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🎥 Command line media player
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##############a media player##############
:Copyright: GPLv2+:Manual section: 1:Manual group: multimedia
.. contents:: Table of Contents
SYNOPSIS========
| **mpv** [options] [file|URL|PLAYLIST|-]| **mpv** [options] files
DESCRIPTION===========
**mpv** is a media player based on MPlayer and mplayer2. It supports a wide variety of videofile formats, audio and video codecs, and subtitle types. Special input URLtypes are available to read input from a variety of sources other than diskfiles. Depending on platform, a variety of different video and audio outputmethods are supported.
Usage examples to get you started quickly can be found at the end of this manpage.
INTERACTIVE CONTROL===================
mpv has a fully configurable, command-driven control layer which allows youto control mpv using keyboard, mouse, or remote control (there is noLIRC support - configure remotes as input devices instead).
See the ``--input-`` options for ways to customize it.
The following listings are not necessarily complete. See ``etc/input.conf``in the mpv source files for a list of default bindings. User ``input.conf``files and Lua scripts can define additional key bindings.
See `COMMAND INTERFACE`_ and `Key names`_ sections for more details onconfiguring keybindings.
See also ``--input-test`` for interactive binding details by key, and the`stats`_ built-in script for key bindings list (including print to terminal). Bydefault, the ? key toggles the display of this list.
Keyboard Control----------------
LEFT and RIGHT Seek backward/forward 5 seconds. Shift+arrow does a 1 second exact seek (see ``--hr-seek``).
UP and DOWN Seek forward/backward 1 minute. Shift+arrow does a 5 second exact seek (see ``--hr-seek``).
Ctrl+LEFT and Ctrl+RIGHT Seek to the previous/next subtitle. Subject to some restrictions and might not always work; see ``sub-seek`` command.
Ctrl+Shift+LEFT and Ctrl+Shift+RIGHT Adjust subtitle delay so that the previous or next subtitle is displayed now. This is especially useful to sync subtitles to audio.
[ and ] Decrease/increase current playback speed by 10%.
{ and } Halve/double current playback speed.
BACKSPACE Reset playback speed to normal.
Shift+BACKSPACE Undo the last seek. This works only if the playlist entry was not changed. Hitting it a second time will go back to the original position. See ``revert-seek`` command for details.
Shift+Ctrl+BACKSPACE Mark the current position. This will then be used by ``Shift+BACKSPACE`` as revert position (once you seek back, the marker will be reset). You can use this to seek around in the file and then return to the exact position where you left off.
< and > Go backward/forward in the playlist.
ENTER Go forward in the playlist.
p and SPACE Pause (pressing again unpauses).
\. Step forward. Pressing once will pause, every consecutive press will play one frame and then go into pause mode again.
, Step backward. Pressing once will pause, every consecutive press will play one frame in reverse and then go into pause mode again.
q Stop playing and quit.
Q Like ``q``, but store the current playback position. Playing the same file later will resume at the old playback position if possible. See `RESUMING PLAYBACK`_.
/ and * Decrease/increase volume.
KP_DIVIDE and KP_MULTIPLY Decrease/increase volume.
9 and 0 Decrease/increase volume.
m Mute sound.
\_ Cycle through the available video tracks.
\# Cycle through the available audio tracks.
E Cycle through the available Editions.
f Toggle fullscreen (see also ``--fs``).
ESC Exit fullscreen mode.
T Toggle stay-on-top (see also ``--ontop``).
w and W Decrease/increase pan-and-scan range. The ``e`` key does the same as ``W`` currently, but use is discouraged. See ``--panscan`` for more information.
o and P Show progression bar, elapsed time and total duration on the OSD.
O Toggle OSD states between normal and playback time/duration.
v Toggle subtitle visibility.
j and J Cycle through the available subtitles.
z and Z Adjust subtitle delay by -/+ 0.1 seconds. The ``x`` key does the same as ``Z`` currently, but use is discouraged.
l Set/clear A-B loop points. See ``ab-loop`` command for details.
L Toggle infinite looping.
Ctrl++ and Ctrl+- Adjust audio delay (A/V sync) by +/- 0.1 seconds.
Ctrl+KP_ADD and Ctrl+KP_SUBTRACT Adjust audio delay (A/V sync) by +/- 0.1 seconds.
G and F Adjust subtitle font size by +/- 10%.
u Switch between applying only ``--sub-ass-*`` overrides (default) to SSA/ASS subtitles, and overriding them almost completely with the normal subtitle style. See ``--sub-ass-override`` for more info.
V Cycle through which video data gets used for ASS rendering. See ``--sub-ass-use-video-data`` for more info.
r and R Move subtitles up/down. The ``t`` key does the same as ``R`` currently, but use is discouraged.
s Take a screenshot.
S Take a screenshot, without subtitles. (Whether this works depends on VO driver support.)
Ctrl+s Take a screenshot, as the window shows it (with subtitles, OSD, and scaled video).
PGUP and PGDWN Seek to the beginning of the previous/next chapter. In most cases, "previous" will actually go to the beginning of the current chapter; see ``--chapter-seek-threshold``.
Shift+PGUP and Shift+PGDWN Seek backward or forward by 10 minutes. (This used to be mapped to PGUP/PGDWN without Shift.)
b Activate/deactivate debanding.
d Cycle the deinterlacing filter.
A Cycle aspect ratio override.
Ctrl+h Toggle hardware video decoding on/off.
Alt+LEFT, Alt+RIGHT, Alt+UP, Alt+DOWN Move the video rectangle (panning).
Alt++ and Alt+- Change video zoom.
Alt+KP_ADD and Alt+KP_SUBTRACT Change video zoom.
Alt+BACKSPACE Reset the pan/zoom settings.
F8 Show the playlist and the current position in it.
F9 Show the list of audio and subtitle streams.
Ctrl+v Append the file or URL in the clipboard to the playlist. If nothing is currently playing, it is played immediately. Only works on platforms that support the ``clipboard`` property.
i and I Show/toggle an overlay displaying statistics about the currently playing file such as codec, framerate, number of dropped frames and so on. See `STATS`_ for more information.
? Toggle an overlay displaying the active key bindings. See `STATS`_ for more information.
DEL Cycle OSC visibility between never / auto (mouse-move) / always
\` Show the console. (ESC closes it again. See `CONSOLE`_.)
(The following keys are valid only when using a video output that supports thecorresponding adjustment.)
1 and 2 Adjust contrast.
3 and 4 Adjust brightness.
5 and 6 Adjust gamma.
7 and 8 Adjust saturation.
Alt+0 (and Command+0 on macOS) Resize video window to half its original size.
Alt+1 (and Command+1 on macOS) Resize video window to its original size.
Alt+2 (and Command+2 on macOS) Resize video window to double its original size.
Command + f (macOS only) Toggle fullscreen (see also ``--fs``).
(The following keybindings open a selector in the console that lets you choosefrom a list of items by typing part of the desired item, by clicking the desireditem, or by navigating them with keybindings: ``Down`` and ``Ctrl+n`` go down,``Up`` and ``Ctrl+p`` go up, ``Page down`` and ``Ctrl+f`` scroll down one page,and ``Page up`` and ``Ctrl+b`` scroll up one page.)
