MPlayer utilizes a complex playtree. Options passed on the command line can apply to all files/URLs or just to specific ones depending on their position. For example
mplayer -vfm ffmpeg movie1.avi movie2.avi
will use FFmpeg decoders for both files, but
mplayer -vfm ffmpeg movie1.avi movie2.avi -vfm dmo
will play the second file with a DMO decoder.
You can group filenames/URLs together using { and }. It is useful with option -loop:
mplayer { 1.avi -loop 2 2.avi } -loop 3
The above command will play files in this order: 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2.
Playing a file:
mplayer [options] [path/]filename
Another way to play a file:
mplayer [options] file:///uri-escaped-path
Playing more files:
mplayer [default options] [path/]filename1 [options for filename1] filename2 [options for filename2] ...
Playing VCD:
mplayer [options] vcd://trackno [-cdrom-device /dev/cdrom]
Playing DVD:
mplayer [options] dvd://titleno [-dvd-device /dev/dvd]
Playing from the WWW:
mplayer [options] http://site.com/file.asf
(playlists can be used, too)
Playing from RTSP:
mplayer [options] rtsp://server.example.com/streamName
Examples:
mplayer -vo x11 /mnt/Films/Contact/contact2.mpg mplayer vcd://2 -cdrom-device /dev/hdc mplayer -afm 3 /mnt/DVDtrailers/alien4.vob mplayer dvd://1 -dvd-device /dev/hdc mplayer -abs 65536 -delay -0.4 -nobps ~/movies/test.avi