MPlayer

mplayer − movie player
mencoder − movie encoder

mplayer [options] [file|URL|playlist|−]
mplayer [options] file1 [specific options] [file2] [specific options]
mplayer [options] {group of files and options} [group-specific options]
mplayer [dvd|dvdnav]://[title|[start_title]−end_title][/device] [options]
mplayer vcd://track[/device]
mplayer tv://[channel][/input_id] [options]
mplayer radio://[channel|frequency][/capture] [options]
mplayer pvr:// [options]
mplayer dvb://[card_number@]channel [options]
mplayer mf://[filemask|@listfile] [−mf options] [options]
mplayer [cdda|cddb]://track[−endtrack][:speed][/device] [options]
mplayer cue://file[:track] [options]
mplayer [file|mms[t]|http|http_proxy|rt[s]p|ftp|udp|unsv|icyx|noicyx|smb]:// [user:pass@]URL[:port] [options]
mplayer sdp://file [options]
mplayer mpst://host[:port]/URL [options]
mplayer tivo://host/[list|llist|fsid] [options]
gmplayer [options] [−skin skin]
mencoder [options] file [file|URL|−] [−o file | file://file | smb://[user:pass@]host/filepath]
mencoder [options] file1 [specific options] [file2] [specific options]

mplayer is a movie player for Linux (runs on many other platforms and CPU architectures, see the documentation). It plays most MPEG/VOB, AVI, ASF/WMA/WMV, RM, QT/MOV/MP4, Ogg/OGM, MKV, VIVO, FLI, NuppelVideo, yuv4mpeg, FILM and RoQ files, supported by many native and binary codecs. You can watch VCD, SVCD, DVD, 3ivx, DivX 3/4/5, WMV and even H.264 movies, too.

MPlayer supports a wide range of video and audio output drivers. It works with X11, Xv, DGA, OpenGL, SVGAlib, fbdev, AAlib, libcaca, DirectFB, Quartz, Mac OS X CoreVideo, but you can also use GGI, SDL (and all their drivers), VESA (on every VESA-compatible card, even without X11), some low-level card-specific drivers (for Matrox, 3dfx and ATI) and some hardware MPEG decoder boards, such as the Siemens DVB, Hauppauge PVR (IVTV), DXR2 and DXR3/Hollywood+. Most of them support software or hardware scaling, so you can enjoy movies in fullscreen mode.

MPlayer has an onscreen display (OSD) for status information, nice big antialiased shaded subtitles and visual feedback for keyboard controls. European/ISO8859-1,2 (Hungarian, English, Czech, etc), Cyrillic and Korean fonts are supported along with 12 subtitle formats (MicroDVD, SubRip, OGM, SubViewer, Sami, VPlayer, RT, SSA, AQTitle, JACOsub, PJS and our own: MPsub) and DVD subtitles (SPU streams, VOBsub and Closed Captions).

mencoder (MPlayer’s Movie Encoder) is a simple movie encoder, designed to encode MPlayer-playable movies (see above) to other MPlayer-playable formats (see below). It encodes to MPEG-4 (DivX/Xvid), one of the libavcodec codecs and PCM/MP3/VBRMP3 audio in 1, 2 or 3 passes. Furthermore it has stream copying abilities, a powerful filter system (crop, expand, flip, postprocess, rotate, scale, noise, RGB/YUV conversion) and more.

gmplayer is MPlayer with a graphical user interface. It has the same options as MPlayer.

Usage examples to get you started quickly can be found at the end of this man page.

Also see the HTML documentation!

MPlayer has a fully configurable, command-driven control layer which allows you to control MPlayer using keyboard, mouse, joystick or remote control (with LIRC). See the −input option for ways to customize it.

keyboard control

<− and −>

Seek backward/forward 10 seconds.

up and down

Seek forward/backward 1 minute.

pgup and pgdown

Seek forward/backward 10 minutes.

[ and ]

Decrease/increase current playback speed by 10%.

{ and }

Halve/double current playback speed.

backspace

Reset playback speed to normal.

< and >

Go backward/forward in the playlist.

ENTER

Go forward in the playlist, even over the end.

HOME and END

next/previous playtree entry in the parent list

INS and DEL (ASX playlist only)

next/previous alternative source.

p / SPACE

Pause (pressing again unpauses).

.

Step forward. Pressing once will pause movie, every consecutive press will play one frame and then go into pause mode again (any other key unpauses).

q / ESC

Stop playing and quit.

U

Stop playing (and quit if −idle is not used).

+ and −

Adjust audio delay by +/− 0.1 seconds.

/ and *

Decrease/increase volume.

9 and 0

Decrease/increase volume.

( and )

Adjust audio balance in favor of left/right channel.

m

Mute sound.

_ (MPEG-TS, AVI and libavformat only)

Cycle through the available video tracks.

# (DVD, MPEG, Matroska, AVI and libavformat only)

Cycle through the available audio tracks.

TAB (MPEG-TS and libavformat only)

Cycle through the available programs.

f

Toggle fullscreen (also see −fs).

T

Toggle stay-on-top (also see −ontop).

w and e

Decrease/increase pan-and-scan range.

o

Toggle OSD states: none / seek / seek + timer / seek + timer + total time.

d

Toggle frame dropping states: none / skip display / skip decoding (see −framedrop and −hardframedrop).

v

Toggle subtitle visibility.

j

Cycle through the available subtitles.

y and g

Step forward/backward in the subtitle list.

F

Toggle displaying "forced subtitles".

a

Toggle subtitle alignment: top / middle / bottom.

x and z

Adjust subtitle delay by +/− 0.1 seconds.

r and t

Move subtitles up/down.

i (−edlout mode only)

Set start or end of an EDL skip and write it out to the given file.

s (−vf screenshot only)

Take a screenshot.

S (−vf screenshot only)

Start/stop taking screenshots.

I

Show filename on the OSD.

! and @

Seek to the beginning of the previous/next chapter.

D (−vo xvmc, −vo vdpau, −vf yadif, −vf kerndeint only)

Activate/deactivate deinterlacer.

A

Cycle through the available DVD angles.

(The following keys are valid only when using a hardware accelerated video output (xv, (x)vidix, (x)mga, etc), the software equalizer (−vf eq or −vf eq2) or hue filter (−vf hue).)

1 and 2

Adjust contrast.

3 and 4

Adjust brightness.

5 and 6

Adjust hue.

7 and 8

Adjust saturation.

(The following keys are valid only when using the quartz or corevideo video output driver.)

command + 0

Resize movie window to half its original size.

command + 1

Resize movie window to its original size.

command + 2

Resize movie window to double its original size.

command + f

Toggle fullscreen (also see −fs).

command + [ and command + ]

Set movie window alpha.

(The following keys are valid only when using the sdl video output driver.)

c

Cycle through available fullscreen modes.

n

Restore original mode.

(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.

(The following keys are only valid if GUI support is compiled in and will take precedence over the keys defined above.)

ENTER

Start playing.

ESC

Stop playing.

l

Load file.

t

Load subtitle.

c

Open skin browser.

p

Open playlist.

r

Open preferences.

(The following keys are only valid if you compiled with TV or DVB input support and will take precedence over the keys defined above.)

h and k

Select previous/next channel.

n

Change norm.

u

Change channel list.

(The following keys are only valid if you compiled with dvdnav support: They are used to navigate the menus.)

keypad 8

Select button up.

keypad 2

Select button down.

keypad 4

Select button left.

keypad 6

Select button right.

keypad 5

Return to main menu.

keypad 7

Return to nearest menu (the order of preference is: chapter->title->root).

keypad ENTER

Confirm choice.

(The following keys are only valid if teletext support is enabled during compilation: They are used for controlling TV teletext.)

X

Switch teletext on/off.

Q and W

Go to next/prev teletext page.

mouse control

button 3 and button 4

Seek backward/forward 1 minute.

button 5 and button 6

Decrease/increase volume.

joystick control

left and right

Seek backward/forward 10 seconds.

up and down

Seek forward/backward 1 minute.

button 1

Pause.

button 2

Toggle OSD states: none / seek / seek + timer / seek + timer + total time.

button 3 and button 4

Decrease/increase volume.

Every ’flag’ option has a ’noflag’ counterpart, e.g. the opposite of the −fs option is −nofs.

If an option is marked as (XXX only), it will only work in combination with the XXX option or if XXX is compiled in.

NOTE: The suboption parser (used for example for −ao pcm suboptions) supports a special kind of string-escaping intended for use with external GUIs.
It has the following format:
%n%string_of_length_n
EXAMPLES:
mplayer −ao pcm:file=%10%C:test.wav test.avi
Or in a script:
mplayer −ao pcm:file=%‘expr length "$NAME"‘%"$NAME" test.avi

You can put all of the options in configuration files which will be read every time MPlayer/MEncoder is run. The system-wide configuration file ’mplayer.conf’ is in your configuration directory (e.g. /etc/ mplayer or /usr/local/etc/mplayer), the user specific one is ’~/ .mplayer/config’. The configuration file for MEncoder is ’mencoder.conf’ in your configuration directory (e.g. /etc/mplayer or /usr/local/etc/mplayer), the user specific one is ’~/.mplayer/ mencoder.conf’. User specific options override system-wide options and options given on the command line override either. The syntax of the configuration files is ’option=<value>’, everything after a ’#’ is considered a comment. Options that work without values can be enabled by setting them to ’yes’ or ’1’ or ’true’ and disabled by setting them to ’no’ or ’0’ or ’false’. Even suboptions can be specified in this way.

You can also write file-specific configuration files. If you wish to have a configuration file for a file called ’movie.avi’, create a file named ’movie.avi.conf’ with the file-specific options in it and put it in ~/.mplayer/. You can also put the configuration file in the same directory as the file to be played, as long as you give the −use−filedir−conf option (either on the command line or in your global config file).