In track selectors, selecting the current tracks disables it.
g-p Select a playlist entry.
g-s Select a subtitle track.
g-S Select a secondary subtitle track.
g-a Select an audio track.
g-v Select a video track.
g-t Select a track of any type.
g-c Select a chapter.
g-e Select an MKV edition or DVD/Blu-ray title.
g-l Select a subtitle line to seek to. This currently requires ``ffmpeg`` in ``PATH``, or in the same folder as mpv on Windows.
g-d Select an audio device.
g-h Select a file from the watch history. Requires ``--save-watch-history``.
g-w Select a file from watch later config files (see `RESUMING PLAYBACK`_) to resume playing. Requires ``--write-filename-in-watch-later-config``.
g-b Select a defined input binding.
g-r Show the values of all properties.
MENU Show a menu with miscellaneous entries.
See `SELECT`_ for more information.
(The following keys are valid if you have a keyboard with multimedia keys.)
PAUSE Pause.
STOP Stop playing and quit.
PREVIOUS and NEXT Seek backward/forward 1 minute.
ZOOMIN and ZOOMOUT Change video zoom.
If you miss some older key bindings, look at ``etc/restore-old-bindings.conf``in the mpv git repository.
Mouse Control-------------
Left double click Toggle fullscreen on/off.
Right click Toggle pause on/off.
Forward/Back button Skip to next/previous entry in playlist.
Wheel up/down Decrease/increase volume.
Wheel left/right Seek forward/backward 10 seconds.
Ctrl+Wheel up/down Change video zoom.
Context Menu-------------
.. warning::
This feature is experimental. It may not work with all VOs. A libass based fallback may be implemented in the future.
Context Menu is a menu that pops up on the video window on user interaction(mouse right click, etc.).
To use this feature, you need to fill the ``menu-data`` property with menudefinition data, and add a keybinding to run the ``context-menu`` command,which can be done with a user script.
USAGE=====
Command line arguments starting with ``-`` are interpreted as options,everything else as filenames or URLs. All options except *flag* options (orchoice options which include ``yes``) require a parameter in the form``--option=value``.
One exception is the lone ``-`` (without anything else), which means media datawill be read from stdin. Also, ``--`` (without anything else) will make theplayer interpret all following arguments as filenames, even if they start with``-``. (To play a file named ``-``, you need to use ``./-``.)
Every *flag* option has a *no-flag* counterpart, e.g. the opposite of the``--fs`` option is ``--no-fs``. ``--fs=yes`` is same as ``--fs``, ``--fs=no``is the same as ``--no-fs``.
If an option is marked as *(XXX only)*, it will only work in combination withthe *XXX* option or if *XXX* is compiled in.
Legacy option syntax--------------------
The ``--option=value`` syntax is not strictly enforced, and the alternativelegacy syntax ``-option value`` and ``-option=value`` will also work. This ismostly for compatibility with MPlayer. Using these should be avoided. Theirsemantics can change any time in the future.
For example, the alternative syntax will consider an argument following theoption a filename. ``mpv -fs no`` will attempt to play a file named ``no``,because ``--fs`` is a flag option that requires no parameter. If an optionchanges and its parameter becomes optional, then a command line using thealternative syntax will break.
Until mpv 0.31.0, there was no difference whether an option started with ``--``or a single ``-``. Newer mpv releases strictly expect that you pass the optionvalue after a ``=``. For example, before ``mpv --log-file f.txt`` would writea log to ``f.txt``, but now this command line fails, as ``--log-file`` expectsan option value, and ``f.txt`` is simply considered a normal file to be played(as in ``mpv f.txt``).
The future plan is that ``-option value`` will not work anymore, and optionswith a single ``-`` behave the same as ``--`` options.
Escaping spaces and other special characters--------------------------------------------
Keep in mind that the shell will partially parse and mangle the arguments youpass to mpv. For example, you might need to quote or escape options andfilenames:
``mpv "filename with spaces.mkv" --title="window title"``
It gets more complicated if the suboption parser is involved. The suboptionparser puts several options into a single string, and passes them to acomponent at once, instead of using multiple options on the level of thecommand line.
The suboption parser can quote strings with ``"`` and ``[...]``.Additionally, there is a special form of quoting with ``%n%`` described below.
For example, assume the hypothetical ``foo`` filter can take multiple options:
``mpv test.mkv --vf=foo:option1=value1:option2:option3=value3,bar``
This passes ``option1`` and ``option3`` to the ``foo`` filter, with ``option2``as flag (implicitly ``option2=yes``), and adds a ``bar`` filter after that. Ifan option contains spaces or characters like ``,`` or ``:``, you need to quotethem:
``mpv '--vf=foo:option1="option value with spaces",bar'``
Shells may actually strip some quotes from the string passed to the commandline,so the example quotes the string twice, ensuring that mpv receives the ``"``quotes.
The ``[...]`` form of quotes wraps everything between ``[`` and ``]``. It'suseful with shells that don't interpret these characters in the middle ofan argument (like bash). These quotes are balanced (since mpv 0.9.0): the ``[``and ``]`` nest, and the quote terminates on the last ``]`` that has no matching``[`` within the string. (For example, ``[a[b]c]`` results in ``a[b]c``.)
The fixed-length quoting syntax is intended for use with externalscripts and programs.
It is started with ``%`` and has the following format::
%n%string_of_length_n
.. admonition:: Examples
``mpv '--vf=foo:option1=%11%quoted text' test.avi``
Or in a script:
``mpv --vf=foo:option1=%`expr length "$NAME"`%"$NAME" test.avi``
Note: where applicable with JSON-IPC, ``%n%`` is the length in UTF-8 bytes,after decoding the JSON data.
Suboptions passed to the client API are also subject to escaping. Using``mpv_set_option_string()`` is exactly like passing ``--name=data`` to thecommand line (but without shell processing of the string). Some optionssupport passing values in a more structured way instead of flat strings, andcan avoid the suboption parsing mess. For example, ``--vf`` supports``MPV_FORMAT_NODE``, which lets you pass suboptions as a nested data structureof maps and arrays.
Paths-----
Some care must be taken when passing arbitrary paths and filenames to mpv. Forexample, paths starting with ``-`` will be interpreted as options. Likewise,if a path contains the sequence ``://``, the string before that might beinterpreted as protocol prefix, even though ``://`` can be part of a legalUNIX path. To avoid problems with arbitrary paths, you should be sure thatabsolute paths passed to mpv start with ``/``, and prefix relative paths with``./``.
Using the ``file://`` pseudo-protocol is discouraged, because it involvesstrange URL unescaping rules.
The name ``-`` itself is interpreted as stdin, and will cause mpv to disableconsole controls. (Which makes it suitable for playing data piped to stdin.)
The special argument ``--`` can be used to stop mpv from interpreting thefollowing arguments as options.
For paths passed to mpv suboptions (options that have multiple `:` and`,`-separated values), the situation is further complicated by the need toescape special characters. To work around this, the path can instead be wrappedin the "fixed-length" syntax, e.g. ``%n%string_of_length_n`` (see above).
