an option value of ``N``. So the lookup texture with the default setting uses 64 samples.
All weights are linearly interpolated from those samples, so increasing the size of lookup table might improve the accuracy of scaler.
``--scaler-resizes-only`` Disable the scaler if the video image is not resized. In that case, ``bilinear`` is used instead of whatever is set with ``--scale``. Bilinear will reproduce the source image perfectly if no scaling is performed. Enabled by default. Note that this option never affects ``--cscale``.
``--linear-scaling`` Scale in linear light. It should only be used with a ``--fbo-format`` that has at least 16 bit precision. This option has no effect on HDR content.
``--correct-downscaling`` When using convolution based filters, extend the filter size when downscaling. Increases quality, but reduces performance while downscaling.
This will perform slightly sub-optimally for anamorphic video (but still better than without it) since it will extend the size to match only the milder of the scale factors between the axes.
``--interpolation`` Reduce stuttering caused by mismatches in the video fps and display refresh rate (also known as judder).
.. warning:: This requires setting the ``--video-sync`` option to one of the ``display-`` modes, or it will be silently disabled. This was not required before mpv 0.14.0.
This essentially attempts to interpolate the missing frames by convoluting the video along the temporal axis. The filter used can be controlled using the ``--tscale`` setting.
``--interpolation-threshold=<0..1,-1>`` Threshold below which frame ratio interpolation gets disabled (default: ``0.0001``). This is calculated as ``abs(disphz/vfps - 1) < threshold``, where ``vfps`` is the speed-adjusted video FPS, and ``disphz`` the display refresh rate. (The speed-adjusted video FPS is roughly equal to the normal video FPS, but with slowdown and speedup applied. This matters if you use ``--video-sync=display-resample`` to make video run synchronously to the display FPS, or if you change the ``speed`` property.)
The default is intended to almost always enable interpolation if the playback rate is even slightly different from the display refresh rate. But note that if you use e.g. ``--video-sync=display-vdrop``, small deviations in the rate can disable interpolation and introduce a discontinuity every other minute.
Set this to ``-1`` to disable this logic.
``--opengl-pbo`` Enable use of PBOs. On some drivers this can be faster, especially if the source video size is huge (e.g. so called "4K" video). On other drivers it might be slower or cause latency issues.
``--dither-depth=<N|no|auto>`` Set dither target depth to N. Default: no.
no Disable any dithering done by mpv. auto Automatic selection. If output bit depth cannot be detected, 8 bits per component are assumed. 8 Dither to 8 bit output.
Note that the depth of the connected video display device cannot be detected. Often, LCD panels will do dithering on their own, which conflicts with this option and leads to ugly output.
``--dither-size-fruit=<2-8>`` Set the size of the dither matrix (default: 6). The actual size of the matrix is ``(2^N) x (2^N)`` for an option value of ``N``, so a value of 6 gives a size of 64x64. The matrix is generated at startup time, and a large matrix can take rather long to compute (seconds).
Used in ``--dither=fruit`` mode only.
``--dither=<fruit|ordered|no>`` Select dithering algorithm (default: fruit). (Normally, the ``--dither-depth`` option controls whether dithering is enabled.)
``--temporal-dither`` Enable temporal dithering. (Only active if dithering is enabled in general.) This changes between 8 different dithering patterns on each frame by changing the orientation of the tiled dithering matrix. Unfortunately, this can lead to flicker on LCD displays, since these have a high reaction time.
``--temporal-dither-period=<1-128>`` Determines how often the dithering pattern is updated when ``--temporal-dither`` is in use. 1 (the default) will update on every video frame, 2 on every other frame, etc.
``--gpu-debug`` Enables GPU debugging. What this means depends on the API type. For OpenGL, it calls ``glGetError()``, and requests a debug context. For Vulkan, it enables validation layers.
``--opengl-swapinterval=<n>`` Interval in displayed frames between two buffer swaps. 1 is equivalent to enable VSYNC, 0 to disable VSYNC. Defaults to 1 if not specified.
Note that this depends on proper OpenGL vsync support. On some platforms and drivers, this only works reliably when in fullscreen mode. It may also require driver-specific hacks if using multiple monitors, to ensure mpv syncs to the right one. Compositing window managers can also lead to bad results, as can missing or incorrect display FPS information (see ``--display-fps``).
``--vulkan-swap-mode=<mode>`` Controls the presentation mode of the vulkan swapchain. This is similar to the ``--opengl-swapinterval`` option.
auto Use the preferred swapchain mode for the vulkan context. (Default) fifo Non-tearing, vsync blocked. Similar to "VSync on". fifo-relaxed Tearing, vsync blocked. Late frames will tear instead of stuttering. mailbox Non-tearing, not vsync blocked. Similar to "triple buffering". immediate Tearing, not vsync blocked. Similar to "VSync off".
``--vulkan-queue-count=<1..8>`` Controls the number of VkQueues used for rendering (limited by how many your device supports). In theory, using more queues could enable some parallelism between frames (when using a ``--swapchain-depth`` higher than 1), but it can also slow things down on hardware where there's no true parallelism between queues. (Default: 1)
``--vulkan-async-transfer`` Enables the use of async transfer queues on supported vulkan devices. Using them allows transfer operations like texture uploads and blits to happen concurrently with the actual rendering, thus improving overall throughput and power consumption. Enabled by default, and should be relatively safe.
``--vulkan-async-compute`` Enables the use of async compute queues on supported vulkan devices. Using this, in theory, allows out-of-order scheduling of compute shaders with graphics shaders, thus enabling the hardware to do more effective work while waiting for pipeline bubbles and memory operations. Not beneficial on all GPUs. It's worth noting that if async compute is enabled, and the device supports more compute queues than graphics queues (bound by the restrictions set by ``--vulkan-queue-count``), mpv will internally try and prefer the use of compute shaders over fragment shaders wherever possible. Not enabled by default, since it seems to cause issues with some drivers.
