open-mpv

open-mpv is a fast, simple photo and video viewer for GNOME. Open a file and browse the photos and videos in its folder, all in one window. Move the pointer when you need the controls; they stay out of the way while you view.

Your files stay where they are. There is nothing to import, no media library to manage, and no tracking or network access.

What you can do

• View photos, animated images, SVGs and videos.
• Zoom in, move around an image, rotate the view or go fullscreen.
• Pause videos, seek, change speed and volume, and choose audio or subtitles.
• Move unwanted files to trash and use Undo to bring them back shortly after.
• Save a rotation in supported image formats. JPEG rotations keep the original image quality.
• Use Quick Markup to draw boxes and arrows on a still image, then copy the result to the clipboard.

Viewing and Quick Markup leave the original file unchanged. Files change only when you choose to save a rotation, move them to trash or restore them.

Install

Currently supported on Fedora 44 Workstation, GNOME, Wayland and x86-64. Other distributions and desktops are not supported yet.

Install the latest release:

sudo dnf install https://github.com/TheRealShek/open-mpv/releases/latest/download/open-mpv-fedora44-x86_64.rpm

To update, run the same command when a new release is available. Updates are manual: the usual dnf upgrade command will not find new GitHub releases.

To uninstall:

sudo dnf remove open-mpv

Installing open-mpv leaves your default apps unchanged. To use it as the default for a file type, right-click a file in Files, choose Open With, then select open-mpv as the default.

Open a photo or video

Start open-mpv and choose Open File or Open Folder. You can also open a file with open-mpv from Files, or drag one into the window.

Opening a file lets you browse the other supported photos and videos in the same folder. Opening a folder starts with its first supported file. The window starts at a size that fits your display and keeps that size as you browse.

If you prefer the terminal:

open-mpv ~/Pictures/photo.jpg
open-mpv ~/Videos/video.mp4
open-mpv ~/Pictures

Controls

Move the pointer to show the controls. Right-click the photo or video, or click the three-dot button, for more options. Press ? for all shortcuts. When zoomed in, dragging stops at the image edges; drag back to move again.

Key or gesture	What it does
Ctrl+O / Ctrl+Shift+O	Open a file / folder
Right / Left	Next / previous file; move around the image when zoomed in
Scroll / pinch	Zoom in or out
0 / 1 / Z	Fit to the window / actual size / switch between them
R / Shift+R	Rotate right / left
S	Save the rotation, if the format supports it
Delete	Move the file to trash
Ctrl+Z	Undo a markup change or restore the file while Undo is available
Space	Pause or resume a video or animation; next file from a still image
J / L	Go back / forward 10 seconds in a video
A	Start or cancel Quick Markup
F / F11 / double-click	Enter or leave fullscreen
Escape	Cancel the current mode, leave fullscreen or quit

File formats

Images: JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, HEIF/HEIC, JPEG XL, TIFF, SVG, GIF and more, depending on the installed image loaders. Animated GIF, WebP and PNG files play automatically and loop. Press Space or the play/pause button to pause an animation and resume from the same frame.

Videos: MP4, MKV, WebM, MOV and AVI. Playback depends on the codecs installed on your system. open-mpv uses hardware decoding when compatible hardware and drivers are available.

Make it yours

You do not need a configuration file to get started. To change defaults or keyboard shortcuts, follow the configuration guide.

Having trouble?

If images do not open, check that glycin-loaders is installed. If a video will not play, you may need additional codecs. The optional gstreamer1-plugin-libav package adds software decoding for more video formats.

The troubleshooting guide explains how to check video support, understand configuration failures, and capture crash backtraces. If you opened the app from Files, you can read its logs with:

journalctl -b _COMM=open-mpv

Contributing

Want to build from source or help with development? See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT.