MPlayer FAQ

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

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

MPlayer FAQ by relaxed: http://johnvansickle.com/faq

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 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 and codecs.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.

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

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

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 -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 make bigger the displayed image whit 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

i get errors playing h264 like these "[h264 @ 0xd96950]concealing 1840 DC, 1840 AC, 1840 MV errors" 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.

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?

• http://jajuk.cvs.sourceforge.net/jajuk/jajuk/src/org/jajuk/players/MPlayerPlayerImpl.java?view=log

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/

Build questions/crashes

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

• read libavcodec/amr.c and install amr codec, then recompile mplayer

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
• Point /etc/X11/XvMCConfig to your /lib/libXvMCNVIDIA.so.* , 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

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 -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 .