``--d3d11-warp=<yes|no|auto>`` Use WARP (Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform) with the D3D11 GPU backend (default: auto). This is a high performance software renderer. By default, it is only used when the system has no hardware adapters that support D3D11. While the extended GPU features will work with WARP, they can be very slow.
``--d3d11-feature-level=<12_1|12_0|11_1|11_0|10_1|10_0|9_3|9_2|9_1>`` Select a specific feature level when using the D3D11 GPU backend. By default, the highest available feature level is used. This option can be used to select a lower feature level, which is mainly useful for debugging. Most extended GPU features will not work at 9_x feature levels.
``--d3d11-flip=<yes|no>`` Enable flip-model presentation, which avoids unnecessarily copying the backbuffer by sharing surfaces with the DWM (default: yes). This may cause performance issues with older drivers. If flip-model presentation is not supported (for example, on Windows 7 without the platform update), mpv will automatically fall back to the older bitblt presentation model.
``--d3d11-sync-interval=<0..4>`` Schedule each frame to be presented for this number of VBlank intervals. (default: 1) Setting to 1 will enable VSync, setting to 0 will disable it.
``--d3d11va-zero-copy=<yes|no>`` By default, when using hardware decoding with ``--gpu-api=d3d11``, the video image will be copied (GPU-to-GPU) from the decoder surface to a shader resource. Set this option to avoid that copy by sampling directly from the decoder image. This may increase performance and reduce power usage, but can cause the image to be sampled incorrectly on the bottom and right edges due to padding, and may invoke driver bugs, since Direct3D 11 technically does not allow sampling from a decoder surface (though most drivers support it.)
Currently only relevant for ``--gpu-api=d3d11``.
``--spirv-compiler=<compiler>`` Controls which compiler is used to translate GLSL to SPIR-V. This is (currently) only relevant for ``--gpu-api=vulkan``. The possible choices are:
auto Use the first available compiler. (Default) shaderc Use libshaderc, which is an API wrapper around glslang. This is generally the most preferred, if available. nvidia Use nvidia's built-in compiler. Only works for nvidia GPUs. Can be buggy, but also supports some features glslang does not. Only works with vulkan.
``--glsl-shaders=<file-list>`` Custom GLSL hooks. These are a flexible way to add custom fragment shaders, which can be injected at almost arbitrary points in the rendering pipeline, and access all previous intermediate textures. Each use of the option will add another file to the internal list of shaders (see `List Options`_).
.. admonition:: Warning
The syntax is not stable yet and may change any time.
The general syntax of a user shader looks like this::
//!METADATA ARGS... //!METADATA ARGS...
vec4 hook() { ... return something; }
//!METADATA ARGS... //!METADATA ARGS...
...
Each section of metadata, along with the non-metadata lines after it, defines a single block. There are currently two types of blocks, HOOKs and TEXTUREs.
A ``TEXTURE`` block can set the following options:
TEXTURE <name> (required) The name of this texture. Hooks can then bind the texture under this name using BIND. This must be the first option of the texture block.
SIZE <width> [<height>] [<depth>] (required) The dimensions of the texture. The height and depth are optional. The type of texture (1D, 2D or 3D) depends on the number of components specified.
FORMAT <name> (required) The texture format for the samples. Supported texture formats are listed in debug logging when the ``gpu`` VO is initialized (look for ``Texture formats:``). Usually, this follows OpenGL naming conventions. For example, ``rgb16`` provides 3 channels with normalized 16 bit components. One oddity are float formats: for example, ``rgba16f`` has 16 bit internal precision, but the texture data is provided as 32 bit floats, and the driver converts the data on texture upload.
Although format names follow a common naming convention, not all of them are available on all hardware, drivers, GL versions, and so on.
FILTER <LINEAR|NEAREST> The min/magnification filter used when sampling from this texture.
BORDER <CLAMP|REPEAT|MIRROR> The border wrapping mode used when sampling from this texture.
Following the metadata is a string of bytes in hexadecimal notation that define the raw texture data, corresponding to the format specified by `FORMAT`, on a single line with no extra whitespace.
A ``HOOK`` block can set the following options:
HOOK <name> (required) The texture which to hook into. May occur multiple times within a metadata block, up to a predetermined limit. See below for a list of hookable textures.
DESC <title> User-friendly description of the pass. This is the name used when representing this shader in the list of passes for property `vo-passes`.
BIND <name> Loads a texture (either coming from mpv or from a ``TEXTURE`` block) and makes it available to the pass. When binding textures from mpv, this will also set up macros to facilitate accessing it properly. See below for a list. By default, no textures are bound. The special name HOOKED can be used to refer to the texture that triggered this pass.
SAVE <name> Gives the name of the texture to save the result of this pass into. By default, this is set to the special name HOOKED which has the effect of overwriting the hooked texture.
WIDTH <szexpr>, HEIGHT <szexpr> Specifies the size of the resulting texture for this pass. ``szexpr`` refers to an expression in RPN (reverse polish notation), using the operators + - * / > < !, floating point literals, and references to sizes of existing texture (such as MAIN.width or CHROMA.height), OUTPUT, or NATIVE_CROPPED (size of an input texture cropped after pan-and-scan, video-align-x/y, video-pan-x/y, etc. and possibly prescaled). By default, these are set to HOOKED.w and HOOKED.h, espectively.
WHEN <szexpr> Specifies a condition that needs to be true (non-zero) for the shader stage to be evaluated. If it fails, it will silently be omitted. (Note that a shader stage like this which has a dependency on an optional hook point can still cause that hook point to be saved, which has some minor overhead)
OFFSET <ox> <oy> Indicates a pixel shift (offset) introduced by this pass. These pixel offsets will be accumulated and corrected during the next scaling pass (``cscale`` or ``scale``). The default values are 0 0 which correspond to no shift. Note that offsets are ignored when not overwriting the hooked texture.
COMPONENTS <n> Specifies how many components of this pass's output are relevant and should be stored in the texture, up to 4 (rgba). By default, this value is equal to the number of components in HOOKED.
