mpv (media player)
mpv is free and open-source media player software based on MPlayer, mplayer2 and FFmpeg. It runs on several operating systems, including Unix-like operating systems (Linux, BSD-based, macOS) and Microsoft Windows, along with having an Android port called mpv-android.[7] It is cross-platform, running on ARM, PowerPC, x86/IA-32, x86-64, and MIPS architecture.[5]
Original author(s) | Vincent Lang,[1] MPlayer and mplayer2 developers |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Community |
Initial release | August 7, 2013[2] |
Stable release | 0.36.0[3]
/ 23 July 2023 |
Repository | |
Written in | C, Objective-C, Lua[4] |
Engine |
|
Operating system | BSD-based, Linux, macOS, Windows |
Platform | ARM, PowerPC, x86 / IA-32, x86-64, and MIPS architecture[5] |
Size | Source code: 2.9 MB (tar.gz) |
Type | Media player |
License | GPLv2+, parts under LGPLv2.1+, some optional parts under GPLv3[6] |
Website | mpv |
History
mpv was forked by Vincent Lang, also known as wm4, in 2012 from mplayer2, which was forked in 2010 from MPlayer.[8] The motive for the fork was to encourage developer activity by removing unmaintainable code and dropping support for very old systems. As a result, the project had a large influx of contributions.[9]
Since June 2015, the project's source code is in the process of being relicensed from GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2) or later to GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 (LGPLv2.1) or later to allow using mpv as a library in more applications.[10]
Changes from MPlayer
mpv has had several notable changes[11] since it was forked from MPlayer; the most user-visible being the addition of an on-screen-controller (OSC) minimal GUI integrated with mpv to offer basic mouse-controllability. This was intended to make interaction easier for new users and to enable precise and direct seeking.
- Video websites: By using youtube-dl, mpv natively supports playback of high-definition video (HD) content and audio on YouTube and over 1000 other supported sites.[12] This allows mpv to replace site-specific video players based on Adobe Flash or HTML5.
- High quality video output: mpv includes a customizable video output driver based on OpenGL[13] as well as the Vulkan API,[14] which supports over 100 options for controlling playback quality, including the use of advanced upscaling filters, color management, and customizable pixel shaders.[15]
- Audio scaling algorithm: The player is equipped with a
scaletempo2
parameter for speed changing at constant pitch, for which it uses the Waveform Similarity Overlap-and-add (WSOLA) algorithm, citing more smoothness than the original scaletempo used in the original mplayer, and rubberband.[16] - Improved client API: Beyond working as a stand-alone media player, mpv is designed to be used directly by other applications through a library interface called
libmpv
. This required making all mpv code thread safe. An example of an application which uses libmpv is Plex.[17] This form of player control, along with a JSON IPC mechanism, replaces MPlayer's "slave mode". - Encoding subsystem: mpv includes a new video encoding mode that can be used to save files being played under different formats. This allows mpv to work as a transcoder, supporting many video formats.[18] This feature serves as a direct replacement for the MEncoder component of MPlayer, which was a separate program rather than being built into the player.
- Lua scripting: mpv's behavior and functions are customizable via use of small programs written in the Lua scripting language, which can be used for tasks like cropping video, providing a graphical user interface (GUI) or automatically adjusting the display's refresh rate.[19]
Removed functions
- all support for VCD discs
Interface and graphical front-ends
Like the original MPlayer, mpv is still primarily a command-line application although it has a more advanced user interface than MPlayer that can use not only the keyboard but also the mouse for mpv’s on screen controller (OSC). However, this OSC is still not a full-featured GUI, and there are a number of front-ends available, which use GUI widgets for Qt, GTK, or some other widget toolkit to give mpv a more complete graphical interface.
The following are all open source front-ends of mpv (based on "libmpv" or the command-line version of mpv) which try to provide more features and more user-friendly interface than mpv, and/or better integration with various operating systems or desktop environments.[20]
- Baka MPlayer - media player on Windows, Linux, and macOS although macOS version requires the user to compile from source, with Qt5 widgets, written in C++. Its main goal is uncluttered, simple design.[21] Its development stalled in January 2017 in favor of another mpv frontend by the same developers, Mochi Player, which is not quite finished yet.
