MPlayer

MPlayer is a popular movie player for GNU/Linux. It has support for pretty much every video and audio format out there and is hence very versatile, even though most people use it for viewing videos.

Installation

The Template:Package Official package is available in [extra]:

# pacman -S mplayer

Alternatively, the latest development version can be install from the AUR (Template:Package AUR).

You may also want to try mplayer2, a fork of mplayer:

# pacman -S mplayer2

Additional installation tips

Frontends/GUIs

There are several GUIs for MPlayer.

• Qt: Template:Package Official is in the extra repository. The smplayer-themes package provides themes for it.
• Gtk+: Template:Package AUR and Template:Package Official are in the AUR and community repos, respectively.
• gmplayer: this gui is no longer included in the mplayer package. There is an alternative mplayer package (mplayer-x) in AUR in which the gmplayer gui is enabled.

Browser integration

If you want to let MPlayer control video viewing in your favorite web browser, install the following:

Firefox

# pacman -S gecko-mediaplayer

Note: Depends on gnome-mplayer, which provides a complete frontend to MPlayer.

Konqueror

# pacman -S kmplayer

Note: Also provides a complete frontend to MPlayer.

Usage

Configuration

System-wide configuration is located in Template:Filename, whereas the user-local settings are stored in Template:Filename. The file Template:Filename is a good starting point.

An example configuration:

Enabling VDPAU (modern nVidia cards only)

For a complete list of VDPAU capable hardware, see [this table]. Ensure the nvidia driver is installed and consider one of the following two methods to automatically enable vdpau for playback.

1. Using a conf file

Append the following to either the system-wide or user-specific config files

vo=vdpau,
vc=ffmpeg12vdpau,ffwmv3vdpau,ffvc1vdpau,ffh264vdpau,ffodivxvdpau,

Note: The trailing commas are important!

Warning: The ffodivxvdpau is only supported by the most recent series of nVidia hardware. Consider omitting it based on your specific hardware.

2. Using a wrapper script

The AUR contains a trivial bash script called Template:Package AUR that detects which vc to use and when to use vo=vdpau.

Translucent Video with radeon and Composite enabled

To get translucent video output in X you have to enable textured video in mplayer:

$ mplayer -vo xv:adaptor=1 <File>

Or add the following line to Template:Filename:

vo=xv:adaptor=1

You can use xvinfo to check which video modes your graphic card supports.

Smplayer No Video Issue

Smplayer may have trouble opening mp4 (and probably flv) videos. If it plays only audio without video here is the fix: Open your Template:Codeline file and add

 [extension.mp4]
 demuxer=mov

If problem persists after doing so, it is because of smplayer is keeping settings for that specific file. Deleting file settings of smplayer will fix this.

 $ rm -rf ~/.config/smplayer/file_settings

(S)mplayer fails to resume playback after pause

Smplayer might stop playing a video after pausing it if your audio output driver is set wrong. If PulseAudio is used start mplayer with the "-ao pulse" argument or edit your Template:Codeline file and add

 ao=pulse

In Smplayer you have to change your "Output-driver" under "General" - "Audio" in the options.

Transparent SMPlayer in Gnome with Composite enabled

Have you noticed the transparent screen of smplayer when you are using compiz and maybe cairo-dock? Well it’s ridiculous that when you open your videos using SMplayer you can just hear audio and no video! Here’s how you fix this: [copy paste into terminal]

   sudo bash -c "cat > /usr/bin/smplayer.helper" <<EOF
   export XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1
   exec smplayer.real "$@"
   EOF
   sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/smplayer.helper
   sudo mv /usr/bin/smplayer{,.real}
   sudo ln -sf smplayer.helper /usr/bin/smplayer

If you don’t use sudo then just use “su” to login as root and do the above!

Watching streamed video

If you want to play a video stream (e.g *.asx link) use:

$ mplayer -playlist link-to-stream.asx 

To play the stream, as these are playlists of streams and won't be playable by omitting the -playlist option.

Play mplayer with dvdnav support

If you want to use mplayer with dvdnav support to enable the menus of a dvd then use the following syntax:

$ mplayer -nocache dvdnav://

Seek forward/backward in a ddownloading file

If you want to be able to seek forward and backward in a video file which is still downloading whilst watching it, add the following to your config file.

idx=yes
forceidx=yes

Stream mplayer audio to jackd

Edit Template:Filename and add:

ao=jack

Keybindings

This is a list of the most basic MPlayer keys.

Key	Description
p	Toggle pause/play.
Space	Toggle pause/play.
Backspace	Return to menu when using dvdnav.
Left	Seek backward ten seconds.
Right	Seek forward ten seconds.
Down	Seek backward one minute.
Up	Seek forward one minute.
<	Go back in the playlist.
>	Go forward in the playlist.
m	Mute the sound.
0	Volume up.
9	Volume down.
f	Toggle fullscreen mode.
o	Toggle OSD state.
j	Toggle subtitle visibility.
I	Show filename.
1, 2	Adjust contrast.
3, 4	Adjust brightness.
j	Cycle through the available subtitles.
#	Cycle through the available audio tracks.

Mplayer fails to open files with spaces

If you try to open a file with spaces (The Movie) and mplayer fails. Saying that it could not open the file (file:///The%20Movie), where all spaces are converted to %20.

Then edit Template:Filename to change the following line from:

Exec=mplayer %U

To:

Exec=mplayer "%F"

If you got frontend/GUI enter GUI name in Exec=gui_name "%F".

External links

• Official MPlayer website
• List of shortcut keys