Quickstart

Play your first file and learn mpv’s core controls in minutes

Play your first file

Open a terminal and pass a file path or URL to mpv:

1. Play a local file

   mpv video.mkv
   

   mpv auto-detects the best video and audio output for your system. The video opens in a window; the terminal shows playback status.

2. Play a URL or stream

   mpv accepts HTTP/HTTPS URLs, HLS streams, and other network sources directly:

   mpv https://example.com/video.mp4
   

   mpv reads from stdin too. Pipe media data with mpv - to play without a file on disk.

3. Play audio only

   Pass an audio file the same way — mpv opens in audio-only mode with no video window:

   mpv music.flac
   

Essential keyboard shortcuts

Once mpv is playing, use the keyboard to control it. The control layer is fully configurable; these are the defaults.

Playback

Key	Action
Space or p	Toggle pause
q	Stop and quit
Q	Quit and save position for later resumption
Left / Right	Seek backward/forward 5 seconds
Up / Down	Seek forward/backward 1 minute
Shift+Left / Shift+Right	Exact seek ±1 second
< / >	Go backward/forward in the playlist
[ / ]	Decrease/increase playback speed by 10%
Backspace	Reset playback speed to normal

Volume and display

Key	Action
9 / 0	Decrease/increase volume
m	Toggle mute
f	Toggle fullscreen
ESC	Exit fullscreen
s	Take a screenshot (with subtitles)
S	Take a screenshot (without subtitles)

Subtitles and tracks

Key	Action
v	Toggle subtitle visibility
j / J	Cycle through available subtitle tracks
#	Cycle through available audio tracks
_	Cycle through available video tracks

Stats and debugging

Key	Action
i	Toggle statistics overlay (codec, framerate, dropped frames, etc.)
?	Toggle active key bindings overlay

Press ? at any time while mpv is running to see all active key bindings in the video window.

Common command-line options

Pass options as --option=value after the filename or before it:

# Open in fullscreen
mpv --fs video.mkv

# Start at a specific time (2 minutes 30 seconds in)
mpv --start=2:30 video.mkv

# Force a specific audio track
mpv --aid=2 video.mkv

# Enable hardware decoding
mpv --hwdec=auto video.mkv

# Loop the file indefinitely
mpv --loop video.mkv

# Set volume (0–100, default is 100)
mpv --volume=80 video.mkv

Set up a config file

Rather than typing options on every invocation, write them to ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf. Options in this file are applied on every run.

1. Create the config directory

   mkdir -p ~/.config/mpv
   
2. Create mpv.conf

   touch ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf
   
3. Add your preferred settings

   Open ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf in a text editor and add options — one per line, without the leading --:

   # Use the modern GPU video output driver
   vo=gpu-next
   
   # Enable safe hardware decoding when available
   hwdec=auto-safe
   
   # Load external subtitle files automatically (fuzzy filename match)
   sub-auto=fuzzy
   
   # Start at 80% volume
   volume=80
   

On Windows, the config file is at %APPDATA%\mpv\mpv.conf (for example, C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\mpv\mpv.conf).

Video output

The default high-quality video output driver is gpu-next, built on libplacebo. It uses shaders for scaling and rendering rather than fixed GPU hardware functions.

# Recommended: modern GPU output via libplacebo
vo=gpu-next

On low-power or integrated GPUs where you experience stuttering or tearing, use the fast profile:

mpv --profile=fast video.mkv

Next steps

Keyboard controls

Full default key binding reference and how to customize them.

Configuration

All mpv.conf options and how to tune mpv for your setup.

Video output

Configure GPU-accelerated rendering, scaling, and HDR.

Scripting

Extend mpv with Lua or JavaScript scripts.