EXAMPLE MPLAYER CONFIGURATION FILE:

# Use Matrox driver by default.
vo=xmga
# I love practicing handstands while watching videos.
flip=yes
# Decode/encode multiple files from PNG,
# start with mf://filemask
mf=type=png:fps=25
# Eerie negative images are cool.
vf=eq2=1.0:−0.8

EXAMPLE MENCODER CONFIGURATION FILE:

# Make MEncoder output to a default filename.
o=encoded.avi
# The next 4 lines allow mencoder tv:// to start capturing immediately.
oac=pcm=yes
ovc=lavc=yes
lavcopts=vcodec=mjpeg
tv=driver=v4l2:input=1:width=768:height=576:device=/dev/video0:audiorate=48000
# more complex default encoding option set
lavcopts=vcodec=mpeg4:autoaspect=1
lameopts=aq=2:vbr=4
ovc=lavc=1
oac=lavc=1
passlogfile=pass1stats.log
noautoexpand=1
subfont-autoscale=3
subfont-osd-scale=6
subfont-text-scale=4
subalign=2
subpos=96
spuaa=20

To ease working with different configurations profiles can be defined in the configuration files. A profile starts with its name between square brackets, e.g. ’[my-profile]’. All following options will be part of the profile. A description (shown by −profile help) can be defined with the profile-desc option. To end the profile, start another one or use the profile name ’default’ to continue with normal options.

EXAMPLE MPLAYER PROFILE:

[protocol.dvd]
profile-desc="profile for dvd:// streams"
vf=pp=hb/vb/dr/al/fd
alang=en

[protocol.dvdnav]
profile-desc="profile for dvdnav:// streams"
profile=protocol.dvd
mouse-movements=yes
nocache=yes

[extension.flv]
profile-desc="profile for .flv files"
flip=yes

[vo.pnm]
outdir=/tmp

[ao.alsa]
device=spdif

EXAMPLE MENCODER PROFILE:

[mpeg4]
profile-desc="MPEG4 encoding"
ovc=lacv=yes
lavcopts=vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=1200

[mpeg4−hq]
profile-desc="HQ MPEG4 encoding"
profile=mpeg4
lavcopts=mbd=2:trell=yes:v4mv=yes

−codecs−file <filename> (also see −afm, −ac, −vfm, −vc)

Override the standard search path and use the specified file instead of the builtin codecs.conf.

−include <configuration file>

Specify configuration file to be parsed after the default ones.

−list−options

Prints all available options.

−msgcharset <charset>

Convert console messages to the specified character set (default: autodetect). Text will be in the encoding specified with the −−charset configure option. Set this to "noconv" to disable conversion (for e.g. iconv problems).
NOTE: The option takes effect after command line parsing has finished. The MPLAYER_CHARSET environment variable can help you get rid of the first lines of garbled output.

−msgcolor

Enable colorful console output on terminals that support ANSI color.

−msglevel <all=<level>:<module>=<level>:...>

Control verbosity directly for each module. The ’all’ module changes the verbosity of all the modules not explicitly specified on the command line. See ’−msglevel help’ for a list of all modules.
NOTE: Some messages are printed before the command line is parsed and are therefore not affected by −msglevel. To control these messages you have to use the MPLAYER_VERBOSE environment variable, see its description below for details.
Available levels:

−1

complete silence

0

fatal messages only

1

error messages

2

warning messages

3

short hints

4

informational messages

5

status messages (default)

6

verbose messages

7

debug level 2

8

debug level 3

9

debug level 4

−msgmodule

Prepend module name in front of each console message.

−noconfig <options>

Do not parse selected configuration files.
NOTE: If −include or −use−filedir−conf options are specified at the command line, they will be honoured.

Available options are:

all

all configuration files

gui (GUI only)

GUI configuration file

system

system configuration file

user

user configuration file

−quiet

Make console output less verbose; in particular, prevents the status line (i.e. A: 0.7 V: 0.6 A-V: 0.068 ...) from being displayed. Particularly useful on slow terminals or broken ones which do not properly handle carriage return (i.e. \r).

−priority <prio> (Windows and OS/2 only)

Set process priority for MPlayer according to the predefined priorities available under Windows and OS/2. Possible values of <prio>:

idle|belownormal|normal|abovenormal|high|realtime

WARNING: Using realtime priority can cause system lockup.

−profile <profile1,profile2,...>

Use the given profile(s), −profile help displays a list of the defined profiles.

−really−quiet (also see −quiet)

Display even less output and status messages than with −quiet. Also suppresses the GUI error message boxes.

−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.
WARNING: May be dangerous if playing from untrusted media.

−v

Increment verbosity level, one level for each −v found on the command line.

−autoq <quality> (use with −vf [s]pp)

Dynamically changes the level of postprocessing depending on the available spare CPU time. The number you specify will be the maximum level used. Usually you can use some big number. You have to use −vf [s]pp without parameters in order for this to work.

−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 movie which plays fine with −nosound 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 −nosound. 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.

−benchmark

Prints some statistics on CPU usage and dropped frames at the end of playback. Use in combination with −nosound and −vo null for benchmarking only the video codec.
NOTE: With this option MPlayer will also ignore frame duration when playing only video (you can think of that as infinite fps).

−colorkey <number>

Changes the colorkey to an RGB value of your choice. 0x000000 is black and 0xffffff is white. Only supported by the cvidix, fbdev, svga, vesa, winvidix, xmga, xvidix, xover, xv (see −vo xv:ck), xvmc (see −vo xv:ck) and directx video output drivers.

−nocolorkey

Disables colorkeying. Only supported by the cvidix, fbdev, svga, vesa, winvidix, xmga, xvidix, xover, xv (see −vo xv:ck), xvmc (see −vo xv:ck) and directx video output drivers.

−correct−pts (EXPERIMENTAL)

Switches MPlayer to an experimental mode where timestamps for video frames are calculated differently and video filters which add new frames or modify timestamps of existing ones are supported. The more accurate timestamps can be visible for example when playing subtitles timed to scene changes with the −ass option. Without −correct−pts the subtitle timing will typically be off by some frames. This option does not work correctly with some demuxers and codecs.

−crash−debug (DEBUG CODE)

Automatically attaches gdb upon crash or SIGTRAP. Support must be compiled in by configuring with −−enable−crash−debug.

−doubleclick−time

Time in milliseconds to recognize two consecutive button presses as a double-click (default: 300). Set to 0 to let your windowing system decide what a double-click is (−vo directx only).
NOTE: You will get slightly different behaviour depending on whether you bind MOUSE_BTN0_DBL or MOUSE_BTN0−MOUSE_BTN0_DBL.

−edlout <filename>

Creates a new file and writes edit decision list (EDL) records to it. During playback, the user hits ’i’ to mark the start or end of a skip block. This provides a starting point from which the user can fine-tune EDL entries later. See http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/edl.html for details.

−enqueue (GUI only)

Enqueue files given on the command line in the playlist instead of playing them immediately.

−fixed−vo

Enforces a fixed video system for multiple files (one (un)initialization for all files). Therefore only one window will be opened for all files. Currently the following drivers are fixed-vo compliant: gl, gl2, mga, svga, x11, xmga, xv, xvidix and dfbmga.

−framedrop (also see −hardframedrop, experimental without −nocorrect−pts)

Skip displaying some frames to maintain A/V sync on slow systems. Video filters are not applied to such frames. For B-frames even decoding is skipped completely.

−(no)gui

Enable or disable the GUI interface (default depends on binary name). Only works as the first argument on the command line. Does not work as a config-file option.

−h, −help, −−help

Show short summary of options.

−hardframedrop (experimental without −nocorrect−pts)

More intense frame dropping (breaks decoding). Leads to image distortion! Note that especially the libmpeg2 decoder may crash with this, so consider using "−vc ffmpeg12,".

−heartbeat−cmd

Command that is executed every 30 seconds during playback via system() - i.e. using the shell.

NOTE: MPlayer uses this command without any checking, it is your responsibility to ensure it does not cause security problems (e.g. make sure to use full paths if "." is in your path like on Windows). It also only works when playing video (i.e. not with −novideo but works with −vo null).

This can be "misused" to disable screensavers that do not support the proper X API (also see −stop−xscreensaver). If you think this is too complicated, ask the author of the screensaver program to support the proper X APIs.

EXAMPLE for xscreensaver: mplayer −heartbeat−cmd "xscreensaver−command −deactivate" file

EXAMPLE for GNOME screensaver: mplayer −heartbeat−cmd "gnome−screensaver−command −p" file

−identify

Shorthand for −msglevel identify=4. Show file parameters in an easily parseable format. Also prints more detailed information about subtitle and audio track languages and IDs. In some cases you can get more information by using −msglevel identify=6. For example, for a DVD it will list the chapters and time length of each title, as well as a disk ID. Combine this with −frames 0 to suppress all output. The wrapper script TOOLS/midentify.sh suppresses the other MPlayer output and (hopefully) shellescapes the filenames.

−idle (also see −slave)

Makes MPlayer wait idly instead of quitting when there is no file to play. Mostly useful in slave mode where MPlayer can be controlled through input commands.

−input <commands>

This option can be used to configure certain parts of the input system. Paths are relative to ~/.mplayer/.
NOTE: Autorepeat is currently only supported by joysticks.

Available commands are:

conf=<filename>

Specify input configuration file other than the default ~/.mplayer/input.conf. ~/.mplayer/<filename> is assumed if no full path is given.

ar-dev=<device>

Device to be used for Apple IR Remote (default is autodetected, Linux only).

ar-delay

Delay in milliseconds before we start to autorepeat a key (0 to disable).

ar-rate

Number of key presses to generate per second on autorepeat.

