# mpv

mpv is a versatile and lightweight media player with extensive customizability. It is used and recommended by most enthusiasts as it supports a wide range of video, audio, and subtitle formats. Additionally, it offers many advanced features and is available on multiple platforms.

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
irm get.scoop.sh | iex

scoop bucket add extras
scoop install extras/mpv-git

scoop update mpv-git

scoop uninstall mpv-git

If you want to access mpv from the command line, you will need to add it to Windows PATH:

1. In Windows Settings -> System -> About, locate Advanced System Settings. Head to Advanced and click on Environment Variables...
2. Under System Variables, select Path and click on Edit...
3. Click New and point the variable to the folder where mpv.exe is located/installed
4. Launch a new terminal window. mpv can be accessed from the command line using mpv

brew install mpv

By default, mpv's config can be found under %APPDATA%/mpv/. However, a folder named portable_config next to where mpv.exe is stored can override this location as the config folder.

.
└── mpv/
    ├── fonts/
    ├── script-opts/
    ├── scripts/
    ├── shaders/
    ├── input.conf
    └── mpv.conf

.
├── mpv.exe
└── portable_config/
    ├── fonts/
    ├── script-opts/
    ├── scripts/
    ├── shaders/
    ├── input.conf
    └── mpv.conf

.
└── portable_config/
    ├── fonts/
    ├── script-opts/
    ├── scripts/
    ├── shaders/
    ├── input.conf
    └── mpv.conf

Some folders may not be present by default and will need to be created.

For more details, see mpv's documentation on files.

mpv is a great player out-of-the-box which can be extensively customized to your liking.

We recommend taking your time to create your own config. If you want to get up and running quickly, we suggest using the generic mpv.conf config below:

## Video
profile=high-quality
vo=gpu-next
scale-antiring=0.6

# Dither
# This must be set to match your monitor's bit depth
dither-depth = 8

## Behavior (personal preference)
keep-open=yes
save-position-on-quit

## Screenshots
screenshot-format=png
screenshot-dir="~/Pictures/mpv"
screenshot-template="%F-%p-%n"
screenshot-high-bit-depth=no

## Language Priority
## Sub
## Add enm before eng for honorifics
slang=eng,en
alang=jpn,ja

## Dub
#slang=zxx,eng,en
#alang=eng,en
#subs-with-matching-audio=forced

mpv can be fine-tuned to meet your specific needs, from tweaking playback behavior to customizing video, audio, and subtitle settings. This section outlines the common options that can improve your experience.

Color banding is a visual artifact that is typically seen in gradients, where the colors can be easily differentiated by the human eye. See Tom Scott's video explaining color banding.

Banding (left) vs. No banding (right)

Newer versions of mpv now ship with debanding capabilities, so no additional configuration is required. You can enable debanding anytime during playback by pressing b (default keybind).

For sources where the default debanding isn't effective enough, you can apply more aggressive debanding profiles such as:

[BrazzersDeband]
deband=yes
deband-iterations=4
deband-threshold=64
deband-range=20
deband-grain=32

[HiroshimaDeband]
deband-iterations=4
deband-threshold=100
deband-range=8
deband-grain=32

Scaling is the process of taking content that does not match your screen resolution and resizing it to fit your display. See the Playback Guide for more information.

mpv has a built-in profile called high-quality which enables better upscaling using ewa_lanczossharp. By default, mpv uses lanczos and hermite. This option is necessary to enable even if you use an external shader, as it can act as a fallback.

Scalers only work when the resolution of your video does not match your display. They do not activate if the content resolution already matches your display resolution.

g cycle-values glsl-shaders "~~/shaders/nnedi3-nns128-win8x4.hook" "~~/shaders/ArtCNN_C4F32.glsl" ""

## Video
profile=high-quality
vo=gpu-next
scale-antiring=0.6

profile=fast

Dither is an intentionally applied noise filter that aims to help eliminate various visual artifacts, such as color banding during playback.

By default, mpv uses dithering to match the content bit depth to your display's bit depth. However, in some instances, it may fail to detect the correct bit depth of your display automatically, causing the wrong bit depth to be used and adding banding during playback.