COMPUTE <bw> <bh> [<tw> <th>] Specifies that this shader should be treated as a compute shader, with the block size bw and bh. The compute shader will be dispatched with however many blocks are necessary to completely tile over the output. Within each block, there will bw tw*th threads, forming a single work group. In other words: tw and th specify the work group size, which can be different from the block size. So for example, a compute shader with bw, bh = 32 and tw, th = 8 running on a 500x500 texture would dispatch 16x16 blocks (rounded up), each with 8x8 threads.
Compute shaders in mpv are treated a bit different from fragment shaders. Instead of defining a ``vec4 hook`` that produces an output sample, you directly define ``void hook`` which writes to a fixed writeonly image unit named ``out_image`` (this is bound by mpv) using `imageStore`. To help translate texture coordinates in the absence of vertices, mpv provides a special function ``NAME_map(id)`` to map from the texel space of the output image to the texture coordinates for all bound textures. In particular, ``NAME_pos`` is equivalent to ``NAME_map(gl_GlobalInvocationID)``, although using this only really makes sense if (tw,th) == (bw,bh).
Each bound mpv texture (via ``BIND``) will make available the following definitions to that shader pass, where NAME is the name of the bound texture:
vec4 NAME_tex(vec2 pos) The sampling function to use to access the texture at a certain spot (in texture coordinate space, range [0,1]). This takes care of any necessary normalization conversions. vec4 NAME_texOff(vec2 offset) Sample the texture at a certain offset in pixels. This works like NAME_tex but additionally takes care of necessary rotations, so that sampling at e.g. vec2(-1,0) is always one pixel to the left. vec2 NAME_pos The local texture coordinate of that texture, range [0,1]. vec2 NAME_size The (rotated) size in pixels of the texture. mat2 NAME_rot The rotation matrix associated with this texture. (Rotates pixel space to texture coordinates) vec2 NAME_pt The (unrotated) size of a single pixel, range [0,1]. float NAME_mul The coefficient that needs to be multiplied into the texture contents in order to normalize it to the range [0,1]. sampler NAME_raw The raw bound texture itself. The use of this should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
Normally, users should use either NAME_tex or NAME_texOff to read from the texture. For some shaders however , it can be better for performance to do custom sampling from NAME_raw, in which case care needs to be taken to respect NAME_mul and NAME_rot.
In addition to these parameters, the following uniforms are also globally available:
float random A random number in the range [0-1], different per frame. int frame A simple count of frames rendered, increases by one per frame and never resets (regardless of seeks). vec2 input_size The size in pixels of the input image (possibly cropped and prescaled). vec2 target_size The size in pixels of the visible part of the scaled (and possibly cropped) image. vec2 tex_offset Texture offset introduced by user shaders or options like panscan, video-align-x/y, video-pan-x/y.
Internally, vo_gpu may generate any number of the following textures. Whenever a texture is rendered and saved by vo_gpu, all of the passes that have hooked into it will run, in the order they were added by the user. This is a list of the legal hook points:
RGB, LUMA, CHROMA, ALPHA, XYZ (resizable) Source planes (raw). Which of these fire depends on the image format of the source.
CHROMA_SCALED, ALPHA_SCALED (fixed) Source planes (upscaled). These only fire on subsampled content.
NATIVE (resizable) The combined image, in the source colorspace, before conversion to RGB.
MAINPRESUB (resizable) The image, after conversion to RGB, but before ``--blend-subtitles=video`` is applied.
MAIN (resizable) The main image, after conversion to RGB but before upscaling.
LINEAR (fixed) Linear light image, before scaling. This only fires when ``--linear-scaling`` is in effect.
SIGMOID (fixed) Sigmoidized light, before scaling. This only fires when ``--sigmoid-upscaling`` is in effect.
PREKERNEL (fixed) The image immediately before the scaler kernel runs.
POSTKERNEL (fixed) The image immediately after the scaler kernel runs.
SCALED (fixed) The final upscaled image, before color management.
OUTPUT (fixed) The final output image, after color management but before dithering and drawing to screen.
Only the textures labelled with ``resizable`` may be transformed by the pass. When overwriting a texture marked ``fixed``, the WIDTH, HEIGHT and OFFSET must be left at their default values.
``--glsl-shader=<file>`` CLI/config file only alias for ``--glsl-shaders-append``.
``--deband`` Enable the debanding algorithm. This greatly reduces the amount of visible banding, blocking and other quantization artifacts, at the expensive of very slightly blurring some of the finest details. In practice, it's virtually always an improvement - the only reason to disable it would be for performance.
``--deband-iterations=<1..16>`` The number of debanding steps to perform per sample. Each step reduces a bit more banding, but takes time to compute. Note that the strength of each step falls off very quickly, so high numbers (>4) are practically useless. (Default 1)
``--deband-threshold=<0..4096>`` The debanding filter's cut-off threshold. Higher numbers increase the debanding strength dramatically but progressively diminish image details. (Default 64)
``--deband-range=<1..64>`` The debanding filter's initial radius. The radius increases linearly for each iteration. A higher radius will find more gradients, but a lower radius will smooth more aggressively. (Default 16)
If you increase the ``--deband-iterations``, you should probably decrease this to compensate.
``--deband-grain=<0..4096>`` Add some extra noise to the image. This significantly helps cover up remaining quantization artifacts. Higher numbers add more noise. (Default 48)
``--sigmoid-upscaling`` When upscaling, use a sigmoidal color transform to avoid emphasizing ringing artifacts. This also implies ``--linear-scaling``.
``--sigmoid-center`` The center of the sigmoid curve used for ``--sigmoid-upscaling``, must be a float between 0.0 and 1.0. Defaults to 0.75 if not specified.
``--sigmoid-slope`` The slope of the sigmoid curve used for ``--sigmoid-upscaling``, must be a float between 1.0 and 20.0. Defaults to 6.5 if not specified.