When using the libmpv API, you should strictly avoid using ``mpv_command_string``for invoking the ``loadfile`` command, and instead prefer e.g. ``mpv_command``to avoid the need for filename escaping.
The same applies when you're using the scripting API, where you should avoid using``mp.command``, and instead prefer using "separate parameter" APIs, such as``mp.commandv`` and ``mp.command_native``.
Some mpv options will interpret special meanings for paths starting with ``~``,making it easy to dynamically find special directories, such as referring to thecurrent user's home directory or the mpv configuration directory.
When using the special ``~`` prefix, there must always be a trailing ``/`` afterthe special path prefix. In other words, ``~`` doesn't work, but ``~/`` will work.
The following special paths/keywords are currently recognized:
.. warning::
Beware that if ``--no-config`` is used, all of the "config directory"-based paths (``~~/``, ``~~home/`` and ``~~global/``) will be empty strings.
This means that ``~~home/`` would expand to an empty string, and that sub-paths such as ``~~home/foo/bar"`` would expand to a relative path (``foo/bar``), which may not be what you expected.
Furthermore, any commands that search in config directories will fail to find anything, since there won't be any directories to search in.
Be sure that your scripts can handle these "no config" scenarios.
================ ===============================================================Name Meaning================ ===============================================================``~/`` The current user's home directory (equivalent to ``~/`` and ``$HOME/`` in terminal environments).``~~/`` If the sub-path exists in any of mpv's config directories, then the path of the existing file/dir is returned. Otherwise this is equivalent to ``~~home/``.``~~home/`` mpv's config dir (for example ``~/.config/mpv/``).``~~global/`` The global config path (such as ``/etc/mpv``), if available (not on win32).``~~osxbundle/`` The macOS bundle resource path (macOS only).``~~desktop/`` The path to the desktop (win32, macOS).``~~exe_dir/`` The path to the directory containing ``mpv.exe`` (for config file purposes, ``$MPV_HOME`` will override this) (win32 only).``~~cache/`` The path to application cache data (``~/.cache/mpv/``). On some platforms, this will be the same as ``~~home/``.``~~state/`` The path to application state data (``~/.local/state/mpv/``). On some platforms, this will be the same as ``~~home/``.``~~old_home/`` Do not use.================ ===============================================================
Per-File Options----------------
When playing multiple files, any option given on the command line usuallyaffects all files. Example::
mpv --a file1.mkv --b file2.mkv --c
=============== ===========================File Active options=============== ===========================file1.mkv ``--a --b --c``file2.mkv ``--a --b --c``=============== ===========================
(This is different from MPlayer and mplayer2.)
Also, if any option is changed at runtime (via input commands), they are notreset when a new file is played.
Sometimes, it is useful to change options per-file. This can be achieved byadding the special per-file markers ``--{`` and ``--}``. (Note that you mustescape these on some shells.) Example::
mpv --a file1.mkv --b --\{ --c file2.mkv --d file3.mkv --e --\} file4.mkv --f
=============== ===========================File Active options=============== ===========================file1.mkv ``--a --b --f``file2.mkv ``--a --b --f --c --d --e``file3.mkv ``--a --b --f --c --d --e``file4.mkv ``--a --b --f``=============== ===========================
Additionally, any file-local option changed at runtime is reset when the currentfile stops playing. If option ``--c`` is changed during playback of``file2.mkv``, it is reset when advancing to ``file3.mkv``. This only affectsfile-local options. The option ``--a`` is never reset here.
List Options------------
Some options which store lists of option values can have action suffixes. Forexample, the ``--display-tags`` option takes a ``,``-separated list of tags, butthe option also allows you to append a single tag with ``--display-tags-append``,and the tag name can for example contain a literal ``,`` without the need forescaping.
String list and path list options~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
String lists are separated by ``,``. The strings are not parsed or interpretedby the option system itself. However, most path or file list options use ``:``(Unix) or ``;`` (Windows) as separator, instead of ``,``.
They support the following operations:
============= ===============================================Suffix Meaning============= ===============================================-set Set a list of items (using the list separator, escaped with backslash)-append Append single item (does not interpret escapes)-add Append 1 or more items (same syntax as -set)-pre Prepend 1 or more items (same syntax as -set)-clr Clear the option (remove all items)-del Delete 1 or more items if present (same syntax as -set)-remove Delete item if present (does not interpret escapes)-toggle Append an item, or remove it if it already exists (no escapes)============= ===============================================
``-append`` is meant as a simple way to append a single item without havingto escape the argument (you may still need to escape on the shell level).
Key/value list options~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A key/value list is a list of key/value string pairs. In programming languages,this type of data structure is often called a map or a dictionary. The ordernormally does not matter, although in some cases the order might matter.
They support the following operations:
============= ===============================================Suffix Meaning============= ===============================================-set Set a list of items (using ``,`` as separator)-append Append a single item (escapes for the key, no escapes for the value)-add Append 1 or more items (same syntax as -set)-clr Clear the option (remove all items)-del Delete 1 or more keys if present (same syntax as -set)-remove Delete item by key if present (does not interpret escapes)============= ===============================================
Keys are unique within the list. If an already present key is set, the existingkey is removed before the new value is appended.
If you want to pass a value without interpreting it for escapes or ``,``, it isrecommended to use the ``-append`` variant. When using libmpv, prefer using``MPV_FORMAT_NODE_MAP``; when using a scripting backend or the JSON IPC, use anappropriate structured data type.
Prior to mpv 0.33, ``:`` was also recognized as separator by ``-set``.
Object settings list options~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a very complex option type for some options, such as ``--af`` and ``--vf``.They often require complicated escaping. See `VIDEO FILTERS`_ for details.
They support the following operations:
============= ===============================================Suffix Meaning============= ===============================================-set Set a list of items (using ``,`` as separator)-append Append single item-add Append 1 or more items (same syntax as -set)-pre Prepend 1 or more items (same syntax as -set)-clr Clear the option (remove all items)-remove Delete 1 or items if present (same syntax as -set)-toggle Append an item, or remove it if it already exists-help Pseudo operation that prints a help text to the terminal============= ===============================================
General~~~~~~~
Without suffix, the operation used is normally ``-set``.
Some operations like ``-add`` and ``-pre`` specify multiple items, but beaware that you may need to escape the arguments. ``-append`` accepts a single,unescaped item only (so the ``,`` separator will not be interpreted andis passed on as part of the value).
Some options (like ``--sub-file``, ``--audio-file``, ``--glsl-shader``) arealiases for the proper option with ``-append`` action. For example,``--sub-file`` is an alias for ``--sub-files-append``.
Options of this type can be changed at runtime using the ``change-list``command, which takes the suffix (without the ``-``) as separate operationparameter.
An object settings list can hold up to 100 elements.
CONFIGURATION FILES===================
Location and Syntax-------------------
You can put all of the options in configuration files which will be read everytime mpv is run. The system-wide configuration file 'mpv.conf' is in yourconfiguration directory (e.g. ``/etc/mpv`` or ``/usr/local/etc/mpv``), theuser-specific one is ``~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf``. For details and platformspecifics (in particular Windows paths) see the `FILES`_ section.
