Player settings are found in Settings → Player. They are grouped into four categories: Subtitles, Audio, Controls, and Auto-play, with an Advanced section for power-user options.
Subtitles
Default subtitle language
Sets the subtitle language Stremio selects automatically when opening a video. Set to None to disable automatic subtitle selection.
Subtitle size
Scales subtitle text relative to the default size. Available values:
| Size | Display |
|---|
| 75 | 75% |
| 100 | 100% (default) |
| 125 | 125% |
| 150 | 150% |
| 175 | 175% |
| 200 | 200% |
| 250 | 250% |
Subtitle colors
Three color pickers let you customize the appearance of subtitle text:
| Setting | Description |
|---|
| Text color | The color of the subtitle characters. |
| Background color | The color of the box drawn behind subtitle text. |
| Outline color | The color of the outline drawn around subtitle characters. |
ASS subtitle styling
When enabled, Stremio honors the styling defined inside Advanced SubStation Alpha (.ass) subtitle files, such as custom fonts, positions, and colors. When disabled, the app applies your color and size settings to all subtitles regardless of the embedded style. Desktop only.
Audio
Default audio track
Sets the audio language Stremio selects automatically when a video has multiple audio tracks.
Surround sound
When enabled, Stremio passes multi-channel audio (5.1, 7.1) through to your audio device without downmixing. Enable this if your setup supports surround sound output.
Controls
Seek duration (arrow key)
The number of seconds to skip when pressing ← / → during playback. Available values: 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 seconds.
Seek duration (Shift + arrow key)
The number of seconds to skip when pressing Shift + ← / Shift + → during playback. Uses the same set of values: 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 seconds.
These two durations are configured separately, letting you set a short nudge (e.g. 5 s) for the arrow keys and a larger jump (e.g. 30 s) for the Shift variant.
Play in background
When enabled, playback continues when the Stremio window loses focus. This option is currently disabled.
Auto-play
Auto-play (binge watching)
When enabled, Stremio automatically starts the next episode when the current one ends. This applies to series content with a next episode available.
How long before the end of an episode the “next video” popup appears. Set to Disabled to turn off the popup entirely.
Available durations (in seconds):
Disabled, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90
Advanced
External player
Open streams in a third-party player application instead of the built-in Stremio player. The available options depend on your platform.
Android
iOS
visionOS
macOS
Windows / Linux
| Player | Value |
|---|
| Disabled (use built-in) | — |
| Allow choosing | System app picker |
| VLC | vlc |
| MX Player | mxplayer |
| Just Player | justplayer |
| M3U Playlist | m3u |
| Player | Value |
|---|
| Disabled (use built-in) | — |
| VLC | vlc |
| Outplayer | outplayer |
| Infuse | infuse |
| Vidhub | vidhub |
| M3U Playlist | m3u |
| Player | Value |
|---|
| Disabled (use built-in) | — |
| VLC | vlc |
| Outplayer | outplayer |
| Moonplayer | moonplayer |
| Infuse | infuse |
| M3U Playlist | m3u |
| Player | Value |
|---|
| Disabled (use built-in) | — |
| MPV | mpv |
| IINA | iina |
| Infuse | infuse |
| M3U Playlist | m3u |
| Player | Value |
|---|
| Disabled (use built-in) | — |
| M3U Playlist | m3u |
The M3U Playlist option generates a playlist file that any compatible media player can open, including VLC on desktop.
Hardware decoding
When enabled, Stremio uses the GPU hardware decoder (DXVA2, VideoToolbox, VAAPI, etc.) for video decoding instead of software decoding. This reduces CPU usage and improves playback performance for high-resolution content. Desktop only.
Video mode
Controls the video rendering pipeline used by the player. Available on Windows only.
| Mode | Description |
|---|
| Default | Standard rendering pipeline. |
| Legacy | Alternative pipeline for compatibility with older drivers or hardware. |
Pause on minimize
When enabled, playback pauses automatically when the Stremio window is minimized. Desktop only. 