``--sharpen=<value>`` If set to a value other than 0, enable an unsharp masking filter. Positive values will sharpen the image (but add more ringing and aliasing). Negative values will blur the image. If your GPU is powerful enough, consider alternatives like the ``ewa_lanczossharp`` scale filter, or the ``--scale-blur`` option.
``--opengl-glfinish`` Call ``glFinish()`` before swapping buffers (default: disabled). Slower, but might improve results when doing framedropping. Can completely ruin performance. The details depend entirely on the OpenGL driver.
``--opengl-waitvsync`` Call ``glXWaitVideoSyncSGI`` after each buffer swap (default: disabled). This may or may not help with video timing accuracy and frame drop. It's possible that this makes video output slower, or has no effect at all.
X11/GLX only.
``--opengl-dwmflush=<no|windowed|yes|auto>`` Calls ``DwmFlush`` after swapping buffers on Windows (default: auto). It also sets ``SwapInterval(0)`` to ignore the OpenGL timing. Values are: no (disabled), windowed (only in windowed mode), yes (also in full screen).
The value ``auto`` will try to determine whether the compositor is active, and calls ``DwmFlush`` only if it seems to be.
This may help to get more consistent frame intervals, especially with high-fps clips - which might also reduce dropped frames. Typically, a value of ``windowed`` should be enough, since full screen may bypass the DWM.
Windows only.
``--angle-d3d11-feature-level=<11_0|10_1|10_0|9_3>`` Selects a specific feature level when using the ANGLE backend with D3D11. By default, the highest available feature level is used. This option can be used to select a lower feature level, which is mainly useful for debugging. Note that OpenGL ES 3.0 is only supported at feature level 10_1 or higher. Most extended OpenGL features will not work at lower feature levels (similar to ``--gpu-dumb-mode``).
Windows with ANGLE only.
``--angle-d3d11-warp=<yes|no|auto>`` Use WARP (Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform) when using the ANGLE backend with D3D11 (default: auto). This is a high performance software renderer. By default, it is used when the Direct3D hardware does not support Direct3D 11 feature level 9_3. While the extended OpenGL features will work with WARP, they can be very slow.
Windows with ANGLE only.
``--angle-egl-windowing=<yes|no|auto>`` Use ANGLE's built in EGL windowing functions to create a swap chain (default: auto). If this is set to ``no`` and the D3D11 renderer is in use, ANGLE's built in swap chain will not be used and a custom swap chain that is optimized for video rendering will be created instead. If set to ``auto``, a custom swap chain will be used for D3D11 and the built in swap chain will be used for D3D9. This option is mainly for debugging purposes, in case the custom swap chain has poor performance or does not work.
If set to ``yes``, the ``--angle-max-frame-latency``, ``--angle-swapchain-length`` and ``--angle-flip`` options will have no effect.
Windows with ANGLE only.
``--angle-flip=<yes|no>`` Enable flip-model presentation, which avoids unnecessarily copying the backbuffer by sharing surfaces with the DWM (default: yes). This may cause performance issues with older drivers. If flip-model presentation is not supported (for example, on Windows 7 without the platform update), mpv will automatically fall back to the older bitblt presentation model.
If set to ``no``, the ``--angle-swapchain-length`` option will have no effect.
Windows with ANGLE only.
``--angle-renderer=<d3d9|d3d11|auto>`` Forces a specific renderer when using the ANGLE backend (default: auto). In auto mode this will pick D3D11 for systems that support Direct3D 11 feature level 9_3 or higher, and D3D9 otherwise. This option is mainly for debugging purposes. Normally there is no reason to force a specific renderer, though ``--angle-renderer=d3d9`` may give slightly better performance on old hardware. Note that the D3D9 renderer only supports OpenGL ES 2.0, so most extended OpenGL features will not work if this renderer is selected (similar to ``--gpu-dumb-mode``).
Windows with ANGLE only.
``--cocoa-force-dedicated-gpu=<yes|no>`` Deactivates the automatic graphics switching and forces the dedicated GPU. (default: no)
OS X only.
``--android-surface-width=<number>``, ``--android-surface-height=<number>`` Set dimensions of the rendering surface used by the Android gpu context. Needs to be set by the embedding application. Setting these does not re- configure the vo, thus ``vo-resize`` should be called afterwards.
Android with ``--gpu-context=android`` only.
``--swapchain-depth=<N>`` Allow up to N in-flight frames. This essentially controls the frame latency. Increasing the swapchain depth can improve pipelining and prevent missed vsyncs, but increases visible latency. This option only mandates an upper limit, the implementation can use a lower latency than requested internally. A setting of 1 means that the VO will wait for every frame to become visible before starting to render the next frame. (Default: 3)
``--gpu-sw`` Continue even if a software renderer is detected.
``--gpu-context=<sys>`` The value ``auto`` (the default) selects the GPU context. You can also pass ``help`` to get a complete list of compiled in backends (sorted by autoprobe order).
auto auto-select (default) cocoa Cocoa/OS X win Win32/WGL winvk VK_KHR_win32_surface angle Direct3D11 through the OpenGL ES translation layer ANGLE. This supports almost everything the ``win`` backend does (if the ANGLE build is new enough). dxinterop (experimental) Win32, using WGL for rendering and Direct3D 9Ex for presentation. Works on Nvidia and AMD. Newer Intel chips with the latest drivers may also work. d3d11 Win32, with native Direct3D 11 rendering. x11 X11/GLX x11vk VK_KHR_xlib_surface x11probe For internal autoprobing, equivalent to ``x11`` otherwise. Don't use directly, it could be removed without warning as autoprobing is changed. wayland Wayland/EGL waylandvk VK_KHR_wayland_surface drm DRM/EGL x11egl X11/EGL android Android/EGL. Requires ``--wid`` be set to an ``android.view.Surface``. mali-fbdev Direct fbdev/EGL support on some ARM/MALI devices. vdpauglx Use vdpau presentation with GLX as backing. Experimental use only. Using this will have no advantage (other than additional bugs or performance problems), and is for doing experiments only. Will not be used automatically.
