This repository aggregates configurations, scripts and tips for using mpv as an image viewer. The affectionate nickname mvi is given to mpv in such case.
This README assumes basic familiarity with mpv and its configuration. The information here should be platform-agnostic for the most part.
mpv is a competent video player and sufficiently lightweight to use comfortably to view images. It features advanced scaling algorithms and color management, which are key features in an image viewer.
It is also very extensible which allows us to compensate for some missing image viewer features easily.
It won't compete with feh or the likes when it comes to size or startup time, but it is still plenty fast.
There are several options for making an mvi configuration.
- You can create an entirely separate
~/.config/mvi/directory and use the aliasalias mvi='mpv --config-dir=$HOME/.config/mvi' - Or keep a separate profile in your mpv config and alias it like that
alias mvi=mpv --profile=image'.
The first option can be cleaner, at the cost of some duplication.
The examples mpv.conf and input.conf in this repository are commented to highlight (un)desirable settings.
The scripts/image-viewer.lua script offers several commands that are common in image viewers:
drag-to-pan: pan the image with the cursor, while keeping the same part of the image under the cursor
pan-follows-cursor: pan the image in the direction of the cursor
cursor-centric-zoom: (de)zoom the video while keeping the same part of the image under the cursor
align-border: align the border of the image with the border of the window
pan-image: pan the image in a direction, optionally ignoring the zoom or forcing the image to stay visible
rotate-video: rotate the image in 90 degrees increment
reset-pan-if-visible: reset the pan if the entire image is visible
force-print-filename: print the filename, even if console output is disabled
They don't have any default bindings, see the example input.conf, and in the configuration bind them.
Some of these commands can be configured, see lua-settings/image_viewer.conf in this repo for the options available.
The gallery-view plugin greatly helps when navigating large image playlists.
Some other mpv scripts work well with mvi, here are a few (feel free to send a PR for others):
zones: send different commands depending on cursor position
delete-file: delete the current file
mpv_crop_script: featureful screenshot tool
auto-profiles: apply profiles conditionally. Can be used to lower settings with huge images
crop: simple cropping script
autoload: automatically load all files in the same directory
playlist-manager: playlist management script
mpv-stats: show some info about the input file (integrated into mpv in 0.28+)
It is possible to use mpv in shell to act as a visual filter for input files.
Simply load the "silent" profile, and call force-print-filname to print the name of the current file for the next program in the pipe. You should take care of using "newline" as file separator.
For example, if one wanted to delete images they could run something like this:
IFS='
'
mpv --profile=silent images/* | xargs rm
and press p on each image they want to delete.
input.conf that mirror the bindings of popular image viewing software, such as feh or sxiv.
Thanks to haasn for coming up first with the image-viewer config, all the mpv devs and the /mpv/ shitposters.