mpv decodes H.264, HEVC, AV1, VP9, 10-bit and HDR video from the original file, with hardware decoding where your GPU supports it. Your server's CPU stays idle and the picture is never re-encoded. Formats your GPU cannot decode (10-bit H.264, 4:2:2 chroma and similar) fall back to software decoding automatically; the player's status line shows which decoder is in use.
In the player
- Resume where you left off, on this or any other device.
- Chapters and playback speed.
- Previous and next episode, and the next episode plays automatically if you turn that on in Playback settings.
- Skip buttons for intros, recaps and outros where the server has detected them.
- Your computer stays awake while a video plays: no screen lock, blanking or sleep until you pause.
Everything can be done from the keyboard: see Keyboard shortcuts.