Start and end positions
Seek to a position before playback begins.Time formats:
[[hh:]mm:]ss[.ms]— absolute timestamp-[[hh:]mm:]ss[.ms]— relative from the end of the filepp%— percentage position (0–100)#c— chapter number (chapters start at 1)none— reset any previously set value
Stop playback at the given position. Uses the same format as
--start.Stop playback after a given duration relative to
--start. Uses the same format as --start.If both --end and --length are given, playback stops at whichever endpoint comes first.Move the file start time to
00:00:00. Useful for transport streams that begin at a non-zero timestamp. Disable with no if you need to work with the actual timestamps in the file.Speed and pitch
Play back at a multiple of normal speed. Values above 1 speed up; values below 1 slow down.When
--audio-pitch-correction is enabled (the default), mpv automatically inserts the scaletempo2 filter to preserve pitch when playing faster or slower than normal.Start the player in the paused state. Playback does not begin until you press the play key (default:
Space).Looping
Loop a single file N times.
inf means loop indefinitely. no plays through once.--loop is an alias for --loop-file.--loop-file counts the number of seeks to the beginning, not full playthroughs. --loop-file=1 plays the file twice (one seek back).Loop the entire playlist N times.
inf means loop forever. force is like inf but continues even if some entries fail to open (useful for web radio with bad connectivity).A-B loop
Set the start point of an A-B loop. When playback reaches
--ab-loop-b, it seeks back to this point. Use no (or leave unset) to disable.Set the end point of the A-B loop. See
--ab-loop-a.How many times to run the A-B loop before ignoring the loop points.
inf means loop forever. 0 disables the A-B loop even if both points are set.Chapters
Start playback at the given chapter. Chapters are numbered from 1 in most contexts, but this option uses the same format as
--start='#c'.Threshold in milliseconds for merging nearly-consecutive ordered chapter parts in Matroska files. If the gap between the end of one chapter part and the start of the next is below this value, mpv plays through the boundary without seeking.
When seeking backward within a chapter, if the current position is within this many seconds of the chapter start, the seek goes to the previous chapter. Beyond this threshold it goes to the beginning of the current chapter. A negative value always seeks to the previous chapter.
Seeking precision
Control when to use precise (non-keyframe) seeks. Precise seeks decode from the previous keyframe to the exact target, which is slower but frame-accurate.
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
no | Never use precise seeks |
absolute | Precise seeks only for absolute positions (e.g. chapter seeks) |
default | Like absolute, plus precise seeks in audio-only cases |
yes | Always use precise seeks |
Allow the decoder to drop frames before the seek target during precise seeks. Enabling this makes precise seeks faster, but can cause issues with filters that modify timestamps or generate new frames (e.g. deinterlacers).
Playlist and idle behavior
Play files in random order when multiple files or a playlist is given.
Do not exit when reaching the end of the last file in the playlist. Instead, pause the player.
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
no | Exit normally at end of playlist (default) |
yes | Pause instead of exiting when the last file ends |
always | Pause at the end of every file, including mid-playlist |
Keep mpv running (waiting for input) even when there are no files to play.
Primarily useful when controlling mpv via IPC or input commands.
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
no | Exit when playlist is empty (default) |
yes | Wait indefinitely for input commands |
once | Wait at startup, but exit once the first playlist finishes |
Common recipes
Playlist options
Set which playlist entry to start from.
0 is the first entry. auto lets the resume mechanism decide.Load and play files from a playlist file. Supports common playlist formats; unknown formats are treated as newline-separated file lists.