User-specific options override system-wide options and options given on thecommand line override both. The syntax of the configuration files is``option=value``. Everything after a *#* is considered a comment. Options thatwork without values can be enabled by setting them to *yes* and disabled bysetting them to *no*, and if the value is omitted, *yes* is implied. Evensuboptions can be specified in this way.
.. admonition:: Example configuration file
::
# Don't allow new windows to be larger than the screen. autofit-larger=100%x100% # Enable hardware decoding if available, =yes is implied. hwdec # Spaces don't have to be escaped. osd-playing-msg=File: ${filename}
Escaping special characters--------------------------------------
This is done like with command line options. A config entry can be quoted with``"``, ``'``, as well as with the fixed-length syntax (``%n%``) mentionedbefore. This is like passing the exact contents of the quoted string as acommand line option. C-style escapes are currently _not_ interpreted on thislevel, although some options do this manually (this is a mess and shouldprobably be changed at some point). The shell is not involved here, so optionvalues only need to be quoted to escape ``#`` anywhere in the value, ``"``,``'`` or ``%`` at the beginning of the value, and leading and trailingwhitespace.
Putting Command Line Options into the Configuration File--------------------------------------------------------
Almost all command line options can be put into the configuration file. Hereis a small guide:
======================= ========================Option Configuration file entry======================= ========================``--flag`` ``flag````-opt val`` ``opt=val````--opt=val`` ``opt=val````-opt "has spaces"`` ``opt=has spaces``======================= ========================
File-specific Configuration Files---------------------------------
You can also write file-specific configuration files. If you wish to have aconfiguration file for a file called 'video.avi', create a file named'video.avi.conf' with the file-specific options in it and put it in``~/.config/mpv/``. You can also put the configuration file in the same directoryas the file to be played. Both require you to set the ``--use-filedir-conf``option (either on the command line or in your global config file). If afile-specific configuration file is found in the same directory, nofile-specific configuration is loaded from ``~/.config/mpv``. In addition, the``--use-filedir-conf`` option enables directory-specific configuration files.For this, mpv first tries to load a mpv.conf from the same directoryas the file played and then tries to load any file-specific configuration.
Profiles--------
To ease working with different configurations, profiles can be defined in theconfiguration files. A profile starts with its name in square brackets,e.g. ``[my-profile]``. All following options will be part of the profile. Adescription (shown by ``--profile=help``) can be defined with the``profile-desc`` option. To end the profile, start another one or use theprofile name ``default`` to continue with normal options.
You can list profiles with ``--profile=help``, and show the contents of aprofile with ``--show-profile=<name>`` (replace ``<name>`` with the profilename). You can apply profiles on start with the ``--profile=<name>`` option,or at runtime with the ``apply-profile <name>`` command.
.. admonition:: Example mpv config file with profiles
::
# normal top-level option fullscreen=yes
# a profile that can be enabled with --profile=big-cache [big-cache] cache=yes demuxer-max-bytes=512MiB demuxer-readahead-secs=20
[network] profile-desc="profile for content over network" force-window=immediate # you can also include other profiles profile=big-cache
[reduce-judder] video-sync=display-resample interpolation=yes
# using a profile again extends it [network] demuxer-max-back-bytes=512MiB # reference a builtin profile profile=fast
Runtime profiles----------------
Profiles can be set at runtime with ``apply-profile`` command. Since thisoperation is "destructive" (every item in a profile is simply set as anoption, overwriting the previous value), you can't just enable and disableprofiles again.
As a partial remedy, there is a way to make profiles save old option valuesbefore overwriting them with the profile values, and then restoring the oldvalues at a later point using ``apply-profile <profile-name> restore``.
This can be enabled with the ``profile-restore`` option, which takes one ofthe following options:
``default`` Does nothing, and nothing can be restored (default).
``copy`` When applying a profile, copy the old values of all profile options to a backup before setting them from the profile. These options are reset to their old values using the backup when restoring.
Every profile has its own list of backed up values. If the backup already exists (e.g. if ``apply-profile name`` was called more than once in a row), the existing backup is no changed. The restore operation will remove the backup.
It's important to know that restoring does not "undo" setting an option, but simply copies the old option value. Consider for example ``vf-add``, appends an entry to ``vf``. This mechanism will simply copy the entire ``vf`` list, and does _not_ execute the inverse of ``vf-add`` (that would be ``vf-remove``) on restoring.
Note that if a profile contains recursive profiles (via the ``profile`` option), the options in these recursive profiles are treated as if they were part of this profile. The referenced profile's backup list is not used when creating or using the backup. Restoring a profile does not restore referenced profiles, only the options of referenced profiles (as if they were part of the main profile).
``copy-equal`` Similar to ``copy``, but restore an option only if it has the same value as the value effectively set by the profile. This tries to deal with the situation when the user does not want the option to be reset after interactively changing it.
.. admonition:: Example
::
[something] profile-restore=copy-equal vf-add=rotate=PI/2 # rotate by 90 degrees
Then running these commands will result in behavior as commented:
::
set vf vflip apply-profile something vf add hflip apply-profile something # vf == vflip,rotate=PI/2,hflip,rotate=PI/2 apply-profile something restore # vf == vflip
Conditional auto profiles-------------------------
Profiles which have the ``profile-cond`` option set are applied automaticallyif the associated condition matches (unless auto profiles are disabled). Theoption takes a string, which is interpreted as Lua expression. If theexpression evaluates as truthy, the profile is applied. If the expressionerrors or evaluates as falsy, the profile is not applied. This Lua codeexecution is not sandboxed.
Any variables in condition expressions can reference properties. If anidentifier is not already defined by Lua or mpv, it is interpreted as property.For example, ``pause`` would return the current pause status. You cannotreference properties with ``-`` this way since that would denote a subtraction,but if the variable name contains any ``_`` characters, they are turned into``-``. For example, ``playback_time`` would return the property``playback-time``.
A more robust way to access properties is using ``p.property_name`` or``get("property-name", default_value)``. The automatic variable to propertymagic will break if a new identifier with the same name is introduced (forexample, if a function named ``pause()`` were added, ``pause`` would return afunction value instead of the value of the ``pause`` property).
Note that if a property is not available, it will return ``nil``, which cancause errors if used in expressions. These are logged in verbose mode, and theexpression is considered to be false.
Whenever a property referenced by a profile condition changes, the conditionis re-evaluated. If the return value of the condition changes from falsy orerror to truthy, the profile is applied.
This mechanism tries to "unapply" profiles once the condition changes fromtruthy to falsy or error. If you want to use this, you need to set``profile-restore`` for the profile. Another possibility it to create anotherprofile with an inverse condition to undo the other profile.
Recursive profiles can be used. But it is discouraged to reference otherconditional profiles in a conditional profile, since this can lead to trickyand unintuitive behavior.
