MPlayer FAQ

This page will attempt to list all of the frequent questions we get in the #mplayer irc channel on irc.freenode.net.

IRC channel rules (by KotH):

Ask user questions in #mplayer
Don't ask in #mplayerdev.
Don't ask in #mplayerdev. we are serious!
Don't ask in #mplayerdev. you will be banned.
mplayerdev is for patches/development only!

Official MPlayer Frequently asked Questions: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/HTML/en/faq.html

MPlayer Wikibooks: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Mplayer

Feel free to add your questions/answers here, and include important error messages.

Please try to get the latest version of mplayer. a lot of the times, a problem is fixed already. problems sometimes occur when the file you are playing is newer than your mplayer version :)

MPlayer information

Where is mplayer's config?

usually in ~/.mplayer/config
on windows its in the mplayer directory where mplayer.exe is. for example c:\mplayer\mplayer.exe the config is c:\mplayer\mplayer\config

input.conf, codecs.conf, mencoder.conf and gui.conf can go there as well.

you can find where mplayer looks by using mplayer -v somefile

my docs/man does not have the feature you are talking about!

you can find an updated manual here: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/man/
updated docs here: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/

the video filters (-vf) can be used with mplayer and mencoder.: currently -vf ass/-ass does not work with mencoder.

switches can be put into the config.: -fs becomes fs=yes or fs=1 or fs=ja (or a few more different ways to say yes/no); -nodouble becomes nodouble=yes

options have the 'no' prefix, to disable defaults or configs.: -fs/-nofs -double/-nodouble -framedrop/-noframedrop

gmplayer will not let you change gui.conf while it is running. close gmplayer first, then change gui.conf

when will you release the NEXT VERSION of mplayer?

when the svn is stable and the mplayer team gets some time to build the package.

if you do not like using email to report bugs to mplayer-users@mplayerhq.hu mailing list, you can report bugs to http://bugzilla.mplayerhq.hu

Questions from #mplayer channel:

Subtitle/OSD

How do i increase the subtitle font size?
Hi, im using a Mplayer windows gui. Is there a way to make subtitles smaller? mpui its named

subfont-text-scale=3 in config or mplayer -subfont-text-scale 3 file

None of the "freetype" commands in man work when I attempt to use -subfont-autoscale or -subfont-text-scale .

It says:

unknown option on the command line or

Cannot load bitmap font: /usr/share/fonts/truetype/truetype/msttcorefonts/Arial.ttf

install freetype/truetype and recompile mplayer

I recompiled mplayer and now it doesn't complain about -subfont-autoscale or -subfont-text-scale.
Unfortunately, they don't do anything

symlink any ttf font to ~/.mplayer/subfont.ttf or
specify a font, mplayer -font /dir/somefont.ttf -subfont-text-scale 3 file.avi

Is it normal that a subtitle disappear after 7 seconds, not at the end of the time specified in the subtitle file? or help! some subtitles are missing

try -overlapsub or -nooverlapsub

How do i expand the "area" so that the subtitles are lower on the screen/ put the subs in the black bars?

mplayer -vf expand=:-100::2

How do I view romanian subtitles?

-subcp cp1250

How to force SSA subtitles size to constant one

Try ass-force-style=FontSize=<value>.

For vobsub subtitles, is there anyway to change the font?

vobsubs don't have fonts, vobsub is a set of images.
you can convert vobsub to txt, using TOOLS/subrip.c script
or download your movie's subtitles from http://www.opensubtitles.org or http://www.kloofy.net for asian movies

General Questions

Hi, My cpu is too slow, help!

for mpeg1/2 or mpeg4 try adding -nodouble or mplayer -lavdopts lowres=1 -vfm ffmpeg will use half-res decoding to speed things up as well.
for H264 try mplayer -lavdopts skiploopfilter=all file.mkv
- might cause artefacts like sudden color changes, in this case try e.g. "nonref" instead of "all"

Your computer is still too slow?

Try -lavdopts skipframe=nonref:skiploopfilter=all

This will skip many frames, but saves 50% CPU performance

if using -vo gl use -vo gl:yuv=2 or similar. For high FPS video (> 50 Hz) also try -vo gl:swapinterval=0 since the default limits FPS to well below monitor refresh.