(no)default-bindings

Use the key bindings that MPlayer ships with by default.

keylist

Prints all keys that can be bound to commands.

cmdlist

Prints all commands that can be bound to keys.

js-dev

Specifies the joystick device to use (default: /dev/ input/js0).

file=<filename>

Read commands from the given file. Mostly useful with a FIFO.
NOTE: When the given file is a FIFO MPlayer opens both ends so you can do several ’echo "seek 10" > mp_pipe’ and the pipe will stay valid.

−key−fifo−size <2−65000>

Specify the size of the FIFO that buffers key events (default: 7). A FIFO of size n can buffer (n−1) events. If it is too small some events may be lost (leading to "stuck mouse buttons" and similar effects). If it is too big, MPlayer may seem to hang while it processes the buffered events. To get the same behavior as before this option was introduced, set it to 2 for Linux or 1024 for Windows.

−lircconf <filename> (LIRC only)

Specifies a configuration file for LIRC (default: ~/.lircrc).

−list−properties

Print a list of the available properties.

−loop <number>

Loops movie playback <number> times. 0 means forever.

−menu (OSD menu only)

Turn on OSD menu support.

−menu−cfg <filename> (OSD menu only)

Use an alternative menu.conf.

−menu−chroot <path> (OSD menu only)

Chroot the file selection menu to a specific location.

EXAMPLE:

−menu−chroot /home

Will restrict the file selection menu to /home and downward (i.e. no access to / will be possible, but /home/user_name will).

−menu−keepdir (OSD menu only)

File browser starts from the last known location instead of current directory.

−menu−root <value> (OSD menu only)

Specify the main menu.

−menu−startup (OSD menu only)

Display the main menu at MPlayer startup.

−mouse−movements

Permit MPlayer to receive pointer events reported by the video output driver. Necessary to select the buttons in DVD menus. Supported for X11 based VOs (x11, xv, xvmc, etc.) and the gl, gl2, direct3d and corevideo VOs.

−noar

Turns off AppleIR remote support.

−noconsolecontrols

Prevent MPlayer 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 slave commands.

−nojoystick

Turns off joystick support.

−nolirc

Turns off LIRC support.

−nomouseinput

Disable mouse button press/release input (mozplayerxp’s context menu relies on this option).

−rtc (RTC only)

Turns on usage of the Linux RTC (realtime clock − /dev/rtc) as timing mechanism. This wakes up the process every 1/1024 seconds to check the current time. Useless with modern Linux kernels configured for desktop use as they already wake up the process with similar accuracy when using normal timed sleep.

−playing−msg <string>

Print out a string before starting playback. The following expansions are supported:

${NAME}

Expand to the value of the property NAME.

?(NAME:TEXT)

Expand TEXT only if the property NAME is available.

?(!NAME:TEXT)

Expand TEXT only if the property NAME is not available.

−playlist <filename>

Play files according to a playlist file (ASX, Winamp, SMIL, or one-file-per-line format).
NOTE: This option is considered an entry so options found after it will apply only to the elements of this playlist.
FIXME: This needs to be clarified and documented thoroughly.

−rtc−device <device>

Use the specified device for RTC timing.

−shuffle

Play files in random order.

−skin <name> (GUI only)

Loads a skin from the directory given as parameter below the default skin directories, /usr/local/share/mplayer/skins/ and ~/.mplayer/skins/.

EXAMPLE:

−skin fittyfene

Tries /usr/local/share/mplayer/skins/fittyfene and afterwards ~/.mplayer/skins/fittyfene.

−slave (also see −input)

Switches on slave mode, in which MPlayer works as a backend for other programs. Instead of intercepting keyboard events, MPlayer will read commands separated by a newline (\n) from stdin.
NOTE: See −input cmdlist for a list of slave commands and DOCS/tech/slave.txt for their description. Also, this is not intended to disable other inputs, e.g. via the video window, use some other method like −input nodefault−binds:conf=/dev/null for that.

−softsleep

Time frames by repeatedly checking the current time instead of asking the kernel to wake up MPlayer at the correct time. Useful if your kernel timing is imprecise and you cannot use the RTC either. Comes at the price of higher CPU consumption.

−sstep <sec>

Skip <sec> seconds after every frame. The normal framerate of the movie is kept, so playback is accelerated. Since MPlayer can only seek to the next keyframe this may be inexact.

−a52drc <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 and 1 (which is the default) means full compression (make loud passages more silent and vice versa). This option only shows an effect if the AC-3 stream contains the required range compression information.

−aid <ID> (also see −alang)

Select audio channel (MPEG: 0−31, AVI/OGM: 1−99, ASF/RM: 0−127, VOB(AC-3): 128−159, VOB(LPCM): 160−191, MPEG-TS 17−8190). MPlayer prints the available audio IDs when run in verbose (−v) mode. When playing an MPEG-TS stream, MPlayer/MEncoder will use the first program (if present) with the chosen audio stream.

−ausid <ID> (also see −alang)

Select audio substream channel. Currently the valid range is 0x55..0x75 and applies only to MPEG-TS when handled by the native demuxer (not by libavformat). The format type may not be correctly identified because of how this information (or lack thereof) is embedded in the stream, but it will demux correctly the audio streams when multiple substreams are present. MPlayer prints the available substream IDs when run with −identify.

−alang <language code[,language code,...]> (also see −aid)

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. MPlayer prints the available languages when run in verbose (−v) mode.

EXAMPLE:

mplayer dvd://1 −alang hu,en

Chooses the Hungarian language track on a DVD and falls back on English if Hungarian is not available.

mplayer −alang jpn example.mkv

Plays a Matroska file in Japanese.

−audio−demuxer <[+]name> (−audiofile only)

Force audio demuxer type for −audiofile. Use a ’+’ before the name to force it, this will skip some checks! Give the demuxer name as printed by −audio−demuxer help. For backward compatibility it also accepts the demuxer ID as defined in libmpdemux/demuxer.h. −audio−demuxer audio or −audio−demuxer 17 forces MP3.

−audiofile <filename>

Play audio from an external file (WAV, MP3 or Ogg Vorbis) while viewing a movie.

−audiofile−cache <kBytes>

Enables caching for the stream used by −audiofile, using the specified amount of memory.

−reuse−socket (udp:// only)

Allows a socket to be reused by other processes as soon as it is closed.

−bandwidth <value> (network only)

Specify the maximum bandwidth for network streaming (for servers that are able to send content in different bitrates). Useful if you want to watch live streamed media behind a slow connection. With Real RTSP streaming, it is also used to set the maximum delivery bandwidth allowing faster cache filling and stream dumping.

−cache <kBytes>

This option specifies how much memory (in kBytes) to use when precaching a file or URL. Especially useful on slow media.

−nocache

Turns off caching.

−cache−min <percentage>

Playback will start when the cache has been filled up to <percentage> of the total.

−cache−seek−min <percentage>

If a seek is to be made to a position within <percentage> of the cache size from the current position, MPlayer will wait for the cache to be filled to this position rather than performing a stream seek (default: 50).

−cdda <option1:option2> (CDDA only)

This option can be used to tune the CD Audio reading feature of MPlayer.

Available options are:

speed=<value>

Set CD spin speed.

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

generic-dev=<value>

Use specified generic SCSI device.

sector-size=<value>

Set atomic read size.

overlap=<value>

Force minimum overlap search during verification to <value> sectors.

toc-bias

Assume that the beginning offset of track 1 as reported in the TOC will be addressed as LBA 0. Some Toshiba drives need this for getting track boundaries correct.

toc-offset=<value>

Add <value> sectors to the values reported when addressing tracks. May be negative.

(no)skip

(Never) accept imperfect data reconstruction.

−cdrom−device <path to device>

Specify the CD-ROM device (default: /dev/cdrom).

−channels <number> (also see −af channels)

Request the number of playback channels (default: 2). MPlayer asks the decoder to decode the audio into as many channels as specified. Then it is up to the decoder to fulfill the requirement. This is usually only important when playing videos with AC-3 audio (like DVDs). In that case liba52 does the decoding by default and correctly downmixes the audio into the requested number of channels. To directly control the number of output channels independently of how many channels are decoded, use the channels filter.
NOTE: This option is honored by codecs (AC-3 only), filters (surround) and audio output drivers (OSS at least).

Available options are:

2

stereo

4

surround

6

full 5.1

−chapter <chapter ID>[−<endchapter ID>] (dvd:// and dvdnav:// only)

Specify which chapter to start playing at. Optionally specify which chapter to end playing at (default: 1).

−cookies (network only)

Send cookies when making HTTP requests.

−cookies−file <filename> (network only)

Read HTTP cookies from <filename> (default: ~/.mozilla/ and ~/.netscape/) and skip reading from default locations. The file is assumed to be in Netscape format.

−delay <sec>

audio delay in seconds (positive or negative float value)
Negative values delay the audio, and positive values delay the video. Note that this is the exact opposite of the −audio−delay MEncoder option.
NOTE: When used with MEncoder, this is not guaranteed to work correctly with −ovc copy; use −audio−delay instead.

−ignore−start

Ignore the specified starting time for streams in AVI files. In MPlayer, this nullifies stream delays in files encoded with the −audio−delay option. During encoding, this option prevents MEncoder from transferring original stream start times to the new file; the −audio−delay option is not affected. Note that MEncoder sometimes adjusts stream starting times automatically to compensate for anticipated decoding delays, so do not use this option for encoding without testing it first.

−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. For backward compatibility it also accepts the demuxer ID as defined in libmpdemux/demuxer.h.

−dumpaudio (MPlayer only)

Dumps raw compressed audio stream to ./stream.dump (useful with MPEG/AC-3, in most other cases the resulting file will not be playable). If you give more than one of −dumpaudio, −dumpvideo, −dumpstream on the command line only the last one will work.