``--gpu-api=<type>`` Controls which type of graphics APIs will be accepted:
auto Use any available API (default) opengl Allow only OpenGL (requires OpenGL 2.1+ or GLES 2.0+) vulkan Allow only Vulkan (requires a valid/working ``--spirv-compiler``) d3d11 Allow only ``--gpu-context=d3d11``
``--opengl-es=<mode>`` Controls which type of OpenGL context will be accepted:
auto Allow all types of OpenGL (default) yes Only allow GLES no Only allow desktop/core GL
``--opengl-restrict=<version>`` Restricts all OpenGL versions above a certain version. Versions are encoded in hundreds, i.e. OpenGL 4.5 -> 450. As an example, --opengl-restrict=300 would restrict OpenGL 3.0 and higher, effectively only allowing 2.x contexts. Note that this only imposes a limit on context creation APIs, the actual OpenGL context may still have a higher OpenGL version. (Default: 0)
``--fbo-format=<fmt>`` Selects the internal format of textures used for FBOs. The format can influence performance and quality of the video output. ``fmt`` can be one of: rgb8, rgb10, rgb10_a2, rgb16, rgb16f, rgb32f, rgba12, rgba16, rgba16f, rgba16hf, rgba32f. Default: ``auto``, which maps to rgba16 on desktop GL, and rgba16f or rgb10_a2 on GLES (e.g. ANGLE), unless GL_EXT_texture_norm16 is available.
``--gamma-factor=<0.1..2.0>`` Set an additional raw gamma factor (default: 1.0). If gamma is adjusted in other ways (like with the ``--gamma`` option or key bindings and the ``gamma`` property), the value is multiplied with the other gamma value.
Recommended values based on the environmental brightness:
1.0 Pitch black or dimly lit room (default) 1.1 Moderately lit room, home 1.2 Brightly illuminated room, office
NOTE: This is based around the assumptions of typical movie content, which contains an implicit end-to-end of about 0.8 from scene to display. For bright environments it can be useful to cancel that out.
``--gamma-auto`` Automatically corrects the gamma value depending on ambient lighting conditions (adding a gamma boost for bright rooms).
With ambient illuminance of 16 lux, mpv will pick the 1.0 gamma value (no boost), and slightly increase the boost up until 1.2 for 256 lux.
NOTE: Only implemented on OS X.
``--target-prim=<value>`` Specifies the primaries of the display. Video colors will be adapted to this colorspace when ICC color management is not being used. Valid values are:
auto Disable any adaptation (default) bt.470m ITU-R BT.470 M bt.601-525 ITU-R BT.601 (525-line SD systems, eg. NTSC), SMPTE 170M/240M bt.601-625 ITU-R BT.601 (625-line SD systems, eg. PAL/SECAM), ITU-R BT.470 B/G bt.709 ITU-R BT.709 (HD), IEC 61966-2-4 (sRGB), SMPTE RP177 Annex B bt.2020 ITU-R BT.2020 (UHD) apple Apple RGB adobe Adobe RGB (1998) prophoto ProPhoto RGB (ROMM) cie1931 CIE 1931 RGB (not to be confused with CIE XYZ) dci-p3 DCI-P3 (Digital Cinema Colorspace), SMPTE RP431-2 v-gamut Panasonic V-Gamut (VARICAM) primaries s-gamut Sony S-Gamut (S-Log) primaries
``--target-trc=<value>`` Specifies the transfer characteristics (gamma) of the display. Video colors will be adjusted to this curve when ICC color management is not being used. Valid values are:
auto Disable any adaptation (default) bt.1886 ITU-R BT.1886 curve (assuming infinite contrast) srgb IEC 61966-2-4 (sRGB) linear Linear light output gamma1.8 Pure power curve (gamma 1.8), also used for Apple RGB gamma2.2 Pure power curve (gamma 2.2) gamma2.8 Pure power curve (gamma 2.8), also used for BT.470-BG prophoto ProPhoto RGB (ROMM) pq ITU-R BT.2100 PQ (Perceptual quantizer) curve, aka SMPTE ST2084 hlg ITU-R BT.2100 HLG (Hybrid Log-gamma) curve, aka ARIB STD-B67 v-log Panasonic V-Log (VARICAM) curve s-log1 Sony S-Log1 curve s-log2 Sony S-Log2 curve
.. note::
When using HDR output formats, mpv will encode to the specified curve but it will not set any HDMI flags or other signalling that might be required for the target device to correctly display the HDR signal. The user should independently guarantee this before using these signal formats for display.
``--tone-mapping=<value>`` Specifies the algorithm used for tone-mapping images onto the target display. This is relevant for both HDR->SDR conversion as well as gamut reduction (e.g. playing back BT.2020 content on a standard gamut display). Valid values are:
clip Hard-clip any out-of-range values. Use this when you care about perfect color accuracy for in-range values at the cost of completely distorting out-of-range values. Not generally recommended. mobius Generalization of Reinhard to a Möbius transform with linear section. Smoothly maps out-of-range values while retaining contrast and colors for in-range material as much as possible. Use this when you care about color accuracy more than detail preservation. This is somewhere in between ``clip`` and ``reinhard``, depending on the value of ``--tone-mapping-param``. (default) reinhard Reinhard tone mapping algorithm. Very simple continuous curve. Preserves overall image brightness but uses nonlinear contrast, which results in flattening of details and degradation in color accuracy. hable Similar to ``reinhard`` but preserves both dark and bright details better (slightly sigmoidal), at the cost of slightly darkening / desaturating everything. Developed by John Hable for use in video games. Use this when you care about detail preservation more than color/brightness accuracy. This is roughly equivalent to ``--hdr-tone-mapping=reinhard --tone-mapping-param=0.24``. gamma Fits a logarithmic transfer between the tone curves. linear Linearly stretches the entire reference gamut to (a linear multiple of) the display.