Hi folks, is there a way to "tell" mplayer (not gmplayer) not to exit when a file has been played and then wait for some new input? via a fifo or whatever

http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/tech/slave.txt
mplayer -slave -idle -input=/fifo

Anyway to dump a dvd audio stream really fast?

mplayer -dumpaudio dvd:// -speed 90 -vc null -vo null -benchmark

I have a corrupt file that mplayer plays, how do i get a new "clean" version of the audio?

mplayer file -ao pcm

I have a widescreen lcd monitor and everything is stretched, help!

use -monitoraspect 16:10 or -monitorpixelaspect 1.125

How do I set the video window to double size when running mplayer from command line? Cannot find it in man file...

mplayer -xy 2

How to set video as wallpaper ?

mplayer -rootwin yourmovie (Only works with the x11, xv, xmga, xvidix, quartz, macosx and directx video output drivers.)
Gnome : gconftool-2 -s /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop -t bool false (to disable background)

Why can`t I increase the displayed image width my mplayer?
My image is small and black border / frame around tiny video, what gives?

mplayer -zoom or zoom=1 in config
but first try setting mplayer -vo xv or vo=xv in config

Fullscreen does not work right in a multi-monitor setup

try using mplayer -fstype none

I get errors playing h264 like these

[h264 @ 0xd96950]concealing 1840 DC, 1840 AC, 1840 MV errors or Error while decoding frame! what gives?

check your config and options for 'framedrop' and disable/turn it off. try also -noframedrop
its possible your file is incomplete, try md5sum against the original or rehash it using your torrent program.

I want a concise comparison of the various video outputs - say, their scores on performance measures - to help choose between em.

different vo's are faster/slower on different pc, drivers and video cards, its almost impossible to tell whats fastest for everyone.
use mplayer -nosound -benchmark file -vo (vohere) to test your video output speed
vo's with hardware accelerated output (like xv, vidix, directx, macosx/quartz) will usually be faster than vesa, fb, gl/gl2. but not always.

Whats the best deinterlacing filter?

-vf yadif with mcedeint is reccomended by mplayer and ffmpeg devels.
see comparison at http://guru.multimedia.cx/deinterlacing-filters/

I want to seek in avi while they are downloading but -forceidx is too slow.

use mplayer -demuxer lavf to seek in broken/incomplete avi.

This error when trying to play an audio stream: Win32 LoadLibrary failed to load: avisynth.dll .
Is this DLL only available from a licensed windows install?

the file is most likely a playlist
try mplayer -playlist http://blah
also try wget it to make sure its audio and not some html page.

I want to play a DVD that's already on my hard drive with gmplayer.

gmplayer dvd:// -dvd-device /dir/vobfiless/

How do i position mplayer window?
How do i make mplayer start in the same spot every time?

see -geometry

How do i extract frames from videos?
How do i make thumbnails from videos?
How do i make a gallery of images from a movie?

mplayer -vo jpeg -sstep 30 -frames 10 yourfile
add -vf scale=320:240 if you want smaller image size...
use -vf framestep if sstep does not work on your source.
- also check out this howto for using ffmpeg or mencoder to create movies http://electron.mit.edu/~gsteele/ffmpeg/

I use mencoder to create videos from jpg files in a directory.
The problem is the files are 1-out.jpg 2-out.jpg ... mencoder gets the order wrong.

try wtih mf://%d-out.jpg

I'm having trouble viewing the Guadec 2006 talks, in Ogg Theora format, in mplayer.

Anyone try these before? My error seems to be

[theora @ 0x89ccef8]Missing extradata!Could not open codec.VDecoder init failed

use -demuxer lavf if you dont have mplayer compiled with libtheora
maybe also try -correct-pts

How to play raw ac3 files?

mplayer -demuxer rawaudio -rawaudio format=0x2000 file.ac3
format=0x2001 for dts
check codecs.conf for format= entries

All my files with AC3 audio are too quiet! I cant hear anything! How do i make it louder?

mplayer -af volume=10 will add 10 db.
see also -af volnorm

Is there a way to get mplayer/mencoder not being to much verbose?

mplayer -quiet
mplayer -really-quiet

xine or videolan can play my file but mplayer cannot!

try mplayer -demuxer lavf file
make sure mplayer and the other program are using the same audio and video output
make sure the other program is not locking the audio/video output (by closing other multimedia programs first (also make sure artsd is not locking /dev/dsp (use lsof | grep -i dsp)))
if xine plays the file ok, but mplayer stutters, try mplayer -autosync 30 file

How do i change mplayer speed but keep pitch the same?

mplayer -speed 1.5 -af ladspa=tap_pitch:tap_pitch:0:-33:-90:0 foo.avi
http://tap-plugins.sourceforge.net/ladspa/pitch.html
more info : http://mark.santaniello.net/archives/260

I want to play a bin, cue, mdf, mds, nrg, iso or other audio cd image?
My operating system does not have a way to mount the image.

mplayer file.nrg -demuxer rawaudio -rawaudio format=0x1

Non-mplayer problems

I want to distribute the win32 codecs, is it legal for me to do so?