−dumpfile <filename> (MPlayer only)

Specify which file MPlayer should dump to. Should be used together with −dumpaudio / −dumpvideo / −dumpstream.

−dumpstream (MPlayer only)

Dumps the raw stream to ./stream.dump. Useful when ripping from DVD or network. If you give more than one of −dumpaudio, −dumpvideo, −dumpstream on the command line only the last one will work.

−dumpvideo (MPlayer only)

Dump raw compressed video stream to ./stream.dump (not very usable). If you give more than one of −dumpaudio, −dumpvideo, −dumpstream on the command line only the last one will work.

−dvbin <options> (DVB only)

Pass the following parameters to the DVB input module, in order to override the default ones:

card=<1−4>

Specifies using card number 1−4 (default: 1).

file=<filename>

Instructs MPlayer to read the channels list from <filename>. Default is ~/.mplayer/ channels.conf.{sat,ter,cbl,atsc} (based on your card type) or ~/.mplayer/channels.conf as a last resort.

timeout=<1−30>

Maximum number of seconds to wait when trying to tune a frequency before giving up (default: 30).

−dvd−device <path to device> (DVD only)

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).

−dvd−speed <factor or speed in KB/s> (DVD only)

Try to limit DVD speed (default: 0, no change). DVD base speed is about 1350KB/s, so a 8x drive can read at speeds up to 10800KB/s. Slower speeds make the drive more quiet, for watching DVDs 2700KB/s should be quiet and fast enough. MPlayer resets the speed to the drive default value on close. Values less than 100 mean multiples of 1350KB/s, i.e. −dvd−speed 8 selects 10800KB/s.
NOTE: You need write access to the DVD device to change the speed.

−dvdangle <angle ID> (DVD only)

Some DVD discs contain scenes that can be viewed from multiple angles. Here you can tell MPlayer which angles to use (default: 1).

−edl <filename>

Enables edit decision list (EDL) actions during playback. Video will be skipped over and audio will be muted and unmuted according to the entries in the given file. See http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/edl.html for details on how to use this.

−endpos <[[hh:]mm:]ss[.ms]|size[b|kb|mb]> (also see −ss and −sb)

Stop at given time or byte position.
NOTE: Byte position is enabled only for MEncoder and will not be accurate, as it can only stop at a frame boundary. When used in conjunction with −ss option, −endpos time will shift forward by seconds specified with −ss.

EXAMPLE:

−endpos 56

Stop at 56 seconds.

−endpos 01:10:00

Stop at 1 hour 10 minutes.

−ss 10 −endpos 56

Stop at 1 minute 6 seconds.

−endpos 100mb

Encode only 100 MB.

−forceidx

Force index rebuilding. Useful for files with broken index (A/V desync, etc). This will enable seeking in files where seeking was not possible. You can fix the index permanently with MEncoder (see the documentation).
NOTE: This option only works if the underlying media supports seeking (i.e. not with stdin, pipe, etc).

−fps <float value>

Override video framerate. Useful if the original value is wrong or missing.

−frames <number>

Play/convert only first <number> frames, then quit.

−hr−mp3−seek (MP3 only)

Hi-res MP3 seeking. Enabled when playing from an external MP3 file, as we need to seek to the very exact position to keep A/V sync. Can be slow especially when seeking backwards since it has to rewind to the beginning to find an exact frame position.

−idx (also see −forceidx)

Rebuilds index of files if no index was found, allowing seeking. Useful with broken/incomplete downloads, or badly created files.
NOTE: This option only works if the underlying media supports seeking (i.e. not with stdin, pipe, etc).

−noidx

Skip rebuilding index file. MEncoder skips writing the index with this option.

−ipv4−only−proxy (network only)

Skip the proxy for IPv6 addresses. It will still be used for IPv4 connections.

−loadidx <index file>

The file from which to read the video index data saved by −saveidx. This index will be used for seeking, overriding any index data contained in the AVI itself. MPlayer will not prevent you from loading an index file generated from a different AVI, but this is sure to cause unfavorable results.
NOTE: This option is obsolete now that MPlayer has OpenDML support.

−mc <seconds/frame>

maximum A-V sync correction per frame (in seconds)

−mf <option1:option2:...>

Used when decoding from multiple PNG or JPEG files.

Available options are:

w=<value>

input file width (default: autodetect)

h=<value>

input file height (default: autodetect)

fps=<value>

output fps (default: 25)

type=<value>

input file type (available: jpeg, png, tga, sgi)

−ni (AVI only)

Force usage of non-interleaved AVI parser (fixes playback of some bad AVI files).

−nobps (AVI only)

Do not use average byte/second value for A-V sync. Helps with some AVI files with broken header.

−noextbased

Disables extension-based demuxer selection. By default, when the file type (demuxer) cannot be detected reliably (the file has no header or it is not reliable enough), the filename extension is used to select the demuxer. Always falls back on content-based demuxer selection.

−passwd <password> (also see −user) (network only)

Specify password for HTTP authentication.

−prefer−ipv4 (network only)

Use IPv4 on network connections. Falls back on IPv6 automatically.

−prefer−ipv6 (IPv6 network only)

Use IPv6 on network connections. Falls back on IPv4 automatically.

−psprobe <byte position>

When playing an MPEG-PS or MPEG-PES streams, this option lets you specify how many bytes in the stream you want MPlayer to scan in order to identify the video codec used. This option is needed to play EVO or VDR files containing H.264 streams.

−pvr <option1:option2:...> (PVR only)

This option tunes various encoding properties of the PVR capture module. It has to be used with any hardware MPEG encoder based card supported by the V4L2 driver. The Hauppauge WinTV PVR−150/250/350/500 and all IVTV based cards are known as PVR capture cards. Be aware that only Linux 2.6.18 kernel and above is able to handle MPEG stream through V4L2 layer. For hardware capture of an MPEG stream and watching it with MPlayer/MEncoder, use ’pvr://’ as a movie URL.

Available options are:

aspect=<0−3>

Specify input aspect ratio:

0: 1:1
1: 4:3 (default)
2: 16:9
3: 2.21:1

arate=<32000−48000>

Specify encoding audio rate (default: 48000 Hz, available: 32000, 44100 and 48000 Hz).

alayer=<1−3>

Specify MPEG audio layer encoding (default: 2).

abitrate=<32−448>

Specify audio encoding bitrate in kbps (default: 384).

amode=<value>

Specify audio encoding mode. Available preset values are ’stereo’, ’joint_stereo’, ’dual’ and ’mono’ (default: stereo).

vbitrate=<value>

Specify average video bitrate encoding in Mbps (default: 6).

vmode=<value>

Specify video encoding mode:

vbr: Variable BitRate (default)
cbr: Constant BitRate

vpeak=<value>

Specify peak video bitrate encoding in Mbps (only useful for VBR encoding, default: 9.6).

fmt=<value>

Choose an MPEG format for encoding:

ps: MPEG-2 Program Stream (default)
ts: MPEG-2 Transport Stream
mpeg1: MPEG-1 System Stream
vcd: Video CD compatible stream
svcd: Super Video CD compatible stream
dvd: DVD compatible stream

−radio <option1:option2:...> (radio only)

These options set various parameters of the radio capture module. For listening to radio with MPlayer use ’radio://<frequency>’ (if channels option is not given) or ’radio://<channel_number>’ (if channels option is given) as a movie URL. You can see allowed frequency range by running MPlayer with ’−v’. To start the grabbing subsystem, use ’radio://<frequency or channel>/capture’. If the capture keyword is not given you can listen to radio using the line-in cable only. Using capture to listen is not recommended due to synchronization problems, which makes this process uncomfortable.

Available options are:

device=<value>

Radio device to use (default: /dev/radio0 for Linux and /dev/tuner0 for *BSD).

driver=<value>

Radio driver to use (default: v4l2 if available, otherwise v4l). Currently, v4l and v4l2 drivers are supported.

volume=<0..100>

sound volume for radio device (default 100)

freq_min=<value> (*BSD BT848 only)

minimum allowed frequency (default: 87.50)

freq_max=<value> (*BSD BT848 only)

maximum allowed frequency (default: 108.00)

channels=<frequency>−<name>,<frequency>−<name>,...

Set channel list. Use _ for spaces in names (or play with quoting ;-). The channel names will then be written using OSD and the slave commands radio_step_channel and radio_set_channel will be usable for a remote control (see LIRC). If given, number in movie URL will be treated as channel position in channel list.
EXAMPLE: radio://1, radio://104.4, radio_set_channel 1

adevice=<value> (radio capture only)

Name of device to capture sound from. Without such a name capture will be disabled, even if the capture keyword appears in the URL. For ALSA devices use it in the form hw=<card>.<device>. If the device name contains a ’=’, the module will use ALSA to capture, otherwise OSS.

arate=<value> (radio capture only)

Rate in samples per second (default: 44100).
NOTE: When using audio capture set also −rawaudio rate=<value> option with the same value as arate. If you have problems with sound speed (runs too quickly), try to play with different rate values (e.g. 48000,44100,32000,...).

achannels=<value> (radio capture only)

Number of audio channels to capture.

−rawaudio <option1:option2:...>

This option lets you play raw audio files. You have to use −demuxer rawaudio as well. It may also be used to play audio CDs which are not 44kHz 16-bit stereo. For playing raw AC-3 streams use −rawaudio format=0x2000 −demuxer rawaudio.

Available options are:

channels=<value>

number of channels

rate=<value>

rate in samples per second

samplesize=<value>

sample size in bytes

bitrate=<value>

bitrate for rawaudio files

format=<value>

fourcc in hex

−rawvideo <option1:option2:...>

This option lets you play raw video files. You have to use −demuxer rawvideo as well.