.. admonition:: Example
Make only HD video look funny:
::
[something] profile-desc=HD video sucks profile-cond=width >= 1280 hue=-50
Make only videos containing "youtube" or "youtu.be" in their path brighter:
::
[youtube] profile-cond=path:find('youtu%.?be') gamma=20
If you want the profile to be reverted if the condition goes to false again, you can set ``profile-restore``:
::
[something] profile-desc=Mess up video when entering fullscreen profile-cond=fullscreen profile-restore=copy vf-add=rotate=PI/2 # rotate by 90 degrees
This appends the ``rotate`` filter to the video filter chain when entering fullscreen. When leaving fullscreen, the ``vf`` option is set to the value it had before entering fullscreen. Note that this would also remove any other filters that were added during fullscreen mode by the user. Avoiding this is trickier, and could for example be solved by adding a second profile with an inverse condition and operation:
::
[something] profile-cond=fullscreen vf-add=@rot:rotate=PI/2
[something-inv] profile-cond=not fullscreen vf-remove=@rot
.. warning::
Every time an involved property changes, the condition is evaluated again. If your condition uses ``p.playback_time`` for example, the condition is re-evaluated approximately on every video frame. This is probably slow.
This feature is managed by an internal Lua script. Conditions are executed asLua code within this script. Its environment contains at least the followingthings:
``(function environment table)`` Every Lua function has an environment table. This is used for identifier access. There is no named Lua symbol for it; it is implicit.
The environment does "magic" accesses to mpv properties. If an identifier is not already defined in ``_G``, it retrieves the mpv property of the same name. Any occurrences of ``_`` in the name are replaced with ``-`` before reading the property. The returned value is as retrieved by ``mp.get_property_native(name)``. Internally, a cache of property values, updated by observing the property is used instead, so properties that are not observable will be stuck at the initial value forever.
If you want to access properties, that actually contain ``_`` in the name, use ``get()`` (which does not perform transliteration).
Internally, the environment table has a ``__index`` meta method set, which performs the access logic.
``p`` A "magic" table similar to the environment table. Unlike the latter, this does not prefer accessing variables defined in ``_G`` - it always accesses properties.
``get(name [, def])`` Read a property and return its value. If the property value is ``nil`` (e.g. if the property does not exist), ``def`` is returned.
This is superficially similar to ``mp.get_property_native(name)``. An important difference is that this accesses the property cache, and enables the change detection logic (which is essential to the dynamic runtime behavior of auto profiles). Also, it does not return an error value as second return value.
The "magic" tables mentioned above use this function as backend. It does not perform the ``_`` transliteration.
In addition, the same environment as in a blank mpv Lua script is present. Forexample, ``math`` is defined and gives access to the Lua standard math library.
.. warning::
This feature is subject to change indefinitely. You might be forced to adjust your profiles on mpv updates.
Legacy auto profiles--------------------
Some profiles are loaded automatically using a legacy mechanism. The followingexample demonstrates this:
.. admonition:: Auto profile loading
::
[extension.mkv] profile-desc="profile for .mkv files" vf=vflip
The profile name follows the schema ``type.name``, where type can be``protocol`` for the input/output protocol in use (see ``--list-protocols``),and ``extension`` for the extension of the path of the currently played file(*not* the file format).
This feature is very limited, and is considered soft-deprecated. Use conditionalauto profiles.
Using mpv from other programs or scripts========================================
There are three choices for using mpv from other programs or scripts:
1. Calling it as UNIX process. If you do this, *do not parse terminal output*. The terminal output is intended for humans, and may change any time. In addition, terminal behavior itself may change any time. Compatibility cannot be guaranteed.
Your code should work even if you pass ``--terminal=no``. Do not attempt to simulate user input by sending terminal control codes to mpv's stdin. If you need interactive control, using ``--input-ipc-server`` or ``--input-ipc-client`` is recommended. This gives you access to the `JSON IPC`_ over unix domain sockets (or named pipes on Windows).
Depending on what you do, passing ``--no-config`` or ``--config-dir`` may be a good idea to avoid conflicts with the normal mpv user configuration intended for CLI playback.
Using ``--input-ipc-server`` or ``--input-ipc-client`` is also suitable for purposes like remote control (however, the IPC protocol itself is not "secure" and not intended to be so).
2. Using libmpv. This is generally recommended when mpv is used as playback backend for a completely different application. The provided C API is very close to CLI mechanisms and the scripting API.
Note that even though libmpv has different defaults, it can be configured to work exactly like the CLI player (except command line parsing is unavailable).
See `EMBEDDING INTO OTHER PROGRAMS (LIBMPV)`_.
3. As a user script (`LUA SCRIPTING`_, `JAVASCRIPT`_, `C PLUGINS`_). This is recommended when the goal is to "enhance" the CLI player. Scripts get access to the entire client API of mpv.
This is the standard way to create third-party extensions for the player.
All these access the client API, which is the sum of the various mechanismsprovided by the player core, as documented here: `OPTIONS`_,`List of Input Commands`_, `Properties`_, `List of events`_ (also see C API),`Hooks`_.
TAKING SCREENSHOTS==================
Screenshots of the currently played file can be taken using the 'screenshot'input mode command, which is by default bound to the ``s`` key. Files named``mpv-shotNNNN.jpg`` will be saved in the working directory, using the firstavailable number - no files will be overwritten. In pseudo-GUI mode, thescreenshot will be saved somewhere else. See `PSEUDO GUI MODE`_.
A screenshot will usually contain the unscaled video contents at the end of thevideo filter chain and subtitles. By default, ``S`` takes screenshots withoutsubtitles, while ``s`` includes subtitles.
Unlike with MPlayer, the ``screenshot`` video filter is not required. Thisfilter was never required in mpv, and has been removed.
TERMINAL STATUS LINE====================
During playback, mpv shows the playback status on the terminal. It looks likesomething like this:
``AV: 00:03:12 / 00:24:25 (13%) A-V: -0.000``
The status line can be overridden with the ``--term-status-msg`` option.
The following is a list of things that can show up in the status line. Inputproperties, that can be used to get the same information manually, are alsolisted.