``--tone-mapping-param=<value>`` Set tone mapping parameters. Ignored if the tone mapping algorithm is not tunable. This affects the following tone mapping algorithms:
clip Specifies an extra linear coefficient to multiply into the signal before clipping. Defaults to 1.0. mobius Specifies the transition point from linear to mobius transform. Every value below this point is guaranteed to be mapped 1:1. The higher the value, the more accurate the result will be, at the cost of losing bright details. Defaults to 0.3, which due to the steep initial slope still preserves in-range colors fairly accurately. reinhard Specifies the local contrast coefficient at the display peak. Defaults to 0.5, which means that in-gamut values will be about half as bright as when clipping. gamma Specifies the exponent of the function. Defaults to 1.8. linear Specifies the scale factor to use while stretching. Defaults to 1.0.
``--hdr-compute-peak`` Compute the HDR peak per-frame of relying on tagged metadata. These values are averaged over local regions as well as over several frames to prevent the value from jittering around too much. This option basically gives you dynamic, per-scene tone mapping. Requires compute shaders, which is a fairly recent OpenGL feature, and will probably also perform horribly on some drivers, so enable at your own risk.
``--tone-mapping-desaturate=<value>`` Apply desaturation for highlights. The parameter essentially controls the steepness of the desaturation curve. The higher the parameter, the more aggressively colors will be desaturated. This setting helps prevent unnaturally blown-out colors for super-highlights, by (smoothly) turning into white instead. This makes images feel more natural, at the cost of reducing information about out-of-range colors.
The default of 1.0 provides a good balance that roughly matches the look and feel of the ACES ODT curves. A setting of 0.0 disables this option.
``--gamut-warning`` If enabled, mpv will mark all clipped/out-of-gamut pixels that exceed a given threshold (currently hard-coded to 101%). The affected pixels will be inverted to make them stand out. Note: This option applies after the effects of all of mpv's color space transformation / tone mapping options, so it's a good idea to combine this with ``--tone-mapping=clip`` and use ``--target-prim`` to set the gamut to simulate. For example, ``--target-prim=bt.709`` would make mpv highlight all pixels that exceed the gamut of a standard gamut (sRGB) display. This option also does not work well with ICC profiles, since the 3DLUTs are always generated against the source color space and have chromatically-accurate clipping built in.
``--use-embedded-icc-profile`` Load the embedded ICC profile contained in media files such as PNG images. (Default: yes). Note that this option only works when also using a display ICC profile (``--icc-profile`` or ``--icc-profile-auto``), and also requires LittleCMS 2 support.
``--icc-profile=<file>`` Load an ICC profile and use it to transform video RGB to screen output. Needs LittleCMS 2 support compiled in. This option overrides the ``--target-prim``, ``--target-trc`` and ``--icc-profile-auto`` options.
``--icc-profile-auto`` Automatically select the ICC display profile currently specified by the display settings of the operating system.
NOTE: On Windows, the default profile must be an ICC profile. WCS profiles are not supported.
``--icc-cache-dir=<dirname>`` Store and load the 3D LUTs created from the ICC profile in this directory. This can be used to speed up loading, since LittleCMS 2 can take a while to create a 3D LUT. Note that these files contain uncompressed LUTs. Their size depends on the ``--icc-3dlut-size``, and can be very big.
NOTE: This is not cleaned automatically, so old, unused cache files may stick around indefinitely.
``--icc-intent=<value>`` Specifies the ICC intent used for the color transformation (when using ``--icc-profile``).
0 perceptual 1 relative colorimetric (default) 2 saturation 3 absolute colorimetric
``--icc-3dlut-size=<r>x<g>x<b>`` Size of the 3D LUT generated from the ICC profile in each dimension. Default is 64x64x64. Sizes may range from 2 to 512.
``--icc-contrast=<0-100000>`` Specifies an upper limit on the target device's contrast ratio. This is detected automatically from the profile if possible, but for some profiles it might be missing, causing the contrast to be assumed as infinite. As a result, video may appear darker than intended. This only affects BT.1886 content. The default of 0 means no limit.
``--blend-subtitles=<yes|video|no>`` Blend subtitles directly onto upscaled video frames, before interpolation and/or color management (default: no). Enabling this causes subtitles to be affected by ``--icc-profile``, ``--target-prim``, ``--target-trc``, ``--interpolation``, ``--gamma-factor`` and ``--glsl-shaders``. It also increases subtitle performance when using ``--interpolation``.
The downside of enabling this is that it restricts subtitles to the visible portion of the video, so you can't have subtitles exist in the black margins below a video (for example).
If ``video`` is selected, the behavior is similar to ``yes``, but subs are drawn at the video's native resolution, and scaled along with the video.
.. warning:: This changes the way subtitle colors are handled. Normally, subtitle colors are assumed to be in sRGB and color managed as such. Enabling this makes them treated as being in the video's color space instead. This is good if you want things like softsubbed ASS signs to match the video colors, but may cause SRT subtitles or similar to look slightly off.
``--alpha=<blend-tiles|blend|yes|no>`` Decides what to do if the input has an alpha component.
blend-tiles Blend the frame against a 16x16 gray/white tiles background (default). blend Blend the frame against the background color (``--background``, normally black). yes Try to create a framebuffer with alpha component. This only makes sense if the video contains alpha information (which is extremely rare). May not be supported on all platforms. If alpha framebuffers are unavailable, it silently falls back on a normal framebuffer. Note that if you set the ``--fbo-format`` option to a non-default value, a format with alpha must be specified, or this won't work. This does not work on X11 with EGL and Mesa (freedesktop bug 67676). no Ignore alpha component.
``--opengl-rectangle-textures`` Force use of rectangle textures (default: no). Normally this shouldn't have any advantages over normal textures. Note that hardware decoding overrides this flag. Could be removed any time.
``--background=<color>`` Color used to draw parts of the mpv window not covered by video. See ``--osd-color`` option how colors are defined.