Available options are:

fps=<value>

rate in frames per second (default: 25.0)

sqcif|qcif|cif|4cif|pal|ntsc

set standard image size

w=<value>

image width in pixels

h=<value>

image height in pixels

i420|yv12|yuy2|y8

set colorspace

format=<value>

colorspace (fourcc) in hex or string constant. Use −rawvideo format=help for a list of possible strings.

size=<value>

frame size in Bytes

EXAMPLE:

mplayer foreman.qcif -demuxer rawvideo -rawvideo qcif

Play the famous "foreman" sample video.

mplayer sample-720x576.yuv -demuxer rawvideo -rawvideo w=720:h=576

Play a raw YUV sample.

−rtsp−port

Used with ’rtsp://’ URLs to force the client’s port number. This option may be useful if you are behind a router and want to forward the RTSP stream from the server to a specific client.

−rtsp−destination

Used with ’rtsp://’ URLs to force the destination IP address to be bound. This option may be useful with some RTSP server which do not send RTP packets to the right interface. If the connection to the RTSP server fails, use −v to see which IP address MPlayer tries to bind to and try to force it to one assigned to your computer instead.

−rtsp−stream−over−tcp (LIVE555 and NEMESI only)

Used with ’rtsp://’ URLs to specify that the resulting incoming RTP and RTCP packets be streamed over TCP (using the same TCP connection as RTSP). This option may be useful if you have a broken internet connection that does not pass incoming UDP packets (see http://www.live555.com/mplayer/).

−saveidx <filename>

Force index rebuilding and dump the index to <filename>. Currently this only works with AVI files.
NOTE: This option is obsolete now that MPlayer has OpenDML support.

−sb <byte position> (also see −ss)

Seek to byte position. Useful for playback from CD-ROM images or VOB files with junk at the beginning.

−speed <0.01−100>

Slow down or speed up playback by the factor given as parameter. Not guaranteed to work correctly with −oac copy.

−srate <Hz>

Selects 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 resample or lavcresample audio filter will be inserted into the audio filter layer to compensate for the difference. The type of resampling can be controlled by the −af−adv option. The default is fast resampling that may cause distortion.

−ss <time> (also see −sb)

Seek to given time position.

EXAMPLE:

−ss 56

Seeks to 56 seconds.

−ss 01:10:00

Seeks to 1 hour 10 min.

−tskeepbroken

Tells MPlayer not to discard TS packets reported as broken in the stream. Sometimes needed to play corrupted MPEG-TS files.

−tsprobe <byte position>

When playing an MPEG-TS stream, this option lets you specify how many bytes in the stream you want MPlayer to search for the desired audio and video IDs.

−tsprog <1−65534>

When playing an MPEG-TS stream, you can specify with this option which program (if present) you want to play. Can be used with −vid and −aid.

−tv <option1:option2:...> (TV/PVR only)

This option tunes various properties of the TV capture module. For watching TV with MPlayer, use ’tv://’ or ’tv://<channel_number>’ or even ’tv://<channel_name> (see option channels for channel_name below) as a movie URL. You can also use ’tv:///<input_id>’ to start watching a movie from a composite or S-Video input (see option input for details).

Available options are:

noaudio

no sound

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).

driver=<value>

See −tv driver=help for a list of compiled-in TV input drivers. available: dummy, v4l, v4l2, bsdbt848 (default: autodetect)

device=<value>

Specify TV device (default: /dev/video0). NOTE: For the bsdbt848 driver you can provide both bktr and tuner device names separating them with a comma, tuner after bktr (e.g. -tv device=/dev/bktr1,/dev/tuner1).

input=<value>

Specify input (default: 0 (TV), see console output for available inputs).

freq=<value>

Specify the frequency to set the tuner to (e.g. 511.250). Not compatible with the channels parameter.

outfmt=<value>

Specify the output format of the tuner with a preset value supported by the V4L driver (yv12, rgb32, rgb24, rgb16, rgb15, uyvy, yuy2, i420) or an arbitrary format given as hex value. Try outfmt=help for a list of all available formats.

width=<value>

output window width

height=<value>

output window height

fps=<value>

framerate at which to capture video (frames per second)

buffersize=<value>

maximum size of the capture buffer in megabytes (default: dynamical)

norm=<value>

For bsdbt848 and v4l, PAL, SECAM, NTSC are available. For v4l2, see the console output for a list of all available norms, also see the normid option below.

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.

channel=<value>

Set tuner to <value> channel.

chanlist=<value>

available: europe-east, europe-west, us-bcast, us-cable, etc

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 slave commands tv_step_channel, tv_set_channel and tv_last_channel will be usable for a remote control (see LIRC). Not compatible with the frequency parameter.
NOTE: The channel number will then be the position in the ’channels’ list, beginning with 1.
EXAMPLE: tv://1, tv://TV1, tv_set_channel 1, tv_set_channel TV1

[brightness|contrast|hue|saturation]=<−100−100>

Set the image equalizer on the card.

audiorate=<value>

Set audio capture bitrate.

forceaudio

Capture audio even if there are no audio sources reported by v4l.

alsa

Capture from ALSA.

amode=<0−3>

Choose an audio mode:

0: mono
1: stereo
2: language 1
3: language 2

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.

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.

audioid=<value>

Choose an audio output of the capture card, if it has more than one.

[volume|bass|treble|balance]=<0−65535> (v4l1)

[volume|bass|treble|balance]=<0−100> (v4l2)

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.

gain=<0−100> (v4l2)

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.

immediatemode=<bool>

A value of 0 means capture and buffer audio and video together (default for MEncoder). A value of 1 (default for MPlayer) means to do video capture only and let the audio go through a loopback cable from the TV card to the sound card.

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 MPlayer will determine it automatically from the decimation value (see below).

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

quality=<0−100>

Choose the quality of the JPEG compression (< 60 recommended for full size).

tdevice=<value>

Specify TV teletext device (example: /dev/vbi0) (default: none).

tformat=<format>

Specify TV teletext display format (default: 0):

0: opaque
1: transparent
2: opaque with inverted colors
3: transparent with inverted colors

tpage=<100−899>

Specify initial TV teletext page number (default: 100).

tlang=<−1−127>

Specify default teletext language code (default: 0), which will be used as primary language until a type 28 packet is received. Useful when the teletext system uses a non-latin character set, but language codes are not transmitted via teletext type 28 packets for some reason. To see a list of supported language codes set this option to −1.

hidden_video_renderer (dshow only)

Terminate stream with video renderer instead of Null renderer (default: off). Will help if video freezes but audio does not. NOTE: May not work with −vo directx and −vf crop combination.

hidden_vp_renderer (dshow only)

Terminate VideoPort pin stream with video renderer instead of removing it from the graph (default: off). Useful if your card has a VideoPort pin and video is choppy. NOTE: May not work with −vo directx and −vf crop combination.

system_clock (dshow only)

Use the system clock as sync source instead of the default graph clock (usually the clock from one of the live sources in graph).

normalize_audio_chunks (dshow only)

Create audio chunks with a time length equal to video frame time length (default: off). Some audio cards create audio chunks about 0.5s in size, resulting in choppy video when using immediatemode=0.

−tvscan <option1:option2:...> (TV and MPlayer only)

Tune the TV channel scanner. MPlayer will also print value for "-tv channels=" option, including existing and just found channels.

Available suboptions are:

autostart

Begin channel scanning immediately after startup (default: disabled).

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.

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.

−user <username> (also see −passwd) (network only)

Specify username for HTTP authentication.

−user−agent <string>

Use <string> as user agent for HTTP streaming.

−vid <ID>

Select video channel (MPG: 0−15, ASF: 0−255, MPEG-TS: 17−8190). When playing an MPEG-TS stream, MPlayer/MEncoder will use the first program (if present) with the chosen video stream.

−vivo <suboption> (DEBUG CODE)

Force audio parameters for the VIVO demuxer (for debugging purposes). FIXME: Document this.

NOTE: Also see −vf expand.

−ass (FreeType only)

Turn on SSA/ASS subtitle rendering. With this option, libass will be used for SSA/ASS external subtitles and Matroska tracks. You may also want to use −embeddedfonts.
NOTE: Unlike normal OSD, libass uses fontconfig by default. To disable it, use −nofontconfig.

−ass−border−color <value>

Sets the border (outline) color for text subtitles. The color format is RRGGBBAA.

−ass−bottom−margin <value>

Adds a black band at the bottom of the frame. The SSA/ASS renderer can place subtitles there (with −ass−use−margins).

−ass−color <value>

Sets the color for text subtitles. The color format is RRGGBBAA.

−ass−font−scale <value>

Set the scale coefficient to be used for fonts in the SSA/ASS renderer.

−ass−force−style <[Style.]Param=Value[,...]>

Override some style or script info parameters.

EXAMPLE:

−ass−force−style FontName=Arial,Default.Bold=1
−ass−force−style PlayResY=768

−ass−hinting <type>

Set hinting type. <type> can be:

0

no hinting

1

FreeType autohinter, light mode

2

FreeType autohinter, normal mode

3

font native hinter

0-3 + 4

The same, but hinting will only be performed if the OSD is rendered at screen resolution and will therefore not be scaled.

The default value is 7 (use native hinter for unscaled OSD and no hinting otherwise).

−ass−line−spacing <value>

Set line spacing value for SSA/ASS renderer.

−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.

−ass−top−margin <value>

Adds a black band at the top of the frame. The SSA/ASS renderer can place toptitles there (with −ass−use−margins).

−ass−use−margins

Enables placing toptitles and subtitles in black borders when they are available.

−dumpjacosub (MPlayer only)

Convert the given subtitle (specified with the −sub option) to the time-based JACOsub subtitle format. Creates a dumpsub.js file in the current directory.

−dumpmicrodvdsub (MPlayer only)

Convert the given subtitle (specified with the −sub option) to the MicroDVD subtitle format. Creates a dumpsub.sub file in the current directory.

