ffplay

ffplay is a lightweight multimedia playback utility that ships with the FFmpeg project. It functions as a simple command-line media player that relies on FFmpeg libraries for decoding and SDL for video output. By using libavformat, libavcodec, and related components, ffplay can play a broad range of audio and video formats on multiple platforms, including Linux, Windows, and macOS.

As a debugging and testing tool, ffplay provides basic playback functionality from the terminal. It opens files or streams specified by the user and offers a small set of on-screen controls. Typical usage is to invoke ffplay with an input resource; options adjust behavior during playback or at exit.

Common options include -nodisp to skip the video window, -autoexit to quit when playback ends, -fs for fullscreen, and -volume to set the initial audio level. For example, ffplay -autoexit -nodisp input.mkv or simply ffplay input.mp4. More options are available through the FFmpeg option syntax.

ffplay is built on FFmpeg libraries, using libavformat to demux, libavcodec to decode, and SDL2 to render video. It is primarily used for quick playback testing, pipeline development, and debugging rather than as a feature-rich media player.

Licensing for ffplay follows FFmpeg's licensing terms, typically LGPL or GPL depending on the configuration and included libraries.

Because it prioritizes simplicity over a sophisticated GUI, ffplay lacks advanced features found in full-featured media players. It remains a valuable, portable tool for developers and testers needing fast, scriptable playback.