yes
no
depends on your country :)
See Mike Melanson's answer to this question
Unless Microsoft explicitly gives you permission within the End-User License Agreement (EULA) or License Terms that accompany the Products and Services and/or in the guidelines below, you may not copy, modify, distribute, display, license, or sell any Products and Services or components contained in them. from Microsoft Permissions.
Microsoft grants you the right to reproduce, install and use a reasonable number of copies of the Client OS Components on computers at your premises that are each running a validly licensed copy of the Client OS Software. from the eula.txt inside one of the codec downloads at microsoft's site.
the mpeg4 license for ms codecs is for individuals only:
- USE OF THIS PRODUCT IN ANY MANNER THAT COMPLIES WITH THE MPEG 4 VISUAL STANDARD IS PROHIBITED, EXCEPT FOR USE DIRECTLY RELATED TO (A) DATA OR INFORMATION (i) GENERATED BY AND OBTAINED WITHOUT CHARGE FROM A CONSUMER NOT THEREBY ENGAGED IN A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE, AND (ii) FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY; AND (B) OTHER USES SPECIFICALLY AND SEPARATELY LICENSED BY MPEG LA, L.L.C.

Help! When i play a file over the network i get desync and cpu is at 100%, but if i play it locally its fine!

are you using a ne2000 clone NIC? (Realtek cards like RTL8019 or 8029 or 8039). they use some cpu when transferring data.
check the ethernet howto for tips and try to decrease your tcp window size.

How to include mplayer in a java application or program or library?

Having adjusted the hue/contrast previously, what's an easy way to set them all back to neutral?

use xvattr
rpm packages at http://dag.wieers.com/packages/xvattr/

I get a 'process input error' with some wmv files and mplayer plays all blocks.

its probably a drm protected file
run strings -n19 yourfile.wmv and if a url comes out, its drm.
if you can play the file on windows you can remove the drm using fairuse4wm (FU4WM) or drmcreep or automateundrm or sidda or drmdbg or drm2wmv.

I want to play and record tv video at the same time with mencoder.: How do I pipe mplayer/mencoder output to stdout?

mplayer devs reccomend using mkfifo (named pipe) instead of stdout.
mencoder tv:// -tv driver=v4l:width=324:height=248:outfmt=rgb24:device=/dev/video0:adevice=hw.1,0 -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=128 -flip -ovc lavc -lavcopts threads=2 -o >( tee filename.avi | mplayer -)

How can I play movie in rar?

unrar p -inul movie.part01.rar |mplayer -noidx -

How do I extract the mpeg file/s from a vcd or bin/cue files?

windows: vcdgear available at http://www.vcdgear.com/ (works on linux too but it's not open source)
linux: use vcdxrip like so vcdxrip --bin-file=blah.bin , or just vcdxrip in a writeable directory if extracting from an actual disc. vcdxrip is part of the vcdimager package

I want to get images from videos by frame number or frame range, not by time.

transcode -c 0-100 will encode 100 frames starting at frame 0 up to frame 99

Build questions/crashes

mplayer doesn't compile anymore since svn rXXXXX

Before reporting problems, please retry after a make distclean.

Anyone know how to play mp4 files with sound? I can only see video but no audio.

check mplayer output for helpful messages.
Requested audio codec family [faad] (afm=faad) not available. Enable it at compilation.
your mplayer was not compiled with faad support. recompile it after installing libfaad package.

Hi, playing a 3GP file, I get "Cannot find codec 'amr_nb' in libavcodec". How can I solve this please

You need amrnb and/or amrwb from http://www.penguin.cz/~utx/amr

Help I get this crash X11 error

BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)?,?% 0 0

MPlayer interrupted by signal 6 in module vo_check_events or this error

"X11 error: BadAccess (attempt to access private resource denied)" using an intel card

add Option "LinearAlloc" "8192" to xorg.conf and restart X

How to setup XvMC ?

Get xmvc dev lib (libxvmc-dev) and compile MPlayer with --enable-xvmc
If the resulting mplayer executable was linked against the xvmc wrapper library libXvMCW.so, point /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XvMCConfig (or /etc/X11/XvMCConfig or both) to your /lib/libXvMCNVIDIA.so.* (libI810XvMC.so.1, if you don't have an NVIDIA, but an intel graphics controller), for example : echo "libXvMCNVIDIA.so.1.0.9742" > /etc/X11/XvMCConfig
mplayer -vc ffmpeg12mc -vo xvmc yourmovie.mpeg2
NB : works only with mpeg2 and mpeg.

I get this error when playing files, whats up?

Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
Compiler did not align stack variables.
Libavcodec has been miscompiled and may be very slow or crash.
This is not a bug in libavcodec, but in the compiler.
Do not report crashes to FFmpeg developers.

ffmpeg is fighting gcc again.
stay out of this fight. stick your fingers in your eyes and hope for the best.
you can view a different ffmpeg vs gcc fight at this bugzilla:
http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=11203

mplayer saya: error opening/initializing selected video_out device and -vo x11 does not help!

run mplayer -vo help and see if x11 is listed
use a different mplayer package if its not listed
recompile mplayer after getting hte x11-devel or libxv or x11 header files.

mplayer doesn't compile with live555 library

Do NOT use --enable-live
Do NOT report errors on mailing lists if you use --enable-live

cabac.h: 526: error: can't find a register in class 'GENERAL_REGS' while reloading 'asm'

On x86, you can't compile mplayer after configuring with --enable-debug, because cabac.h in libavcodec can't be compiled with all optimizations when debugging is turned on.
Three possible solutions:

Don't configure with enable-debug
Use -fomit-frame-pointer: Copy the line beginning with "cc" ending with "-c -o h264.o h264.c" (from make output immediately above the error) and add "-fomit-frame-pointer": This might affect debugging for h264.o
Don't compile the optimized code: Add "#undef HAVE_EBX_AVAILABLE" to libavcodec/cabac.h

Mencoder questions

I try to add subtitles to my video with mencoder but nothing happens, here is my mencoder command

mencoder file.avi -sub file.srt -oac copy -ovc copy.

you cant use -sub or -vf with -ovc copy, try -ovc lavc instead

Why is encoded video always at a lower bitrate than specified?

try using vqmin lavc option
it may mean that the encoder is using all possible bits to encode the video and it's not possible to go any higher

Hi, I am looking for a way to automatically convert ogg to mp3 I must give a directory and have everything in converted is it possible to achievve such a thing with mplayer ?

use aconvert found in mplayer source TOOLS/aconvert .

I'm converting some video and i get bad desynch!

try adding -noskip and/or -mc 0
also look at -vf harddup

I cant encode ssa subtitles with mencoder with styles?

-ass does not work with mencoder yet.
First terminal: mkfifo stream.yuv ; mplayer -vf expand=:-60::2 -ao pcm foo.avi -ass -sub subtitles.ssa -vo yuv4mpeg
Second terminal: mencoder stream.yuv -o bar.avi -ovc lavc -audiofile audiofile.wav -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=128
- the stream.yuv fifo is the file mplayer default outputs -vo yuv4mpeg to, so dont change this!
- this technique also works for encoding vobsubs

How do i record video from my webcam?

mencoder tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:fps=90:device=/dev/v4l/video0 -nosound -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mjpeg -o cooking.avi

Streaming Questions

Help i cant access azntv.com nsv streams!

the server only allows winamp user agent
-user-agent "Winamp NSV Player/5.12 (ultravox/2.0)"

rtsp:// rm streams are soooo slow! even with -dumpstream!

-bandwidth 1000000

I cant play some rtsp:// mov urls. but vlc can!

you might be behind a firewall or router where udp does not work. try -rtsp-stream-over-tcp

Encoding to PSP/iPod/Other Devices

-oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=aac produces better streams for embedded devices than -oac faac
or using ffmpeg

how do i make videos for my ipod? or other video device?

ipod here : http://home.c-otto.de/ipod/
- ffmpeg ipod script: http://cekirdek.pardus.org.tr/~ismail/hacks/ipodenc
treo 650 : http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/User:Ianf#Encoding_Videos_for_PSP_and_Treo_650
psp : http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_PSP#Converting_Video_files_to_play_in_PSP

MEncoder PSP AVC profile (put in ~/.mplayer/mencoder.conf ) by predatorfreak :

[psp]
profile-desc="PSP AVC encoding profile."
vf=hqdn3d,scale=368:208
af=lavcresample=48000
ofps=30000/1001
ovc=lavc=1
oac=lavc=1
lavcopts=aglobal=1:vglobal=1:vcodec=h264:acodec=aac:vbitrate=320:abitrate=97:coder=1
of=lavf=1
lavfopts=format=psp:i_certify_that_my_video_stream_does_not_use_b_frames=1

for Symbian 9.1/S60 - Nokia E70 (thanks Honeyman)

http://forum.nokia.com/main/resources/technologies/audiovideo/

mencoder $SOURCE_FILENAME -ofps $FPS -o temp.vid -of rawvideo -oac copy -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=400 -vf scale=$SCALE
mencoder $SOURCE_FILENAME -ofps $FPS -o temp.aac -of rawaudio -ovc frameno -oac lavc -lavcopts acodec=aac:abitrate=96
mp4box -new -add temp.vid -add temp.cmp -fps $FPS -brand mp42 -isma $OUTPUT_FILENAME
For $SCALE, "352:264" works for 4:3 movies, and "352:200" works for 16:9