−dumpmpsub (MPlayer only)

Convert the given subtitle (specified with the −sub option) to MPlayer’s subtitle format, MPsub. Creates a dump.mpsub file in the current directory.

−dumpsami (MPlayer only)

Convert the given subtitle (specified with the −sub option) to the time-based SAMI subtitle format. Creates a dumpsub.smi file in the current directory.

−dumpsrtsub (MPlayer only)

Convert the given subtitle (specified with the −sub option) to the time-based SubViewer (SRT) subtitle format. Creates a dumpsub.srt file in the current directory.
NOTE: Some broken hardware players choke on SRT subtitle files with Unix line endings. If you are unlucky enough to have such a box, pass your subtitle files through unix2dos or a similar program to replace Unix line endings with DOS/Windows line endings.

−dumpsub (MPlayer only) (BETA CODE)

Dumps the subtitle substream from VOB streams. Also see the −dump*sub and −vobsubout* options.

−embeddedfonts (FreeType only)

Enables extraction of Matroska embedded fonts (default: disabled). These fonts can be used for SSA/ASS subtitle rendering (−ass option). Font files are created in the ~/.mplayer/fonts directory.
NOTE: With FontConfig 2.4.2 or newer, embedded fonts are opened directly from memory, and this option is enabled by default.

−ffactor <number>

Resample the font alphamap. Can be:

0

plain white fonts

0.75

very narrow black outline (default)

1

narrow black outline

10

bold black outline

−flip−hebrew (FriBiDi only)

Turns on flipping subtitles using FriBiDi.

−noflip−hebrew−commas

Change FriBiDi’s assumptions about the placements of commas in subtitles. Use this if commas in subtitles are shown at the start of a sentence instead of at the end.

−font <path to font.desc file, path to font (FreeType), font pattern (Fontconfig)>

Search for the OSD/SUB fonts in an alternative directory (default for normal fonts: ~/.mplayer/font/font.desc, default for FreeType fonts: ~/.mplayer/subfont.ttf).
NOTE: With FreeType, this option determines the path to the text font file. With Fontconfig, this option determines the Fontconfig font pattern.

EXAMPLE:

−font ~/.mplayer/arial-14/font.desc
−font ~/.mplayer/arialuni.ttf
−font ’Bitstream Vera Sans’
−font ’Bitstream Vera Sans:style=Bold’

−fontconfig (fontconfig only)

Enables the usage of fontconfig managed fonts.
NOTE: By default fontconfig is used for libass-rendered subtitles and not used for OSD. With −fontconfig it is used for both libass and OSD, with −nofontconfig it is not used at all.

−forcedsubsonly

Display only forced subtitles for the DVD subtitle stream selected by e.g. −slang.

−fribidi−charset <charset name> (FriBiDi only)

Specifies the character set that will be passed to FriBiDi when decoding non-UTF-8 subtitles (default: ISO8859-8).

−ifo <VOBsub IFO file>

Indicate the file that will be used to load palette and frame size for VOBsub subtitles.

−noautosub

Turns off automatic subtitle file loading.

−osd−duration <time>

Set the duration of the OSD messages in ms (default: 1000).

−osdlevel <0−3> (MPlayer only)

Specifies which mode the OSD should start in.

0

subtitles only

1

volume + seek (default)

2

volume + seek + timer + percentage

3

volume + seek + timer + percentage + total time

−overlapsub

Allows the next subtitle to be displayed while the current one is still visible (default is to enable the support only for specific formats).

−sid <ID> (also see −slang, −vobsubid)

Display the subtitle stream specified by <ID> (0−31). MPlayer prints the available subtitle IDs when run in verbose (−v) mode. If you cannot select one of the subtitles on a DVD, also try −vobsubid.

−slang <language code[,language code,...]> (also see −sid)

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. MPlayer prints the available languages when run in verbose (−v) mode.

EXAMPLE:

mplayer dvd://1 −slang hu,en

Chooses the Hungarian subtitle track on a DVD and falls back on English if Hungarian is not available.

mplayer −slang jpn example.mkv

Plays a Matroska file with Japanese subtitles.

−spuaa <mode>

Antialiasing/scaling mode for DVD/VOBsub. A value of 16 may be added to <mode> in order to force scaling even when original and scaled frame size already match. This can be employed to e.g. smooth subtitles with gaussian blur. Available modes are:

0

none (fastest, very ugly)

1

approximate (broken?)

2

full (slow)

3

bilinear (default, fast and not too bad)

4

uses swscaler gaussian blur (looks very good)

−spualign <−1−2>

Specify how SPU (DVD/VOBsub) subtitles should be aligned.

−1

original position

0

Align at top (original behavior, default).

1

Align at center.

2

Align at bottom.

−spugauss <0.0−3.0>

Variance parameter of gaussian used by −spuaa 4. Higher means more blur (default: 1.0).

−sub <subtitlefile1,subtitlefile2,...>

Use/display these subtitle files. Only one file can be displayed at the same time.

−sub−bg−alpha <0−255>

Specify the alpha channel value for subtitles and OSD backgrounds. Big values mean more transparency. 0 means completely transparent.

−sub−bg−color <0−255>

Specify the color value for subtitles and OSD backgrounds. Currently subtitles are grayscale so this value is equivalent to the intensity of the color. 255 means white and 0 black.

−sub−demuxer <[+]name> (−subfile only) (BETA CODE)

Force subtitle demuxer type for −subfile. Use a ’+’ before the name to force it, this will skip some checks! Give the demuxer name as printed by −sub−demuxer help. For backward compatibility it also accepts the demuxer ID as defined in subreader.h.

−sub−fuzziness <mode>

Adjust matching fuzziness when searching for subtitles:

0

exact match

1

Load all subs containing movie name.

2

Load all subs in the current directory.

−sub−no−text−pp

Disables any kind of text post processing done after loading the subtitles. Used for debug purposes.

−subalign <0−2>

Specify which edge of the subtitles should be aligned at the height given by −subpos.

0

Align subtitle top edge (original behavior).

1

Align subtitle center.

2

Align subtitle bottom edge (default).

−subcc

Display DVD Closed Caption (CC) subtitles. These are not the VOB subtitles, these are special ASCII subtitles for the hearing impaired encoded in the VOB userdata stream on most region 1 DVDs. CC subtitles have not been spotted on DVDs from other regions so far.

−subcp <codepage> (iconv only)

If your system supports iconv(3), you can use this option to specify the subtitle codepage.

EXAMPLE:

−subcp latin2
−subcp cp1250

−subcp enca:<language>:<fallback codepage> (ENCA only)

You can specify your language using a two letter language code to make ENCA detect the codepage automatically. If unsure, enter anything and watch mplayer −v output for available languages. Fallback codepage specifies the codepage to use, when autodetection fails.

EXAMPLE:

−subcp enca:cs:latin2

Guess the encoding, assuming the subtitles are Czech, fall back on latin 2, if the detection fails.

−subcp enca:pl:cp1250

Guess the encoding for Polish, fall back on cp1250.

−subdelay <sec>

Delays subtitles by <sec> seconds. Can be negative.

−subfile <filename> (BETA CODE)

Currently useless. Same as −audiofile, but for subtitle streams (OggDS?).

−subfont <path to font (FreeType), font pattern (Fontconfig)> (FreeType only)

Sets the subtitle font (see −font). If no −subfont is given, −font is used.

−subfont−autoscale <0−3> (FreeType only)

Sets the autoscale mode.
NOTE: 0 means that text scale and OSD scale are font heights in points.

The mode can be:

0

no autoscale

1

proportional to movie height

2

proportional to movie width

3

proportional to movie diagonal (default)

−subfont−blur <0−8> (FreeType only)

Sets the font blur radius (default: 2).

−subfont−encoding <value> (FreeType only)

Sets the font encoding. When set to ’unicode’, all the glyphs from the font file will be rendered and unicode will be used (default: unicode).

−subfont−osd−scale <0−100> (FreeType only)

Sets the autoscale coefficient of the OSD elements (default: 6).

−subfont−outline <0−8> (FreeType only)

Sets the font outline thickness (default: 2).

−subfont−text−scale <0−100> (FreeType only)

Sets the subtitle text autoscale coefficient as percentage of the screen size (default: 5).

−subfps <rate>

Specify the framerate of the subtitle file (default: movie fps).
NOTE: <rate> > movie fps speeds the subtitles up for frame-based subtitle files and slows them down for time-based ones.

−subpos <0−100> (useful with −vf expand)

Specify the position of subtitles on the screen. The value is the vertical position of the subtitle in % of the screen height.

−subwidth <10−100>

Specify the maximum width of subtitles on the screen. Useful for TV-out. The value is the width of the subtitle in % of the screen width.

−noterm−osd

Disable the display of OSD messages on the console when no video output is available.

−term−osd−esc <escape sequence>

Specify the escape sequence to use before writing an OSD message on the console. The escape sequence should move the pointer to the beginning of the line used for the OSD and clear it (default: ^[[A\r^[[K).

−unicode

Tells MPlayer to handle the subtitle file as unicode.

−unrarexec <path to unrar executable> (not supported on MingW)

Specify the path to the unrar executable so MPlayer can use it to access rar-compressed VOBsub files (default: not set, so the feature is off). The path must include the executable’s filename, i.e. /usr/local/bin/unrar.

−utf8

Tells MPlayer to handle the subtitle file as UTF-8.

−vobsub <VOBsub file without extension>

Specify a VOBsub file to use for subtitles. Has to be the full pathname without extension, i.e. without the ’.idx’, ’.ifo’ or ’.sub’.

−vobsubid <0−31>

Specify the VOBsub subtitle ID.