- ``AV:`` or ``V:`` (video only) or ``A:`` (audio only)- The current time position in ``HH:MM:SS`` format (``playback-time`` property)- The total file duration (absent if unknown) (``duration`` property)- Playback speed, e.g. ``x2.0``. Only visible if the speed is not normal. This is the user-requested speed, and not the actual speed (usually they should be the same, unless playback is too slow). (``speed`` property.)- Playback percentage, e.g. ``(13%)``. How much of the file has been played. Normally calculated out of playback position and duration, but can fallback to other methods (like byte position) if these are not available. (``percent-pos`` property.)- The audio/video sync as ``A-V: 0.000``. This is the difference between audio and video time. Normally it should be 0 or close to 0. If it's growing, it might indicate a playback problem. (``avsync`` property.)- Total A/V sync change, e.g. ``ct: -0.417``. Normally invisible. Can show up if there is audio "missing", or not enough frames can be dropped. Usually this will indicate a problem. (``total-avsync-change`` property.)- Encoding state in ``{...}``, only shown in encoding mode.- Display sync state. If display sync is active (``display-sync-active`` property), this shows ``DS: 2.500/13``, where the first number is average number of vsyncs per video frame (e.g. 2.5 when playing 24Hz videos on 60Hz screens), which might jitter if the ratio doesn't round off, or there are mistimed frames (``vsync-ratio``), and the second number of estimated number of vsyncs which took too long (``vo-delayed-frame-count`` property). The latter is a heuristic, as it's generally not possible to determine this with certainty.- Dropped frames, e.g. ``Dropped: 4``. Shows up only if the count is not 0. Can grow if the video framerate is higher than that of the display, or if video rendering is too slow. May also be incremented on "hiccups" and when the video frame couldn't be displayed on time. (``frame-drop-count`` property.) If the decoder drops frames, the number of decoder-dropped frames is appended to the display as well, e.g.: ``Dropped: 4/34``. This happens only if decoder frame dropping is enabled with the ``--framedrop`` options. (``decoder-frame-drop-count`` property.)- Cache state, e.g. ``Cache: 2s/134KB``. Visible if the stream cache is enabled. The first value shows the amount of video buffered in the demuxer in seconds, the second value shows the estimated size of the buffered amount in kilobytes. (``demuxer-cache-duration`` and ``demuxer-cache-state`` properties.)
LOW LATENCY PLAYBACK====================
mpv is optimized for normal video playback, meaning it actually tries to bufferas much data as it seems to make sense. This will increase latency. Reducinglatency is possible only by specifically disabling features which increaselatency.
The builtin ``low-latency`` profile tries to apply some of the options which canreduce latency. You can use ``--profile=low-latency`` to apply all of them. Youcan list the contents with ``--show-profile=low-latency`` (some of the optionsare quite obscure, and may change every mpv release).
Be aware that some of the options can reduce playback quality.
Most latency is actually caused by inconvenient timing behavior. You can disablethis with ``--untimed``, but it will likely break, unless the stream has noaudio, and the input feeds data to the player at a constant rate.
Another common problem is with MJPEG streams. These do not signal the correctframerate. Using ``--untimed`` or ``--correct-pts=no --container-fps-override=60``might help.
For livestreams, data can build up due to pausing the stream, due to slightlylower playback rate, or "buffering" pauses. If the demuxer cache is enabled,these can be skipped manually. The experimental ``drop-buffers`` command canbe used to discard any buffered data, though it's very disruptive.
In some cases, manually tuning TCP buffer sizes and such can help to reducelatency.
Additional options that can be tried:
- ``--opengl-glfinish=yes``, can reduce buffering in the graphics driver- ``--opengl-swapinterval=0``, same- ``--vo=xv``, same- without audio ``--framedrop=no --speed=1.01`` may help for live sources (results can be mixed)
RESUMING PLAYBACK=================
mpv is capable of storing the playback position of the currently playing fileand resume from there the next time that file is played. This is done with thecommands ``quit-watch-later`` (bound to Shift+Q by default) and``write-watch-later-config``, and with the ``--save-position-on-quit`` option.
The difference between always quitting with a key bound to ``quit-watch-later``and using ``--save-position-on-quit`` is that the latter will save the playbackposition even when mpv is closed with a method other than a keybinding, such asclicking the close button in the window title bar. However if mpv is terminatedabruptly and doesn't have the time to save, then the position will not be saved.For example, if you shutdown your system without closing mpv beforehand.
mpv also stores options other than the playback position when they have beenmodified after playback began, for example the volume and selected audio/subtitles,and restores their values the next time the file is played. Which options aresaved can be configured with the ``--watch-later-options`` option.
When playing multiple playlist entries, mpv checks if one them has a resumeconfig file associated, and if it finds one it restarts playback from it. Forexample, if you use ``quit-watch-later`` on the 5th episode of a show, andlater play all the episodes, mpv will automatically resume playback fromepisode 5.
More options to configure this functionality are listed in `Watch Later`_.
PROTOCOLS=========
``http://...``, ``https://``, ...
Many network protocols are supported, but the protocol prefix must always be specified. mpv will never attempt to guess whether a filename is actually a network address. A protocol prefix is always required.
Note that not all prefixes are documented here. Undocumented prefixes are either aliases to documented protocols, or are just redirections to protocols implemented and documented in FFmpeg.
``data:`` is supported, but needs to be in the format ``data://``. This is done to avoid ambiguity with filenames. You can also prefix it with ``lavf://`` or ``ffmpeg://``.
``ytdl://...``
By default, the youtube-dl hook script only looks at http(s) URLs. Prefixing an URL with ``ytdl://`` forces it to be always processed by the script. This can also be used to invoke special youtube-dl functionality like playing a video by ID or invoking search.
Keep in mind that you can't pass youtube-dl command line options by this, and you have to use ``--ytdl-raw-options`` instead.
``-``
Play data from stdin.
``smb://PATH``
Play a path from Samba share. (Requires FFmpeg support.)
``bd://[title][/device]`` ``--bluray-device=PATH``
Play a Blu-ray disc. Since libbluray 1.0.1, you can read from ISO files by passing them to ``--bluray-device``.
``title`` can be: ``longest`` or ``first`` (selects the default playlist); ``mpls/<number>`` (selects <number>.mpls playlist); ``<number>`` (select playlist with the same index). mpv will list the available playlists on loading.
``bluray://`` is an alias.
``dvd://[title][/device]`` ``--dvd-device=PATH``
Play a DVD. DVD menus are not supported. If no title is given, the longest title is auto-selected. Without ``--dvd-device``, it will probably try to open an actual optical drive, if available and implemented for the OS.
``dvdnav://`` is an old alias for ``dvd://`` and does exactly the same thing.
``dvb://[cardnumber@]channel`` ``--dvbin-...``
Digital TV via DVB. (Linux only.)
``mf://[@listfile|filemask|glob|printf-format]`` ``--mf-...``
Play a series of images as video.
If the URL path begins with ``@``, it is interpreted as the path to a file containing a list of image paths separated by newlines. If the URL path contains ``,``, it is interpreted as a list of image paths separated by ``,``. If the URL path does not contain ``%`` and if on POSIX platforms, is interpreted as a glob, and ``*`` is automatically appended if it was not specified. Otherwise, the printf sequences ``%[.][NUM]d``, where ``NUM`` is one, two, or three decimal digits, and ``%%`` and are interpreted. For example, ``mf://image-%d.jpg`` plays files like ``image-1.jpg``, ``image-2.jpg`` and ``image-10.jpg``, provided that there are no big gaps between the files.
``cdda://[device]`` ``--cdrom-device=PATH`` ``--cdda-...``
Play CD.
``lavf://...``
Access any FFmpeg libavformat protocol. Basically, this passed the string after the ``//`` directly to libavformat.
``av://type:options``
This is intended for using libavdevice inputs. ``type`` is the libavdevice demuxer name, and ``options`` is the (pseudo-)filename passed to the demuxer.
.. admonition:: Example
::
mpv av://v4l2:/dev/video0 --profile=low-latency --untimed
This plays video from the first v4l input with nearly the lowest latency possible. It's a good replacement for the removed ``tv://`` input. Using ``--untimed`` is a hack to output a captured frame immediately, instead of respecting the input framerate. (There may be better ways to handle this in the future.)