``--gpu-tex-pad-x``, ``--gpu-tex-pad-y`` Enlarge the video source textures by this many pixels. For debugging only (normally textures are sized exactly, but due to hardware decoding interop we may have to deal with additional padding, which can be tested with these options). Could be removed any time.
``--opengl-early-flush=<yes|no|auto>`` Call ``glFlush()`` after rendering a frame and before attempting to display it (default: auto). Can fix stuttering in some cases, in other cases probably causes it. The ``auto`` mode will call ``glFlush()`` only if the renderer is going to wait for a while after rendering, instead of flipping GL front and backbuffers immediately (i.e. it doesn't call it in display-sync mode).
``--gpu-dumb-mode=<yes|no|auto>`` This mode is extremely restricted, and will disable most extended features. That includes high quality scalers and custom shaders!
It is intended for hardware that does not support FBOs (including GLES, which supports it insufficiently), or to get some more performance out of bad or old hardware.
This mode is forced automatically if needed, and this option is mostly useful for debugging. The default of ``auto`` will enable it automatically if nothing uses features which require FBOs.
This option might be silently removed in the future.
``--gpu-shader-cache-dir=<dirname>`` Store and load compiled GLSL shaders in this directory. Normally, shader compilation is very fast, so this is usually not needed. It mostly matters for GPU APIs that require internally recompiling shaders to other languages, for example anything based on ANGLE or Vulkan. Enabling this can improve startup performance on these platforms.
NOTE: This is not cleaned automatically, so old, unused cache files may stick around indefinitely.
``--cuda-decode-device=<auto|0..>`` Choose the GPU device used for decoding when using the ``cuda`` hwdec.
By default, the device that is being used to provide OpenGL output will also be used for decoding (and in the vast majority of cases, only one GPU will be present).
Note that when using the ``cuda-copy`` hwdec, a different option must be passed: ``--vd-lavc-o=gpu=<0..>``.
Miscellaneous-------------
``--display-tags=tag1,tags2,...`` Set the list of tags that should be displayed on the terminal. Tags that are in the list, but are not present in the played file, will not be shown. If a value ends with ``*``, all tags are matched by prefix (though there is no general globbing). Just passing ``*`` essentially filtering.
The default includes a common list of tags, call mpv with ``--list-options`` to see it.
``--mc=<seconds/frame>`` Maximum A-V sync correction per frame (in seconds)
``--autosync=<factor>`` Gradually adjusts the A/V sync based on audio delay measurements. Specifying ``--autosync=0``, the default, will cause frame timing to be based entirely on audio delay measurements. Specifying ``--autosync=1`` will do the same, but will subtly change the A/V correction algorithm. An uneven video framerate in a video which plays fine with ``--no-audio`` can often be helped by setting this to an integer value greater than 1. The higher the value, the closer the timing will be to ``--no-audio``. Try ``--autosync=30`` to smooth out problems with sound drivers which do not implement a perfect audio delay measurement. With this value, if large A/V sync offsets occur, they will only take about 1 or 2 seconds to settle out. This delay in reaction time to sudden A/V offsets should be the only side effect of turning this option on, for all sound drivers.
``--video-sync=<audio|...>`` How the player synchronizes audio and video.
If you use this option, you usually want to set it to ``display-resample`` to enable a timing mode that tries to not skip or repeat frames when for example playing 24fps video on a 24Hz screen.
The modes starting with ``display-`` try to output video frames completely synchronously to the display, using the detected display vertical refresh rate as a hint how fast frames will be displayed on average. These modes change video speed slightly to match the display. See ``--video-sync-...`` options for fine tuning. The robustness of this mode is further reduced by making a some idealized assumptions, which may not always apply in reality. Behavior can depend on the VO and the system's video and audio drivers. Media files must use constant framerate. Section-wise VFR might work as well with some container formats (but not e.g. mkv). If the sync code detects severe A/V desync, or the framerate cannot be detected, the player automatically reverts to ``audio`` mode for some time or permanently. These modes also require a vsync blocked presentation mode. For OpenGL, this translates to ``--opengl-swapinterval=1``. For Vulkan, it translates to ``--vulkan-swap-mode=fifo`` (or ``fifo-relaxed``).
The modes with ``desync`` in their names do not attempt to keep audio/video in sync. They will slowly (or quickly) desync, until e.g. the next seek happens. These modes are meant for testing, not serious use.
:audio: Time video frames to audio. This is the most robust mode, because the player doesn't have to assume anything about how the display behaves. The disadvantage is that it can lead to occasional frame drops or repeats. If audio is disabled, this uses the system clock. This is the default mode. :display-resample: Resample audio to match the video. This mode will also try to adjust audio speed to compensate for other drift. (This means it will play the audio at a different speed every once in a while to reduce the A/V difference.) :display-resample-vdrop: Resample audio to match the video. Drop video frames to compensate for drift. :display-resample-desync: Like the previous mode, but no A/V compensation. :display-vdrop: Drop or repeat video frames to compensate desyncing video. (Although it should have the same effects as ``audio``, the implementation is very different.) :display-adrop: Drop or repeat audio data to compensate desyncing video. See ``--video-sync-adrop-size``. This mode will cause severe audio artifacts if the real monitor refresh rate is too different from the reported or forced rate. :display-desync: Sync video to display, and let audio play on its own. :desync: Sync video according to system clock, and let audio play on its own.
``--video-sync-max-video-change=<value>`` Maximum speed difference in percent that is applied to video with ``--video-sync=display-...`` (default: 1). Display sync mode will be disabled if the monitor and video refresh way do not match within the given range. It tries multiples as well: playing 30 fps video on a 60 Hz screen will duplicate every second frame. Playing 24 fps video on a 60 Hz screen will play video in a 2-3-2-3-... pattern.
The default settings are not loose enough to speed up 23.976 fps video to 25 fps. We consider the pitch change too extreme to allow this behavior by default. Set this option to a value of ``5`` to enable it.