- Deepin Movie - for Linux - Written by and default video player for the Chinese Deepin distro and desktop environment.[22]
- Celluloid (formerly GNOME MPV) - for Linux - based on GTK Its goal is to be a simple GTK-based graphical interface for mpv that meets the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines.[23]
- IINA - macOS 10.10+ media player with native macOS Cocoa interface It is a full-featured native macOS graphical interface for mpv that makes use of new features in the most recent versions of macOS. mpv config file and script system are also integrated.[24]
- Kawaii-Player - Linux and Windows 10 - media player and media server with Qt5 widgets. Its goal is to not just be a multimedia player but also an audio/video library manager and portable media server and torrent streaming server/player.[25]
- Media Player Classic Qute Theater (mpc-qt) - Linux and Windows media player with Qt5 widgets, written in C++. Its goal is to reproduce and ultimately improve upon the functionality of Media Player Classic Home Cinema (mpc-hc), a Windows-only program, as a cross-platform mpv-based multimedia player that also works on Unix-like operating systems like Linux.
- mpv.net - Windows media player with native Windows interface. Its goal is to provide the standard mpv OSC interface on Windows along with a customizable Windows context menu, C# scripting, and a Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) for addons.[26]
- OvoPlayer - Linux and Windows music player that supports many backends, based on LCL widgetsets, written in Pascal. Its goal is to be a flexible audio player that supports as many audio engine backends like mpv as possible.[27]
- SMPlayer - full-featured, cross-platform and skinable with advanced features and YouTube and Chromecast support that can use MPlayer or mpv. Available for Microsoft Windows, Linux and macOS, and written in C++ with Qt4/Qt5.[28]
- Sugoi Player - media player on Windows (that might work on Linux and macOS but those are untested) forked from Baka MPlayer, with Qt5 widgets, written in C++. It aims to improve upon and continue development of an mpv frontend based on Baka MPlayer, since Baka MPlayer’s development stalled in January 2017.[29]
- xt7-player-mpv - Linux media player with Qt5 or Qt4 widgets, written in Gambas 3 (a dialect of BASIC). Its goal is usability, and a variety of extra features like YouTube and SHOUTcast integration, media tagging, library and playlist management, as well as adding more features beyond that.[30]
See also
- FFmpeg - recommended decoding library for mpv
- Libav - alternative decoding library for mpv
- libavcodec – API which mpv uses for decoding
- Comparison of video player software
References
- "Contributors to mpv-player". GitHub. 2017-11-04. Archived from the original on 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
- wm4 (2013-08-07). "Release 0.1". MPV.
- "v0.36.0". 23 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- "mpv-player", Analysis Summary, Open Hub, archived from the original on 2017-08-02, retrieved 2016-08-11
- Debian - Details of package mpv
- "Copyright". mpv. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
- "mpv-android - Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
- "MPV, A New Fork Of MPlayer/MPlayer2". Phoronix. Retrieved 2015-01-28.
- "Contributors to mpv-player/mpv". GitHub. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
- wm4. "LGPL relicensing (#2033)". mpv-player/mpv (source code repository). GitHub. Archived from the original on 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
... GPL-incompatible dependencies such as OpenSSL are a big issue for library users, even if the library user is ok with the GPL. ...
- "list of changes from MPlayer". GitHub. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
- "youtube-dl: Supported sites". Retrieved 2016-03-21.
- Sneddon, Joey (2017-09-13). "MPV 0.27 Released with Minor Fixes, New OpenGL Options". OMG! Ubuntu!. Ohso Ltd. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
- Larabel, Michael (2017-12-25). "MPV Player 0.28 Adds Initial Vulkan Support". Phoronix. Phoronix Media. Archived from the original on 2017-12-26. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
- "mpv manual (opengl video output driver section)". Retrieved 2016-03-21.
- "MPV.io".
- "Introducing the Plex Media Player". Retrieved 2015-03-21.
- "mpv manual (encoding section)". Retrieved 2016-03-21.
- "User Scripts - mpv-player/mpv Wiki". GitHub. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
- "Applications using mpv". GitHub. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
- "Baka MPlayer Github page". Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- "Deepin Movie". Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- "Celluloid". Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- "IINA". Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- "Kawaii Player Github Repository". GitHub. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- "mpv.net Github Repository". GitHub. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- "OvoPlayer on Lazarus Wiki". Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- "SMPlayer". Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- "Sugoi Player Github Repository". GitHub. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- "xt7-player Github Repository". GitHub. Retrieved 2022-09-15.