−abs <value> (−ao oss only) (OBSOLETE)

Override audio driver/card buffer size detection.

−format <format> (also see the format audio filter)

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.

−mixer <device>

Use a mixer device different from the default /dev/mixer. For ALSA this is the mixer name.

−mixer−channel <mixer line>[,mixer index] (−ao oss and −ao alsa only)

This option will tell MPlayer to use a different channel for controlling volume than the default PCM. Options for OSS include vol, pcm, line. For a complete list of options look for SOUND_DEVICE_NAMES in /usr/include/linux/soundcard.h. For ALSA you can use the names e.g. alsamixer displays, like Master, Line, PCM.
NOTE: ALSA mixer channel names followed by a number must be specified in the <name,number> format, i.e. a channel labeled ’PCM 1’ in alsamixer must be converted to PCM,1.

−softvol

Force the use of the software mixer, instead of using the sound card mixer.

−softvol−max <10.0−10000.0>

Set the maximum amplification level in percent (default: 110). A value of 200 will allow you to adjust the volume up to a maximum of double the current level. With values below 100 the initial volume (which is 100%) will be above the maximum, which e.g. the OSD cannot display correctly.

−volstep <0−100>

Set the step size of mixer volume changes in percent of the whole range (default: 3).

−volume <-1−100> (also see −af volume)

Set the startup volume in the mixer, either hardware or software (if used with −softvol). A value of -1 (the default) will not change the volume.

Audio output drivers are interfaces to different audio output facilities. The syntax is:

−ao <driver1[:suboption1[=value]:...],driver2,...[,]>

Specify a priority list of audio output drivers to be used.

If the list has a trailing ’,’ MPlayer will fall back on drivers not contained in the list. Suboptions are optional and can mostly be omitted.
NOTE: See −ao help for a list of compiled-in audio output drivers.

EXAMPLE:

−ao alsa,oss,

Try the ALSA driver, then the OSS driver, then others.

−ao alsa:noblock:device=hw=0.3

Sets noblock-mode and the device-name as first card, fourth device.

Available audio output drivers are:

alsa

ALSA 0.9/1.x audio output driver

noblock

Sets noblock-mode.

device=<device>

Sets the device name. Replace any ’,’ with ’.’ and any ’:’ with ’=’ in the ALSA device name. For hwac3 output via S/PDIF, use an "iec958" or "spdif" device, unless you really know how to set it correctly.

alsa5

ALSA 0.5 audio output driver

oss

OSS audio output driver

<dsp-device>

Sets the audio output device (default: /dev/dsp).

<mixer-device>

Sets the audio mixer device (default: /dev/mixer).

<mixer-channel>

Sets the audio mixer channel (default: pcm).

sdl (SDL only)

highly platform independent SDL (Simple Directmedia Layer) library audio output driver

<driver>

Explicitly choose the SDL audio driver to use (default: let SDL choose).

arts

audio output through the aRts daemon

esd

audio output through the ESD daemon

<server>

Explicitly choose the ESD server to use (default: localhost).

jack

audio output through JACK (Jack Audio Connection Kit)

port=<name>

Connects to the ports with the given name (default: physical ports).

name=<client

Client name that is passed to JACK (default: MPlayer [<PID>]). Useful if you want to have certain connections established automatically.

(no)estimate

Estimate the audio delay, supposed to make the video playback smoother (default: enabled).

(no)autostart

Automatically start jackd if necessary. Note that this seems unreliable and will spam stdout with server messages.

nas

audio output through NAS

coreaudio (Mac OS X only)

native Mac OS X audio output driver

openal

Experimental OpenAL audio output driver

pulse

PulseAudio audio output driver

[<host>][:<output sink>]

Specify the host and optionally output sink to use. An empty <host> string uses a local connection, "localhost" uses network transfer (most likely not what you want).

sgi (SGI only)

native SGI audio output driver

<output device name>

Explicitly choose the output device/interface to use (default: system-wide default). For example, ’Analog Out’ or ’Digital Out’.

sun (Sun only)

native Sun audio output driver

<device>

Explicitly choose the audio device to use (default: /dev/audio).

win32 (Windows only)

native Windows waveout audio output driver

dsound (Windows only)

DirectX DirectSound audio output driver

device=<devicenum>

Sets the device number to use. Playing a file with −v will show a list of available devices.

dart (OS/2 only)

OS/2 DART audio output driver

(no)share

Open DART in shareable or exclusive mode.

bufsize=<size>

Set buffer size to <size> in samples (default: 2048).

dxr2 (also see −dxr2) (DXR2 only)

Creative DXR2 specific output driver

ivtv (IVTV only)

IVTV specific MPEG audio output driver. Works with −ac hwmpa only.

v4l2 (requires Linux 2.6.22+ kernel)

Audio output driver for V4L2 cards with hardware MPEG decoder.

mpegpes (DVB only)

Audio output driver for DVB cards that writes the output to an MPEG-PES file if no DVB card is installed.

card=<1−4>

DVB card to use if more than one card is present. If not specified MPlayer will search the first usable card.

file=<filename>

output filename

null

Produces no audio output but maintains video playback speed. Use −nosound for benchmarking.

pcm

raw PCM/wave file writer audio output

(no)waveheader

Include or do not include the wave header (default: included). When not included, raw PCM will be generated.

file=<filename>

Write the sound to <filename> instead of the default audiodump.wav. If nowaveheader is specified, the default is audiodump.pcm.

fast

Try to dump faster than realtime. Make sure the output does not get truncated (usually with "Too many video packets in buffer" message). It is normal that you get a "Your system is too SLOW to play this!" message.

plugin

plugin audio output driver

−adapter <value>

Set the graphics card that will receive the image. You can get a list of available cards when you run this option with −v. Currently only works with the directx video output driver.

−bpp <depth>

Override the autodetected color depth. Only supported by the fbdev, dga, svga, vesa video output drivers.

−border

Play movie with window border and decorations. Since this is on by default, use −noborder to disable the standard window decorations.

−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.

−display <name> (X11 only)

Specify the hostname and display number of the X server you want to display on.

EXAMPLE:

−display xtest.localdomain:0

−dr

Turns on direct rendering (not supported by all codecs and video outputs)
WARNING: May cause OSD/SUB corruption!

−dxr2 <option1:option2:...>

This option is used to control the dxr2 video output driver.

ar-mode=<value>

aspect ratio mode (0 = normal, 1 = pan-and-scan, 2 = letterbox (default))

iec958-encoded

Set iec958 output mode to encoded.

iec958-decoded

Set iec958 output mode to decoded (default).

macrovision=<value>

macrovision mode (0 = off (default), 1 = agc, 2 = agc 2 colorstripe, 3 = agc 4 colorstripe)

mute

mute sound output

unmute

unmute sound output

ucode=<value>

path to the microcode

TV output

75ire

enable 7.5 IRE output mode

no75ire

disable 7.5 IRE output mode (default)

bw

b/w TV output

color

color TV output (default)

interlaced

interlaced TV output (default)

nointerlaced

disable interlaced TV output

norm=<value>

TV norm (ntsc (default), pal, pal60, palm, paln, palnc)

square-pixel

set pixel mode to square

ccir601-pixel

set pixel mode to ccir601

overlay

cr-left=<0−500>

Set the left cropping value (default: 50).

cr-right=<0−500>

Set the right cropping value (default: 300).

cr-top=<0−500>

Set the top cropping value (default: 0).

cr-bottom=<0−500>

Set the bottom cropping value (default: 0).

ck-[r|g|b]=<0−255>

Set the r(ed), g(reen) or b(lue) gain of the overlay color-key.

ck-[r|g|b]min=<0−255>

minimum value for the respective color key

ck-[r|g|b]max=<0−255>

maximum value for the respective color key

ignore-cache

Ignore cached overlay settings.

update-cache

Update cached overlay settings.

ol-osd

Enable overlay onscreen display.

nool-osd

Disable overlay onscreen display (default).

ol[h|w|x|y]-cor=<−20−20>

Adjust the overlay size (h,w) and position (x,y) in case it does not match the window perfectly (default: 0).

overlay

Activate overlay (default).

nooverlay

Activate TV-out.

overlay-ratio=<1−2500>

Tune the overlay (default: 1000).

−fbmode <modename> (−vo fbdev only)

Change video mode to the one that is labeled as <modename> in /etc/fb.modes.
NOTE: VESA framebuffer does not support mode changing.

−fbmodeconfig <filename> (−vo fbdev only)

Override framebuffer mode configuration file (default: /etc/ fb.modes).

−fs (also see −zoom)

Fullscreen playback (centers movie, and paints black bands around it). Not supported by all video output drivers.

−fsmode−dontuse <0−31> (OBSOLETE, use the −fs option)

Try this option if you still experience fullscreen problems.

−fstype <type1,type2,...> (X11 only)

Specify a priority list of fullscreen modes to be used. You can negate the modes by prefixing them with ’−’. If you experience problems like the fullscreen window being covered by other windows try using a different order.
NOTE: See −fstype help for a full list of available modes.

The available types are:

above

Use the _NETWM_STATE_ABOVE hint if available.

below

Use the _NETWM_STATE_BELOW hint if available.

fullscreen

Use the _NETWM_STATE_FULLSCREEN hint if available.

layer

Use the _WIN_LAYER hint with the default layer.

layer=<0...15>

Use the _WIN_LAYER hint with the given layer number.

netwm

Force NETWM style.

none

Do not set fullscreen window layer.

stays_on_top

Use _NETWM_STATE_STAYS_ON_TOP hint if available.

EXAMPLE:

layer,stays_on_top,above,fullscreen

Default order, will be used as a fallback if incorrect or unsupported modes are specified.

−fullscreen

Fixes fullscreen switching on OpenBox 1.x.

