mpv has a fully configurable, command-driven control layer. The default bindings listed here are hardcoded into the mpv binary. You can add or override them in ~/.config/mpv/input.conf.
The listings below are not exhaustive. The authoritative source is
etc/input.conf in the mpv source tree. You can also view active bindings
interactively with the ? key (see Viewing bindings). Seeking
| Key | Action |
|---|
Right | Seek forward 5 seconds (keyframe-limited) |
Left | Seek backward 5 seconds (keyframe-limited) |
Up | Seek forward 1 minute (keyframe-limited) |
Down | Seek backward 1 minute (keyframe-limited) |
Shift+Right | Seek forward exactly 1 second |
Shift+Left | Seek backward exactly 1 second |
Shift+Up | Seek forward exactly 5 seconds |
Shift+Down | Seek backward exactly 5 seconds |
Ctrl+Right | Seek to the next subtitle |
Ctrl+Left | Seek to the previous subtitle |
Ctrl+Shift+Right | Adjust subtitle delay so the next subtitle shows now |
Ctrl+Shift+Left | Adjust subtitle delay so the previous subtitle shows now |
Home | Seek to the beginning of the file |
Page Up | Seek to the beginning of the next chapter |
Page Down | Seek to the beginning of the previous chapter |
Shift+Page Up | Seek forward 10 minutes |
Shift+Page Down | Seek backward 10 minutes |
Shift+Backspace | Undo the last seek (only within the same playlist entry) |
Shift+Ctrl+Backspace | Mark current position for Shift+Backspace to return to |
Playback control
| Key | Action |
|---|
p / Space | Toggle pause / unpause |
. | Step forward one frame, then pause |
, | Step backward one frame, then pause |
q / Ctrl+w | Stop playback and quit |
Q | Quit and save current position for later resumption |
Ctrl+c | Quit with exit code 4 |
ESC | Exit fullscreen; no other effect in windowed mode |
Playback speed
| Key | Action |
|---|
[ | Decrease playback speed by 10% |
] | Increase playback speed by 10% |
{ | Halve playback speed |
} | Double playback speed |
Backspace | Reset playback speed to 1× |
Volume and audio
| Key | Action |
|---|
9 / / | Decrease volume |
0 / * | Increase volume |
m | Toggle mute |
# | Cycle through available audio tracks |
Ctrl++ | Increase audio delay (A/V sync) by 0.1 s |
Ctrl+- | Decrease audio delay (A/V sync) by 0.1 s |
Video
| Key | Action |
|---|
f | Toggle fullscreen |
ESC | Leave fullscreen |
T | Toggle always-on-top |
_ | Cycle through available video tracks |
A | Cycle aspect ratio override |
w / W | Decrease/increase pan-and-scan range |
b | Toggle debanding filter |
d | Cycle deinterlacing filter |
E | Cycle through available editions |
Ctrl+h | Toggle hardware video decoding |
Alt+Left/Right/Up/Down | Pan the video |
Alt++ / Alt+- | Zoom in/out |
Alt+Backspace | Reset pan and zoom |
Alt+0 | Resize window to half its original size |
Alt+1 | Resize window to its original size |
Alt+2 | Resize window to double its original size |
Color adjustments
These keys are only effective when the video output supports the corresponding adjustment:
| Key | Action |
|---|
1 / 2 | Adjust contrast |
3 / 4 | Adjust brightness |
5 / 6 | Adjust gamma |
7 / 8 | Adjust saturation |
Subtitles
| Key | Action |
|---|
j | Cycle forward through subtitle tracks |
J | Cycle backward through subtitle tracks |
v | Toggle subtitle visibility |
Alt+v | Toggle secondary subtitle visibility |
z / Z | Shift subtitle timing −/+ 0.1 seconds |
r / R | Move subtitles up/down |
G / F | Increase/decrease subtitle font size by 10% |
u | Toggle subtitle style override (apply --sub-ass-* overrides vs. override fully) |
V | Cycle which video data is used for ASS rendering |
Screenshots
