Media Playback & Controls
Media Sort includes built-in audio and video players with full playback controls. Audio and video are handled by different backend systems.
On-Screen Controls
Section titled “On-Screen Controls”Both the audio and video preview panes share a common set of on-screen controls:
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Play / Pause | Start or pause playback |
| Stop | Stop playback and reset position to the beginning |
| Seek Bar | Click or drag to jump to a specific position |
| Volume Slider | Adjust playback volume |
| Mute Toggle | Mute or unmute audio |
Keyboard Shortcuts for Playback
Section titled “Keyboard Shortcuts for Playback”These shortcuts are active whenever a playable media file is selected. They are hardcoded and cannot be remapped in the settings dialog.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Toggle play / pause |
| MediaPlayPause / MediaPlay / MediaPause | Toggle play / pause (multimedia keys) |
| MediaStop | Stop playback |
| MediaTrackNext | Select next media file |
| MediaTrackPrevious | Select previous media file |
| AudioVolumeUp | Increase volume by 5% |
| AudioVolumeDown | Decrease volume by 5% |
| AudioVolumeMute | Toggle mute |
Video Playback
Section titled “Video Playback”Video playback is powered by libmpv (via FFmpeg). The video frame is rendered using a custom wgpu shader for zero-copy GPU-accelerated display.
System Requirements
Section titled “System Requirements”- libmpv must be installed on your system. On Linux, install the
libmpv-devorlibmpv1package. On macOS and Windows, mpv is bundled with the application. - A Vulkan-capable GPU with up-to-date drivers is required for video rendering.
- If libmpv is not found, in-app video playback is disabled but video files are still detected and browsable. Images and audio continue to work normally. Video thumbnails also require mpv; without it, a placeholder is shown instead.
Supported Video Formats
Section titled “Supported Video Formats”See the Media Capabilities page for the full list of supported video formats. Format support depends on the installed version of libmpv and its underlying FFmpeg codecs.
GIF Playback
Section titled “GIF Playback”GIF files are classified as video in Media Sort. To control whether GIFs animate in the preview and grid, use the Play animated GIFs setting in the Settings dialog (also available as animate_gifs in config.toml). When disabled, GIFs display only their first frame as a static image.
Audio Playback
Section titled “Audio Playback”Audio is decoded using Symphonia (all codecs) and output through Rodio. No external dependencies beyond what ships with the application are required.
Supported Audio Formats
Section titled “Supported Audio Formats”See the Media Capabilities page for the full list of supported audio formats.
Album Art
Section titled “Album Art”Audio files with embedded cover art (common in MP3, FLAC, M4A, OGG) display the cover image in the preview pane instead of a generic music icon.
Fallback: Opening in System Player
Section titled “Fallback: Opening in System Player”When Media Sort cannot decode a file (for example, missing mpv or an unsupported image format), a “Open in system player” or “Open externally” button appears in the preview pane. Clicking it launches the file using your default system application:
- Linux:
xdg-open - macOS:
open - Windows:
cmd /C start