OMXPlayer

OMXPlayer

OMXPlayer is a command line media player for the Raspberry Pi. It was developed specifically for the Raspberry Pi's GPU to allow it to efficiently play high definition video files.
OMXPlayer image
raspberry-pi command-line video-player gpu-acceleration

OMXPlayer: Command Line Media Player for Raspberry Pi

A command line media player for the Raspberry Pi, developed specifically for its GPU to efficiently play high definition video files.

What is OMXPlayer?

OMXPlayer is a command line media player application for playing videos on the Raspberry Pi. It was developed specifically for the Raspberry Pi's hardware, taking advantage of the GPU to provide smooth playback of high definition video files.

Some key features of OMXPlayer include:

  • Optimized for Raspberry Pi GPU - OMXPlayer uses the OpenMAX video acceleration interface on the Pi's VideoCore GPU for hardware accelerated video decoding, reducing CPU usage.
  • Minimal resource usage - Runs smoothly even on early Raspberry Pi models with less RAM and slower CPUs.
  • Supports a wide range of media - Can play most common video and audio codecs and containers including H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, Xvid, MKV, MP3, FLAC, and more.
  • Flexible control - Can be controlled via keyboard shortcuts during playback for pausing, stopping, adjusting volume, etc.
  • Command line interface - As a CLI player it is scriptable and can be easily integrated into other applications.
  • Free and open source software - Released under the GNU GPL for customization and transparency.

In summary, For video playback on the Raspberry Pi platform, OMXPlayer is a lightweight yet robust option that offers smooth playback and efficient resource utilization.

OMXPlayer Features

Features

  1. Command line video player
  2. Optimized for Raspberry Pi hardware
  3. Supports a wide range of media formats
  4. Hardware acceleration
  5. Customizable through config files
  6. Keyboard shortcuts for control
  7. Adjustable audio output
  8. Subtitle support

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Lightweight and fast

Stable playback performance

Good format support

Easy to use with basic knowledge of command line

Very customizable

Works well on Raspberry Pi

Cons

Command line only, no GUI

Less user friendly than GUI media players

Limited playback controls

No library management features

Configuration requires editing text files


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