| Key | Action |
|---|
s | Screenshot at original resolution, with subtitles |
S | Screenshot at original resolution, without subtitles |
Ctrl+s | Screenshot of the window as displayed (with OSD and scaling) |
Alt+s | Screenshot every frame (press again to stop) |
Playlist navigation
| Key | Action |
|---|
> | Go to the next playlist entry |
< | Go to the previous playlist entry |
Enter | Go to the next playlist entry |
Shift+Home | Jump to the first playlist entry |
Shift+End | Jump to the last playlist entry |
l | Set or clear A-B loop points |
L | Toggle infinite looping of the current file |
F8 | Show the playlist and current position |
OSD and info
| Key | Action |
|---|
o / P | Show progress bar, elapsed time, and total duration |
O | Toggle OSD between normal and always-on playback time |
i | Show playback statistics overlay |
I | Toggle statistics overlay |
? | Toggle key bindings overlay |
` | Open the console |
F9 | Show the list of audio, video, and subtitle tracks |
DEL | Cycle OSC visibility: never / auto / always |
Interactive track and playlist selection (g- prefix)
These bindings open an interactive menu in the console for selecting from a list:
| Key | Action |
|---|
g-p | Select a playlist entry |
g-s | Select a subtitle track |
g-S | Select a secondary subtitle track |
g-a | Select an audio track |
g-v | Select a video track |
g-t | Select a track of any type |
g-c | Select a chapter |
g-e | Select an MKV edition or DVD/Blu-ray title |
g-l | Select a subtitle line to seek to (requires ffmpeg in PATH) |
g-d | Select an audio device |
g-h | Select a file from the watch history (requires --save-watch-history) |
g-w | Select a file from watch-later config files to resume |
g-b | Select a defined input binding |
g-r | Show all property values |
g-m / Ctrl+p | Open the miscellaneous menu |
Down/Ctrl+n (down), Up/Ctrl+p (up), Page Down/Ctrl+f (page down), Page Up/Ctrl+b (page up). Selecting the active track in a track menu disables it.
| Key | Action |
|---|
Pause | Pause |
Stop | Stop and quit |
Previous / Next | Seek backward/forward 1 minute |
Volume Up / Volume Down | Adjust volume |
Mute | Toggle mute |
| Key | Action |
|---|
MENU / Shift+F10 | Open the context menu |
Mouse controls
| Action | Effect |
|---|
| Left double-click | Toggle fullscreen |
| Right click | Toggle pause |
| Scroll wheel up/down | Adjust volume |
| Scroll wheel left/right | Seek backward/forward 10 seconds |
| Ctrl+scroll wheel up/down | Zoom in/out, keeping the hovered position fixed |
| Forward/Back buttons | Next/previous playlist entry |
| Ctrl+left click and drag | Pan the video, keeping the clicked point under the cursor |
Viewing bindings
Press ? during playback to toggle an overlay showing all currently active key bindings. This is provided by the built-in stats script.
You can also run mpv in binding test mode to inspect what any key does:
mpv --input-test --force-window --idle
~/.config/mpv/input.conf to add or override bindings. Each line has the form:
# Increase/decrease volume with +/-
+ add volume 5
- add volume -5
# Jump forward/backward 90 seconds with Ctrl+arrow
Ctrl+RIGHT seek 90
Ctrl+LEFT seek -90
# Toggle hardware decoding
h cycle-values hwdec no auto
# Bind SHARP (#) to toggle mute (SHARP is the literal key name for #)
SHARP cycle mute
# Ignore the g key so the g-* bindings still work without triggering anything
g ignore
Use ignore to fully unbind a key: ctrl+a ignore. Disable all default
bindings with --no-input-default-bindings and define everything yourself.
Shift, Ctrl, Alt, and Meta. Combine them with +, for example Ctrl+Alt+x.