I wanted a quick way to play my local music files on Linux, without messing with heavy GUI apps. After trying a few options, I settled on mpv—it’s simple, fast, and does exactly what I need. By the way, mpv isn’t just for audio—it plays video files too. One player for pretty much any media format.

Installation

On Ubuntu or Debian, just run:

sudo apt install mpv

Other distros have it too—check your package manager.

Basic Usage

  • Play everything in a folder:

    mpv .

  • Play a specific file (music or video):

    mpv ./file.mp3
mpv ./file.mp4

Handy mpv Controls

  • Play/Pause: Space
  • Next: > (Shift + .) or Enter
  • Previous: < (Shift + ,)
  • Volume Up/Down: 0 / 9
  • Mute: m
  • Seek: Arrow keys (Right/Left for 5s, Up/Down for 1 min)
  • Quit: q or Ctrl+C

Extra Notes

  • You can use playlists (.m3u) with mpv playlist.m3u.
  • Custom settings go in ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf.

  • To hide album art when playing audio files, use:

    mpv --no-audio-display ./file.mp3

That’s it. mpv is lightweight and just works. If you want a no-fuss way to play music (or video) from the terminal, give it a shot.