Most people never need these options. They help when a device or a receiver behaves oddly. On TV they are in Settings → Playback. On phone and tablet they are in Settings → Playback, with fewer options.
Player engine
| Choice | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| ExoPlayer | The default Android engine, with hardware decoding |
| MPV | Decodes exotic formats such as VC-1 and RMVB |
| Auto (ExoPlayer → MPV) | ExoPlayer first, MPV on error |
| Auto (MPV → ExoPlayer) | MPV first, ExoPlayer on error |
The MPV engine needs Android 8.0 or later. On older versions the app uses ExoPlayer.
Audio
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Force stereo audio | Always mix down to stereo |
| Night mode (audio) | Compresses dynamic range: lowers loud peaks and lifts quiet dialogue |
| Force audio passthrough | Sends the audio bitstream directly to your receiver. When on, you choose which codecs to pass through: AC-3 (Dolby Digital), E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital+), TrueHD / Atmos, DTS and DTS-HD / DTS:X. (TV) |
| HDMI audio priming | Warms up the HDMI surround path before playback. Experimental. Fixes a pop at the start of DTS or TrueHD on some receivers. (TV) |
| Tunneled playback | Auto (device whitelist), Force On (at your risk) or Force Off. Reduces CPU use and can improve sync, but causes seek problems on some devices. (TV) |
TrueHD, DTS-HD and other formats can be decoded on the device with FFmpeg when your receiver cannot take the bitstream. The order is: passthrough, then local decode, then a server transcode as a last resort. If the decoding library cannot load on a device, formats that only it can decode are sent to the server for transcoding.
The Stats overlay shows the audio output (Passthrough or PCM), the codec, the sample rate and the number of channels.
Video
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Dolby Vision P7 | How Dolby Vision profile 7 files play: Auto (tries Dolby Vision, then a profile 8.1 conversion, then HDR10), HDR10, Dolby Vision or Dolby Vision P8.1 |
| Dolby Vision Profile 7 Direct Play | Forces Direct Play of profile 7 files. Turn on if your device supports Dolby Vision but profile 7 files play as HDR10. (TV) |
| Burn in styled subtitles | Burns ASS and SSA into the video on the server |
| Max video resolution | Auto, 1080p, 4K or 8K |
| Max bitrate | Unlimited, or 2, 4, 8, 20, 40, 80 or 120 Mbps |
| Software codecs | Allows software decoding |
| Lock landscape in the player | Keeps the player in landscape. (phone and tablet) |
Buffering
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Buffer target | How many seconds to buffer ahead: 10 to 240 seconds, default 120. Higher values reduce stalls on slow connections. |
| Read-ahead memory | Memory used to download high-bitrate Direct Play video ahead of the player. Auto, Off, or 32, 64, 128 or 256 MB. |
Detected device capabilities
A card in the Playback settings lists what the app detected: video decoders, HDR, audio passthrough and the maximum number of channels. Include it when you ask for help.
Display matching (TV)
Match frame rate, Match resolution and Sync playback to display are described in Match frame rate.