``avdevice://`` is an alias.
``file://PATH``
A local path as URL. Might be useful in some special use-cases. Note that ``PATH`` itself should start with a third ``/`` to make the path an absolute path.
``appending://PATH``
Play a local file, but assume it's being appended to. This is useful for example for files that are currently being downloaded to disk. This will block playback, and stop playback only if no new data was appended after a timeout of about 2 seconds.
Using this is still a bit of a bad idea, because there is no way to detect if a file is actually being appended, or if it's still written. If you're trying to play the output of some program, consider using a pipe (``something | mpv -``). If it really has to be a file on disk, use tail to make it wait forever, e.g. ``tail -f -c +0 file.mkv | mpv -``.
``fd://123``
Read data from the given file descriptor (for example 123). This is similar to piping data to stdin via ``-``, but can use an arbitrary file descriptor. mpv may modify some file descriptor properties when the stream layer "opens" it.
``fdclose://123``
Like ``fd://``, but the file descriptor is closed after use. When using this you need to ensure that the same fd URL will only be used once.
``edl://[edl specification as in edl-mpv.rst]``
Stitch together parts of multiple files and play them.
``slice://start[-end]@URL``
Read a slice of a stream.
``start`` and ``end`` represent a byte range and accept suffixes such as ``KiB`` and ``MiB``. ``end`` is optional.
if ``end`` starts with ``+``, it is considered as offset from ``start``.
Only works with seekable streams.
Examples::
mpv slice://1g-2g@cap.ts
This starts reading from cap.ts after seeking 1 GiB, then reads until reaching 2 GiB or end of file.
mpv slice://1g-+2g@cap.ts
This starts reading from cap.ts after seeking 1 GiB, then reads until reaching 3 GiB or end of file.
mpv slice://100m@appending://cap.ts
This starts reading from cap.ts after seeking 100MiB, then reads until end of file.
``null://``
Simulate an empty file. If opened for writing, it will discard all data. The ``null`` demuxer will specifically pass autoprobing if this protocol is used (while it's not automatically invoked for empty files).
``memory://data``
Use the ``data`` part as source data.
``hex://data``
Like ``memory://``, but the string is interpreted as hexdump.
PSEUDO GUI MODE===============
mpv has no official GUI, other than the OSC (`ON SCREEN CONTROLLER`_), whichis not a full GUI and is not meant to be. However, to compensate for the lackof expected GUI behavior, mpv will in some cases start with some settingschanged to behave slightly more like a GUI mode.
Currently this happens only in the following cases:
- if started using the ``mpv.desktop`` file on Linux (e.g. started from menus or file associations provided by desktop environments)- if started from explorer.exe on Windows (technically, if it was started on Windows, and all of the stdout/stderr/stdin handles are unset)- started out of the bundle on macOS- if you manually use ``--player-operation-mode=pseudo-gui`` on the command line
This mode applies options from the builtin profile ``builtin-pseudo-gui``, butonly if these haven't been set in the user's config file or on the command line,which is the main difference to using ``--profile=builtin-pseudo-gui``.
The profile is currently defined as follows:
::
[builtin-pseudo-gui] terminal=no force-window=yes idle=once screenshot-directory=~~desktop/
The ``pseudo-gui`` profile exists for compatibility. The options in the``pseudo-gui`` profile are applied unconditionally. In addition, the profilemakes sure to enable the pseudo-GUI mode, so that ``--profile=pseudo-gui``works like in older mpv releases:
::
[pseudo-gui] player-operation-mode=pseudo-gui
.. warning::
Currently, you can extend the ``pseudo-gui`` profile in the config file the normal way. This is deprecated. In future mpv releases, the behavior might change, and not apply your additional settings, and/or use a different profile name.
.. include:: options.rst
.. include:: ao.rst
.. include:: vo.rst
.. include:: af.rst
.. include:: vf.rst
.. include:: encode.rst
.. include:: input.rst
.. include:: osc.rst
.. include:: stats.rst
.. include:: console.rst
.. include:: select.rst
.. include:: lua.rst
.. include:: javascript.rst
.. include:: ipc.rst
.. include:: changes.rst
.. include:: libmpv.rst
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES=====================
There are a number of environment variables that can be used to control thebehavior of mpv.
``HOME``, ``XDG_CONFIG_HOME`` Used to determine mpv config directory. If ``XDG_CONFIG_HOME`` is not set, ``$HOME/.config/mpv`` is used.
``$HOME/.mpv`` is always added to the list of config search paths with a lower priority.
``MPV_HOME`` Directory where mpv looks for user settings. Overrides ``HOME``, and mpv will try to load the config file as ``$MPV_HOME/mpv.conf``.
``MPV_VERBOSE`` (see also ``-v`` and ``--msg-level``) Set the initial verbosity level across all message modules (default: 0). This is an integer, and the resulting verbosity corresponds to the number of ``--v`` options passed to the command line.
``MPV_LEAK_REPORT`` If set to ``1``, enable internal talloc leak reporting. If set to another value, disable leak reporting. If unset, use the default, which normally is ``0``. If mpv was built with ``--enable-ta-leak-report``, the default is ``1``. If leak reporting was disabled at compile time (``NDEBUG`` in custom ``CFLAGS``), this environment variable is ignored.
``LADSPA_PATH`` Specifies the search path for LADSPA plugins. If it is unset, fully qualified path names must be used.
``DISPLAY`` Standard X11 display name to use.
FFmpeg: This library accesses various environment variables. However, they are not centrally documented, and documenting them is not our job. Therefore, this list is incomplete.
Notable environment variables:
``http_proxy`` URL to proxy for ``http://`` and ``https://`` URLs.
``no_proxy`` List of domain patterns for which no proxy should be used. List entries are separated by ``,``. Patterns can include ``*``.
libdvdcss: ``DVDCSS_CACHE`` Specify a directory in which to store title key values. This will speed up descrambling of DVDs which are in the cache. The ``DVDCSS_CACHE`` directory is created if it does not exist, and a subdirectory is created named after the DVD's title or manufacturing date. If ``DVDCSS_CACHE`` is not set or is empty, libdvdcss will use the default value which is ``${HOME}/.dvdcss/`` under Unix and the roaming application data directory (``%APPDATA%``) under Windows. The special value "off" disables caching.
``DVDCSS_METHOD`` Sets the authentication and decryption method that libdvdcss will use to read scrambled discs. Can be one of ``title``, ``key`` or ``disc``.
key is the default method. libdvdcss will use a set of calculated player keys to try to get the disc key. This can fail if the drive does not recognize any of the player keys.
disc is a fallback method when key has failed. Instead of using player keys, libdvdcss will crack the disc key using a brute force algorithm. This process is CPU intensive and requires 64 MB of memory to store temporary data.
title is the fallback when all other methods have failed. It does not rely on a key exchange with the DVD drive, but rather uses a crypto attack to guess the title key. On rare cases this may fail because there is not enough encrypted data on the disc to perform a statistical attack, but on the other hand it is the only way to decrypt a DVD stored on a hard disc, or a DVD with the wrong region on an RPC2 drive.