Note that in the ``--video-sync=display-resample`` mode, audio speed will additionally be changed by a small amount if necessary for A/V sync. See ``--video-sync-max-audio-change``.
``--video-sync-max-audio-change=<value>`` Maximum *additional* speed difference in percent that is applied to audio with ``--video-sync=display-...`` (default: 0.125). Normally, the player plays the audio at the speed of the video. But if the difference between audio and video position is too high, e.g. due to drift or other timing errors, it will attempt to speed up or slow down audio by this additional factor. Too low values could lead to video frame dropping or repeating if the A/V desync cannot be compensated, too high values could lead to chaotic frame dropping due to the audio "overshooting" and skipping multiple video frames before the sync logic can react.
``--video-sync-adrop-size=<value>`` For the ``--video-sync=display-adrop`` mode. This mode duplicates/drops audio data to keep audio in sync with video. To avoid audio artifacts on jitter (which would add/remove samples all the time), this is done in relatively large, fixed units, controlled by this option. The unit is seconds.
``--mf-fps=<value>`` Framerate used when decoding from multiple PNG or JPEG files with ``mf://`` (default: 1).
``--mf-type=<value>`` Input file type for ``mf://`` (available: jpeg, png, tga, sgi). By default, this is guessed from the file extension.
``--stream-dump=<destination-filename>`` Instead of playing a file, read its byte stream and write it to the given destination file. The destination is overwritten. Can be useful to test network-related behavior.
``--stream-lavf-o=opt1=value1,opt2=value2,...`` Set AVOptions on streams opened with libavformat. Unknown or misspelled options are silently ignored. (They are mentioned in the terminal output in verbose mode, i.e. ``--v``. In general we can't print errors, because other options such as e.g. user agent are not available with all protocols, and printing errors for unknown options would end up being too noisy.)
``--vo-mmcss-profile=<name>`` (Windows only.) Set the MMCSS profile for the video renderer thread (default: ``Playback``).
``--priority=<prio>`` (Windows only.) Set process priority for mpv according to the predefined priorities available under Windows.
Possible values of ``<prio>``: idle|belownormal|normal|abovenormal|high|realtime
.. warning:: Using realtime priority can cause system lockup.
``--force-media-title=<string>`` Force the contents of the ``media-title`` property to this value. Useful for scripts which want to set a title, without overriding the user's setting in ``--title``.
``--external-files=<file-list>`` Load a file and add all of its tracks. This is useful to play different files together (for example audio from one file, video from another), or for advanced ``--lavfi-complex`` used (like playing two video files at the same time).
Unlike ``--sub-files`` and ``--audio-files``, this includes all tracks, and does not cause default stream selection over the "proper" file. This makes it slightly less intrusive.
This is a list option. See `List Options`_ for details.
``--external-file=<file>`` CLI/config file only alias for ``--external-files-append``. Each use of this option will add a new external files.
``--autoload-files=<yes|no>`` Automatically load/select external files (default: yes).
If set to ``no``, then do not automatically load external files as specified by ``--sub-auto`` and ``--audio-file-auto``. If external files are forcibly added (like with ``--sub-files``), they will not be auto-selected.
This does not affect playlist expansion, redirection, or other loading of referenced files like with ordered chapters.
``--record-file=<file>`` Record the current stream to the given target file. The target file will always be overwritten without asking.
This remuxes the source stream without reencoding, which makes this a highly fragile and experimental feature. It's entirely possible that this writes files which are broken, not standards compliant, not playable with all players (including mpv), or incomplete.
The target file format is determined by the file extension of the target filename. It is recommended to use the same target container as the source container if possible, and preferring Matroska as fallback.
Seeking during stream recording, or enabling/disabling stream recording during playback, can cut off data, or produce "holes" in the output file. These are technical restrictions. In particular, video data or subtitles which were read ahead can produce such holes, which might cause playback problems with various players (including mpv).
The behavior of this option might changed in the future, such as changing it to a template (similar to ``--screenshot-template``), being renamed, removed, or anything else, until it is declared semi-stable.
``--lavfi-complex=<string>`` Set a "complex" libavfilter filter, which means a single filter graph can take input from multiple source audio and video tracks. The graph can result in a single audio or video output (or both).
Currently, the filter graph labels are used to select the participating input tracks and audio/video output. The following rules apply:
- A label of the form ``aidN`` selects audio track N as input (e.g. ``aid1``). - A label of the form ``vidN`` selects video track N as input. - A label named ``ao`` will be connected to the audio output. - A label named ``vo`` will be connected to the video output.
Each label can be used only once. If you want to use e.g. an audio stream for multiple filters, you need to use the ``asplit`` filter. Multiple video or audio outputs are not possible, but you can use filters to merge them into one.
It's not possible to change the tracks connected to the filter at runtime, unless you explicitly change the ``lavfi-complex`` property and set new track assignments. When the graph is changed, the track selection is changed according to the used labels as well.
Other tracks, as long as they're not connected to the filter, and the corresponding output is not connected to the filter, can still be freely changed with the normal methods.
Note that the normal filter chains (``--af``, ``--vf``) are applied between the complex graphs (e.g. ``ao`` label) and the actual output.
.. admonition:: Examples
- ``--lavfi-complex='[aid1] [aid2] amix [ao]'`` Play audio track 1 and 2 at the same time. - ``--lavfi-complex='[vid1] [vid2] vstack [vo]'`` Stack video track 1 and 2 and play them at the same time. Note that both tracks need to have the same width, or filter initialization will fail (you can add ``scale`` filters before the ``vstack`` filter to fix the size). - ``--lavfi-complex='[aid1] asplit [t1] [ao] ; [t1] showvolume [t2] ; [vid1] [t2] overlay [vo]'`` Play audio track 1, and overlay the measured volume for each speaker over video track 1. - ``null:// --lavfi-complex='life [vo]'`` A libavfilter source-only filter (Conways' Life Game).
See the FFmpeg libavfilter documentation for details on the available filters.