−geometry x[%][:y[%]] or [WxH][+x+y]

Adjust where the output is on the screen initially. The x and y specifications are in pixels measured from the top-left of the screen to the top-left of the image being displayed, however if a percentage sign is given after the argument it turns the value into a percentage of the screen size in that direction. It also supports the standard X11 −geometry option format. If an external window is specified using the −wid option, then the x and y coordinates are relative to the top-left corner of the window rather than the screen. The coordinates are relative to the screen given with −xineramascreen for the video output drivers that fully support −xineramascreen (direct3d, gl, gl2, vdpau, x11, xv, xvmc).
NOTE: This option is only supported by the x11, xmga, xv, xvmc, xvidix, gl, gl2, directx, fbdev and tdfxfb video output drivers.

EXAMPLE:

50:40

Places the window at x=50, y=40.

50%:50%

Places the window in the middle of the screen.

100%

Places the window at the middle of the right edge of the screen.

100%:100%

Places the window at the bottom right corner of the screen.

−guiwid <window ID> (also see −wid) (GUI only)

This tells the GUI to also use an X11 window and stick itself to the bottom of the video, which is useful to embed a mini-GUI in a browser (with the MPlayer plugin for instance).

−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.

−monitor−dotclock <range[,range,...]> (−vo fbdev and vesa only)

Specify the dotclock or pixelclock range of the monitor.

−monitor−hfreq <range[,range,...]> (−vo fbdev and vesa only)

Specify the horizontal frequency range of the monitor.

−monitor−vfreq <range[,range,...]> (−vo fbdev and vesa only)

Specify the vertical frequency range of the monitor.

−monitoraspect <ratio> (also see −aspect)

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.

EXAMPLE:

−monitoraspect 4:3 or 1.3333
−monitoraspect 16:9 or 1.7777

−monitorpixelaspect <ratio> (also see −aspect)

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).

−nodouble

Disables double buffering, mostly for debugging purposes. Double buffering fixes flicker by storing two frames in memory, and displaying one while decoding another. It can affect OSD negatively, but often removes OSD flickering.

−nograbpointer

Do not grab the mouse pointer after a video mode change (−vm). Useful for multihead setups.

−nokeepaspect

Do not keep window aspect ratio when resizing windows. Only works with the x11, xv, xmga, xvidix, directx video output drivers. Furthermore under X11 your window manager has to honor window aspect hints.

−ontop

Makes the player window stay on top of other windows. Supported by video output drivers which use X11, except SDL, as well as directx, corevideo, quartz, ggi and gl2.

−panscan <0.0−1.0>

Enables pan-and-scan functionality (cropping the sides of e.g. a 16:9 movie to make it fit a 4:3 display without black bands). The range controls how much of the image is cropped. Only works with the xv, xmga, mga, gl, gl2, quartz, corevideo and xvidix video output drivers.
NOTE: Values between −1 and 0 are allowed as well, but highly experimental and may crash or worse. Use at your own risk!

−panscanrange <−19.0−99.0> (experimental)

Change the range of the pan-and-scan functionality (default: 1). Positive values mean multiples of the default range. Negative numbers mean you can zoom in up to a factor of −panscanrange+1. E.g. −panscanrange −3 allows a zoom factor of up to 4. This feature is experimental. Do not report bugs unless you are using −vo gl.

−refreshrate <Hz>

Set the monitor refreshrate in Hz. Currently only supported by −vo directx combined with the −vm option.

−rootwin

Play movie in the root window (desktop background). Desktop background images may cover the movie window, though. Only works with the x11, xv, xmga, xvidix, quartz, corevideo and directx 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.

−screenh <pixels>

Specify the screen height for video output drivers which do not know the screen resolution like fbdev, x11 and TV-out.

−screenw <pixels>

Specify the screen width for video output drivers which do not know the screen resolution like fbdev, x11 and TV-out.

−stop−xscreensaver (X11 only)

Turns off xscreensaver at startup and turns it on again on exit. If your screensaver supports neither the XSS nor XResetScreenSaver API please use −heartbeat−cmd instead.

−vm

Try to change to a different video mode. Supported by the dga, x11, xv, sdl and directx video output drivers. If used with the directx video output driver the −screenw, −screenh, −bpp and −refreshrate options can be used to set the new display mode.

−vsync

Enables VBI for the vesa, dfbmga and svga video output drivers.

−wid <window ID> (also see −guiwid) (X11, OpenGL and DirectX only)

This tells MPlayer to attach to an existing window. Useful to embed MPlayer in a browser (e.g. the plugger extension).

−xineramascreen <−2−...>

In Xinerama configurations (i.e. a single desktop that spans across multiple displays) this option tells MPlayer which screen to display the movie on. A value of −2 means fullscreen across the whole virtual display (in this case Xinerama information is completely ignored), −1 means fullscreen on the display the window currently is on. The initial position set via the −geometry option is relative to the specified screen. Will usually only work with "−fstype −fullscreen" or "−fstype none". This option is not suitable to only set the startup screen (because it will always display on the given screen in fullscreen mode), −geometry is the best that is available for that purpose currently. Supported by at least the direct3d, gl, gl2, x11 and xv video output drivers.

−zrbw (−vo zr only)

Display in black and white. For optimal performance, this can be combined with ’−lavdopts gray’.

−zrcrop <[width]x[height]+[x offset]+[y offset]> (−vo zr only)

Select a part of the input image to display, multiple occurrences of this option switch on cinerama mode. In cinerama mode the movie is distributed over more than one TV (or beamer) to create a larger image. Options appearing after the n-th −zrcrop apply to the n-th MJPEG card, each card should at least have a −zrdev in addition to the −zrcrop. For examples, see the output of −zrhelp and the Zr section of the documentation.

−zrdev <device> (−vo zr only)

Specify the device special file that belongs to your MJPEG card, by default the zr video output driver takes the first v4l device it can find.

−zrfd (−vo zr only)

Force decimation: Decimation, as specified by −zrhdec and −zrvdec, only happens if the hardware scaler can stretch the image to its original size. Use this option to force decimation.

−zrhdec <1|2|4> (−vo zr only)

Horizontal decimation: Ask the driver to send only every 2nd or 4th line/pixel of the input image to the MJPEG card and use the scaler of the MJPEG card to stretch the image to its original size.

−zrhelp (−vo zr only)

Display a list of all −zr* options, their default values and a cinerama mode example.

−zrnorm <norm> (−vo zr only)

Specify the TV norm as PAL or NTSC (default: no change).

−zrquality <1−20> (−vo zr only)

A number from 1 (best) to 20 (worst) representing the JPEG encoding quality.

−zrvdec <1|2|4> (−vo zr only)

Vertical decimation: Ask the driver to send only every 2nd or 4th line/pixel of the input image to the MJPEG card and use the scaler of the MJPEG card to stretch the image to its original size.

−zrxdoff <x display offset> (−vo zr only)

If the movie is smaller than the TV screen, this option specifies the x offset from the upper-left corner of the TV screen (default: centered).

−zrydoff <y display offset> (−vo zr only)

If the movie is smaller than the TV screen, this option specifies the y offset from the upper-left corner of the TV screen (default: centered).

Video output drivers are interfaces to different video output facilities. The syntax is:

−vo <driver1[:suboption1[=value]:...],driver2,...[,]>

Specify a priority list of video output drivers to be used.

If the list has a trailing ’,’ MPlayer will fall back on drivers not contained in the list. Suboptions are optional and can mostly be omitted.
NOTE: See −vo help for a list of compiled-in video output drivers.

EXAMPLE:

−vo xmga,xv,

Try the Matrox X11 driver, then the Xv driver, then others.

−vo directx:noaccel

Uses the DirectX driver with acceleration features turned off.

Available video output drivers are:

xv (X11 only)

Uses the XVideo extension of XFree86 4.x to enable hardware accelerated playback. If you cannot use a hardware specific driver, this is probably the best option. For information about what colorkey is used and how it is drawn run MPlayer with −v option and look out for the lines tagged with [xv common] at the beginning.

adaptor=<number>

Select a specific XVideo adaptor (check xvinfo results).

port=<number>

Select a specific XVideo port.

ck=<cur|use|set>

Select the source from which the colorkey is taken (default: cur).

cur

The default takes the colorkey currently set in Xv.

use

Use but do not set the colorkey from MPlayer (use −colorkey option to change it).

set

Same as use but also sets the supplied colorkey.

ck-method=<man|bg|auto>

Sets the colorkey drawing method (default: man).

man

Draw the colorkey manually (reduces flicker in some cases).

bg

Set the colorkey as window background.

auto

Let Xv draw the colorkey.

x11 (X11 only)

Shared memory video output driver without hardware acceleration that works whenever X11 is present.

xover (X11 only)

Adds X11 support to all overlay based video output drivers. Currently only supported by tdfx_vid.

<vo_driver>

Select the driver to use as source to overlay on top of X11.

vdpau (with −vc ffmpeg12vdpau, ffwmv3vdpau, ffvc1vdpau or ffh264vdpau)

Video output that uses VDPAU to decode video via hardware. Also supports displaying of software-decoded video.

sharpen=<−1−1>

For positive values, apply a sharpening algorithm to the video, for negative values a blurring algorithm (default: 0).

denoise=<0−1>

Apply a noise reduction algorithm to the video (default: 0, no noise reduction).

deint=<0−4>

Chooses the deinterlacer (default: 0). All modes > 0 respect −field−dominance.

0

No deinterlacing.

1

Show only first field, similar to −vf field.

2

Bob deinterlacing, similar to −vf tfields=1.

3

Motion adaptive temporal deinterlacing. May lead to A/V desync with slow video hardware and/or high resolution. This is the default if "D" is used to enable deinterlacing.

4

Motion adaptive temporal deinterlacing with edge-guided spatial interpolation. Needs fast video hardware.