mpv

A free command line media player with broad format, codec, and subtitle support, plus a README that says plainly what kind of machine you need.

mpv is a free media player for the command line. It handles a wide variety of media file formats, audio and video codecs, and subtitle types, which the README lists as its main breadth claim. The project's primary language is C, and the homepage is mpv.io. There is no graphical shell described anywhere in the README; the working relationship is with a terminal. Subtitle support is called out explicitly alongside codecs, which points at the niche the project has always served.

The system requirements are unusually specific. Linux that is not too ancient, Windows 10 1607 or later, or macOS 10.15 or later; a somewhat capable CPU; and a not too crappy GPU. Hardware decoding has to be enabled explicitly with an option, and low power GPUs may cause issues like tearing, which a recommended profile is meant to smooth out. The README is equally honest about old machines: the project does not go out of its way to break on older hardware or unsupported operating systems, but development is not done with them in mind, so compatibility is not guaranteed.

The main video output renders and scales through shaders rather than GPU specific features, which keeps behavior consistent across platforms. On the changelog side, the README says there is no complete changelog, and says so outright. Changes to the player core interface are collected in an interface changelog, and every release list carries a summary of the most important changes for that release.

• Source 1 · Project repository
• Source 2 · README