``DVDCSS_RAW_DEVICE`` Specify the raw device to use. Exact usage will depend on your operating system, the Linux utility to set up raw devices is raw(8) for instance. Please note that on most operating systems, using a raw device requires highly aligned buffers: Linux requires a 2048 bytes alignment (which is the size of a DVD sector).
``DVDCSS_VERBOSE`` Sets the libdvdcss verbosity level.
:0: Outputs no messages at all. :1: Outputs error messages to stderr. :2: Outputs error messages and debug messages to stderr.
``DVDREAD_NOKEYS`` Skip retrieving all keys on startup. Currently disabled.
``HOME`` FIXME: Document this.
EXIT CODES==========
Normally **mpv** returns 0 as exit code after finishing playback successfully.If errors happen, the following exit codes can be returned:
:1: Error initializing mpv. This is also returned if unknown options are passed to mpv. :2: The file passed to mpv couldn't be played. This is somewhat fuzzy: currently, playback of a file is considered to be successful if initialization was mostly successful, even if playback fails immediately after initialization. :3: There were some files that could be played, and some files which couldn't (using the definition of success from above). :4: Quit due to a signal, Ctrl+c in a VO window (by default), or from the default quit key bindings in encoding mode.
Note that quitting the player manually will always lead to exit code 0,overriding the exit code that would be returned normally. Also, the ``quit``input command can take an exit code: in this case, that exit code is returned.
FILES=====
Note that this section assumes Linux/BSD. On other platforms the paths may be different.For Windows-specifics, see `FILES ON WINDOWS`_ section.
All configuration files should be encoded in UTF-8.
``/usr/local/etc/mpv/mpv.conf`` mpv system-wide settings (depends on ``--prefix`` passed to configure - mpv in default configuration will use ``/usr/local/etc/mpv/`` as config directory, while most Linux distributions will set it to ``/etc/mpv/``).
``~/.cache/mpv`` The standard cache directory. Certain options within mpv may cause it to write cache files to disk. This can be overridden by environment variables, in ascending order:
:1: If ``$XDG_CACHE_HOME`` is set, then the derived cache directory will be ``$XDG_CACHE_HOME/mpv``. :2: If ``$MPV_HOME`` is set, then the derived cache directory will be ``$MPV_HOME``.
If the directory does not exist, mpv will try to create it automatically.
``~/.config/mpv`` The standard configuration directory. This can be overridden by environment variables, in ascending order:
:1: If ``$XDG_CONFIG_HOME`` is set, then the derived configuration directory will be ``$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mpv``. :2: If ``$MPV_HOME`` is set, then the derived configuration directory will be ``$MPV_HOME``.
If this directory, nor the original configuration directory (see below) do not exist, mpv tries to create this directory automatically.
``~/.mpv/`` The original (pre 0.5.0) configuration directory. It will continue to be read if present. If this directory is present and the standard configuration directory is not present, then cache files and watch later config files will also be written to this directory.
If both this directory and the standard configuration directory are present, configuration will be read from both with the standard configuration directory content taking precedence. However, you should fully migrate to the standard directory and a warning will be shown in this situation.
``~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf`` mpv user settings (see `CONFIGURATION FILES`_ section)
``~/.config/mpv/input.conf`` key bindings (see `INPUT.CONF`_ section)
``~/.config/mpv/fonts.conf`` Fontconfig fonts.conf that is customized for mpv. You should include system fonts.conf in this file or mpv would not know about fonts that you already have in the system.
Only available when libass is built with fontconfig.
``~/.config/mpv/subfont.ttf`` fallback subtitle font
``~/.config/mpv/fonts/`` Default location for ``--sub-fonts-dir`` (see `Subtitles`_) and ``--osd-fonts-dir`` (see `OSD`_).
``~/.config/mpv/scripts/`` All files in this directory are loaded as if they were passed to the ``--script`` option. They are loaded in alphabetical order.
The ``--load-scripts=no`` option disables loading these files.
See `Script location`_ for details.
``~/.local/state/mpv/watch_later/`` Contains temporary config files needed for resuming playback of files with the watch later feature. See for example the ``Q`` key binding, or the ``quit-watch-later`` input command.
This can be overridden by environment variables, in ascending order:
:1: If ``$XDG_STATE_HOME`` is set, then the derived watch later directory will be ``$XDG_STATE_HOME/mpv/watch_later``. :2: If ``$MPV_HOME`` is set, then the derived watch later directory will be ``$MPV_HOME/watch_later``.
Each file is a small config file which is loaded if the corresponding media file is loaded. It contains the playback position and some (not necessarily all) settings that were changed during playback. The filenames are hashed from the full paths of the media files. It's in general not possible to extract the media filename from this hash. However, you can set the ``--write-filename-in-watch-later-config`` option, and the player will add the media filename to the contents of the resume config file.
``~/.config/mpv/script-opts/osc.conf`` This is loaded by the OSC script. See the `ON SCREEN CONTROLLER`_ docs for details.
Other files in this directory are specific to the corresponding scripts as well, and the mpv core doesn't touch them.
FILES ON WINDOWS================
On win32 (if compiled with MinGW, but not Cygwin), the default config filelocations are different. They are generally located under ``%APPDATA%/mpv/``.For example, the path to mpv.conf is ``%APPDATA%/mpv/mpv.conf``, which maps toa system and user-specific path, for example
``C:\users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\mpv\mpv.conf``
You can find the exact path by running ``echo %APPDATA%\mpv\mpv.conf`` in cmd.exe.
Other config files (such as ``input.conf``) are in the same directory. See the`FILES`_ section above.
The cache directory is located at ``%LOCALAPPDATA%/mpv/cache``.
The watch_later directory is located at ``%LOCALAPPDATA%/mpv/watch_later``.
The environment variable ``$MPV_HOME`` completely overrides these, like onUNIX.
If a directory named ``portable_config`` next to the mpv.exe exists, allconfig will be loaded from this directory only. Watch later config files andcache files are written to this directory as well. (This exists on Windowsonly and is redundant with ``$MPV_HOME``. However, since Windows is veryscripting unfriendly, a wrapper script just setting ``$MPV_HOME``, like youcould do it on other systems, won't work. ``portable_config`` is provided forconvenience to get around this restriction.)
Config files located in the same directory as ``mpv.exe`` are loaded withlower priority. Some config files are loaded only once, which means thate.g. of 2 ``input.conf`` files located in two config directories, only theone from the directory with higher priority will be loaded.
A third config directory with the lowest priority is the directory named ``mpv``in the same directory as ``mpv.exe``. This used to be the directory with thehighest priority, but is now discouraged to use and might be removed in thefuture.
Note that mpv likes to mix ``/`` and ``\`` path separators for simplicity.kernel32.dll accepts this, but cmd.exe does not.
FILES ON MACOS==============
On macOS the watch later directory is located at ``~/.config/mpv/watch_later/``and the cache directory is set to ``~/Library/Caches/io.mpv/``. These directoriescan't be overwritten by environment variables.Everything else is the same as `FILES`_.