gst-play-1.0

Simple command line media playback tool using GStreamer

TLDR

Play a media file

$ gst-play-1.0 [path/to/file.mp4]

Play multiple files

$ gst-play-1.0 [file1.mp3] [file2.mp3] [file3.mp3]

Play all media files in a directory recursively

$ gst-play-1.0 [path/to/directory]

Play a file with a specific video sink

$ gst-play-1.0 --videosink=ximagesink [path/to/file.mp4]

Play files in shuffle order

$ gst-play-1.0 --shuffle [file1.mp3] [file2.mp3] [file3.mp3]

Play a file with gapless playback enabled

$ gst-play-1.0 --gapless [file1.mp3] [file2.mp3]

Play a stream from a URI

$ gst-play-1.0 [https://example.com/stream.mp3]

Play a file at half volume

$ gst-play-1.0 --volume=0.5 [path/to/file.mp3]

SYNOPSIS

gst-play-1.0 [options] FILE|DIRECTORY|URI [FILE2|DIRECTORY2|URI2 ...]

gst-play-1.0 is a command line playback testing tool that uses GStreamer's playbin element to play audio and video files. It accepts individual files, directories (which are traversed recursively), and URIs as input.The tool provides interactive keyboard controls during playback for pausing, seeking, adjusting volume, changing playback speed, and switching between audio, video, and subtitle tracks. It supports gapless playback for seamless transitions between tracks and can play media from local files or network streams.

PARAMETERS

--audiosink=SINK

Use the specified audio sink instead of autoaudiosink.

--videosink=SINK

Use the specified video sink instead of autovideosink.

--volume=VOLUME

Set initial playback volume. 0.0 is silent, 1.0 is unchanged (default).

--shuffle

Play files in random order.

--no-interactive

Disable interactive keyboard control.

--gapless

Enable gapless (seamless) playback between tracks.

-v, --verbose

Output status information and property notifications.

-q, --quiet

Suppress all output except errors.

--use-playbin3

Use the playbin3 pipeline instead of the default playbin.

--wait-on-eos

Keep the last video frame displayed after playback ends instead of closing.

--flags

Control playback behavior via the playbin flags property.

--version

Print version information and exit.

--help

Show available options and exit.

INTERACTIVE CONTROLS

$ SPACE     Pause / Resume
Arrow Up/Down    Volume up / down
Arrow Left/Right Seek backward / forward 10 seconds
+/-       Increase / decrease playback rate
d         Reverse playback direction
t         Cycle trick modes
a         Cycle audio tracks
s         Cycle subtitle tracks
v         Cycle video tracks
> or n    Next track in playlist
< or b    Previous track in playlist
0         Seek back to beginning
Q or ESC  Quit

INSTALL

sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-plugins-base-apps

sudo pacman -S gst-plugins-base

sudo apk add gst-plugins-base

brew install gst-plugins-base

CAVEATS

gst-play-1.0 is intended as a testing and debugging tool rather than a full-featured media player. Playback capabilities depend entirely on which GStreamer plugins are installed on the system. Missing codecs will result in playback errors. Interactive keyboard controls require a terminal and are disabled when stdin is not a TTY.

HISTORY

gst-play-1.0 was introduced as part of the GStreamer multimedia framework's base plugins. GStreamer itself was created by Erik Walthinsen in 1999 and has grown into the standard multimedia framework on Linux. The play tool provides a simple way to test playback pipelines without constructing them manually via gst-launch-1.0. It replaced the older gst-play-0.10 tool when GStreamer transitioned to the 1.x series in 2012.