To avoid introducing banding during playback, we recommend explicitly defining your display's bit depth. Most modern displays use the 8-bit color depth, however you can manually check this:

• For Windows, this can be found in Settings -> Display -> Advanced display settings -> Display information -> Bit depth

Then, set your display's bit depth in your mpv.conf:

dither-depth = 8

Most releases will use their own font for .ass subtitles. These can be manually overridden by mpv, which can help improve readability or match personal preferences.

Below are a couple of commonly used styles:

Download this font here or use the button below:

Gandhi Sans

Run the .otf font file to install it system-wide or put it in your fonts folder. Add the following to your mpv.conf:

# Set sub-ass-override to "no" as we only need to enable it for specific cases
sub-ass-override=no
sub-ass-style-overrides=playresx=1920,playresy=1080
sub-font="Gandhi Sans"
sub-font-size=50
sub-color="#FFFFFF"
sub-border-size=2.4
sub-border-color="#FF000000"
sub-shadow-color="#A0000000"
sub-shadow-offset=0.75
sub-bold=yes
sub-ass-style-overrides=Kerning=yes

Download this font here or use the button below:

Cabin

Run the .ttf font file to install it system-wide or put it in your fonts folder. Add the following to your mpv.conf:

## Restyle Subtitles
# Set sub-ass-override to "no" as we only need to enable it for specific cases
sub-ass-override=no
sub-ass-style-overrides=playresx=1920,playresy=1080
sub-font="Cabin"
sub-font-size=50
sub-color="#FFFFFFFF"
sub-border-size=2.4
sub-border-color="#FF000000"
sub-shadow-color="#A0000000"
sub-shadow-offset=0.8
sub-ass-style-overrides=Kerning=yes

This is a modified version of Cabin made by @astolfo69 (RaptoR) in the SeaDex Discord server.

Download this font using the button below:

Cabin F

Run the .ttf font file to install it system-wide or put it in your fonts folder. Add the following to your mpv.conf:

## Restyle Subtitles
# Set sub-ass-override to "no" as we only need to enable it for specific cases
sub-ass-override=no
sub-ass-style-overrides=playresx=1920,playresy=1080
sub-font="Cabin F"
sub-font-size=50
sub-color="#FFFFFFFF"
sub-border-size=2.4
sub-border-color="#FF000000"
sub-shadow-color="#A0000000"
sub-shadow-offset=0.8
sub-ass-style-overrides=Kerning=yes

To activate it with a key, add the following to your input.conf, replacing k with the bind of your choice, if necessary (case-sensitive):

k cycle_values sub-ass-override "force" "no"

Auto profiles allow users to automate actions based on certain conditions. Tasks such as debanding and subtitle restyling can be applied automatically when these conditions are met, such as file names.

For instance, some seasonal releases may exhibit banding issues and use subjectively less-appealing subtitle fonts. To address this, we can create a simulcast auto profile, which automatically applies debanding and subtitle restyling when playing releases uploaded by SubsPlease, Erai-raws, Tsundere-Raws, VARYG, or HorribleSubs.

Add the following to the end of your mpv.conf:

[crunchyroll]
profile-cond=filename:match("SubsPlease") or filename:match("Erai%-raws") or filename:match("HorribleSubs")
profile-restore=copy
sub-ass-use-video-data=aspect-ratio

[simulcast]
profile-cond=(function(a)for b,c in ipairs(a)do if filename:match(c)then return true end end end)({"SubsPlease","Erai%-raws","Tsundere%-Raws","%-VARYG","HorribleSubs","SubsPlus%+", "Yameii"})
profile-restore=copy
deband=yes

mpv supports loading custom scripts, allowing you to further expand the player's functionality.

Below is a list of some popular scripts:

• autocrop - Automatically crop the video by using lavfi's cropdetect filter to detect black bars
• autoload - Automatically adds all files present in the folder to a playlist
• change-refresh - Script to automatically change the refresh rate of the display to reflect the current video
• mpv-playlistmanager - Script to create and manage playlists
• mpv-webm - WebM maker for mpv
• pause-when-minimize - Pauses playback when minimizing the window, and resumes playback when brought back
• thumbfast - Display thumbnails when scrubbing video (may be needed for some Skins)
• trackselect - Select tracks based on their title

You can customize how mpv looks using skins. These are subject to personal preference, so find what works best for you.

Below is a list of some popular skins:

• mfpbar
• ModernX
• mpv-osc-modern
• mpv-osc-tethys
• mpv-progressbar
• oscc
• uosc