> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/mpv-player/mpv/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Video Output

> Configure video output drivers including gpu-next, gpu, and platform-specific backends

Video output drivers are interfaces to different video output facilities. mpv automatically selects the best available driver, but you can override it with `--vo`.

```bash theme={null}
mpv --vo=<driver> video.mkv
```

Pass a comma-separated priority list to fall back automatically:

```bash theme={null}
mpv --vo=gpu-next,gpu video.mkv
```

<Tip>Run `mpv --vo=help` to list all compiled-in video output drivers on your system.</Tip>

## Recommended drivers

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="gpu-next" icon="star">
    libplacebo-based renderer. The recommended default. Generally faster and higher quality than `gpu`.
  </Card>

  <Card title="gpu" icon="microchip">
    General-purpose GPU renderer. Mature, widely supported, with extensive options for scaling and color management.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### gpu-next

`gpu-next` is the default video output driver. It is based on `libplacebo` and supports nearly the same feature set as `--vo=gpu`, while being faster and higher quality in most cases. Some features may be intentionally omitted or behave differently.

```bash theme={null}
mpv --vo=gpu-next video.mkv
```

For a detailed list of differences between `gpu-next` and `gpu`, see the [GPU-Next vs GPU wiki page](https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/wiki/GPU-Next-vs-GPU).

### gpu

`gpu` is a general-purpose, customizable, GPU-accelerated output driver. It supports extended scaling methods, dithering, color management, custom shaders, HDR, and more.

```bash theme={null}
mpv --vo=gpu video.mkv
```

`gpu` abstracts over several graphics APIs and windowing contexts, controlled with `--gpu-api` and `--gpu-context`.

#### Predefined profiles

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="fast (maximum performance)">
    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --profile=fast video.mkv
    ```

    Uses `bilinear` scaling and disables many quality-oriented features. Best for lower-end hardware.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="high-quality (best rendering)">
    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --profile=high-quality video.mkv
    ```

    Uses `ewa_lanczossharp` upscaling, enables correct downscaling, sigmoid upscaling, antiringing, and debanding.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

Inspect a profile's full settings:

```bash theme={null}
mpv --show-profile=high-quality
```

## GPU API and context

Use `--gpu-api` to select the graphics API and `--gpu-context` to select the windowing backend.

```bash theme={null}
# Use Vulkan
mpv --gpu-api=vulkan video.mkv

# Use OpenGL
mpv --gpu-api=opengl video.mkv

# Use D3D11 (Windows)
mpv --gpu-api=d3d11 video.mkv
```

**Available `--gpu-context` values:**

| Context     | Description                                 |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| `auto`      | Auto-select (default)                       |
| `x11`       | X11/GLX (Linux, deprecated in favor of EGL) |
| `x11egl`    | X11/EGL                                     |
| `x11vk`     | X11 Vulkan                                  |
| `wayland`   | Wayland/EGL                                 |
| `waylandvk` | Wayland Vulkan                              |
| `drm`       | DRM/EGL (Linux, no desktop needed)          |
| `d3d11`     | Direct3D 11 (Windows)                       |
| `angle`     | D3D11 via ANGLE (Windows)                   |
| `win`       | Win32/WGL (Windows)                         |
| `winvk`     | Win32 Vulkan                                |
| `macvk`     | Vulkan on macOS (experimental)              |

## GPU renderer options

These options apply to both `--vo=gpu` and `--vo=gpu-next`.

### Scaling

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="--scale (upscaling filter)">
    Controls the filter used when upscaling video.

    ```bash theme={null}
    # Default: lanczos (good balance of quality and speed)
    mpv --scale=lanczos video.mkv

    # High quality (used by high-quality profile)
    mpv --scale=ewa_lanczossharp video.mkv

    # Fast (used by fast profile)
    mpv --scale=bilinear video.mkv
    ```

    Common values: `bilinear`, `lanczos`, `ewa_lanczos`, `ewa_lanczossharp`, `ewa_lanczos4sharpest`, `mitchell`, `catmull_rom`.

    List all available filters: `mpv --scale=help`
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="--cscale (chroma upscaling filter)">
    Filter for upscaling chroma information in subsampled video. Defaults to the value of `--scale` if unset.

    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --cscale=ewa_lanczos video.mkv
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="--dscale (downscaling filter)">
    Filter applied when downscaling video. Defaults to `hermite`.

    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --dscale=mitchell video.mkv
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="--correct-downscaling">
    When using convolution filters, extends the filter size during downscaling for higher quality. Enabled by default.

    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --correct-downscaling video.mkv
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="--sigmoid-upscaling">
    Uses a sigmoidal color transform when upscaling to avoid emphasizing ringing artifacts. Enabled by default.

    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --sigmoid-upscaling video.mkv
    ```
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

### Color management

```bash theme={null}
# Load an ICC profile for accurate color output
mpv --icc-profile=/path/to/profile.icc video.mkv

# Auto-detect the system ICC profile
mpv --icc-profile-auto video.mkv

# Enable HDR passthrough / set colorspace hint on the display
mpv --target-colorspace-hint=auto video.mkv
```

`--target-colorspace-hint` sets colorspace metadata on the display's swapchain (useful for HDR passthrough). Supported on Wayland, D3D11, and `winvk` contexts. `auto` (default) only sets the hint when display parameters are known; `yes` always attempts to set it.

### Dithering

```bash theme={null}
# Dither to 8-bit output
mpv --dither-depth=8 video.mkv

# Auto-detect target depth (default)
mpv --dither-depth=auto video.mkv

# Disable dithering
mpv --dither-depth=no video.mkv
```

Explicitly setting `--dither-depth` to your display's bit depth is recommended, as bit depth cannot be auto-detected on most platforms.

## Other video output drivers

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="null">
    Produces no video output. Useful for benchmarking.

    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --vo=null video.mkv
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="xv (Linux/X11 only)">
    Uses the XVideo extension for hardware-accelerated display. Compatible but low-quality, with OSD and subtitle issues. For compatibility with old systems only.

    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --vo=xv video.mkv
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="vaapi (Linux only)">
    Intel VA API video output with hardware decoding support. Low quality with OSD issues. Prefer `--vo=gpu --hwdec=vaapi` instead.

    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --vo=vaapi video.mkv
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="vdpau (Linux/X11 only)">
    VDPAU display and optional hardware decoding. No reason to use this over `--vo=gpu --hwdec=nvdec`.

    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --vo=vdpau video.mkv
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="drm (Linux, no desktop required)">
    Direct Rendering Manager output using Kernel Mode Setting. Use when no graphical environment is installed. Does not support hardware acceleration (use the `drm` backend for `--vo=gpu` for that).

    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --vo=drm video.mkv
    mpv --vo=drm --drm-connector=HDMI-A-1 video.mkv
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="dmabuf-wayland (Wayland, experimental)">
    Wayland output designed for DRM stateless or VA API hardware decoding. Avoids GPU-to-CPU copies. Requires `--hwdec=auto-safe` for best results.

    <Warning>This driver is experimental and generally lower quality than `gpu`/`gpu-next`. Standard `--vo=gpu` and `--vo=gpu-next` switch to the appropriate Wayland context automatically.</Warning>
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="direct3d (Windows only)">
    Uses the Direct3D interface. For systems without proper OpenGL drivers and where ANGLE does not perform well.

    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --vo=direct3d video.mkv
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="sdl">
    SDL 2.0+ render output. For systems where no proper graphics drivers are available.

    ```bash theme={null}
    mpv --vo=sdl video.mkv
    ```
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>