% ncplayer(1)
% nick black <nickblack@linux.com>
% v2.3.11

# NAME

ncplayer - Render images and video to a terminal

# SYNOPSIS

**ncplayer** [**-h**] [**-V**] [**-q**] [**-d** ***delaymult***] [**-l** ***loglevel***] [**-b** ***blitter***] [**-s** ***scalemode***] [**-k**] [**-L**] [**-t** ***seconds***] [**-n**] [**-a** ***color***] files

# DESCRIPTION

**ncplayer** uses a multimedia-enabled Notcurses to render images and videos to a
terminal. By default, **stretch**-type scaling is used to fill the rendering
area, and the **sex**-type blitter is used (where known to work well) for a
3x2→1 mapping from pixels to cells. In a terminal that doesn't support Unicode
13 sextants, the **quadblitter** is used instead.

# OPTIONS

**-d** ***delaymult***: Apply a non-negative rational multiplier to the delayscale.
Only applies to multiframe media such as video and animated images. Not supported with **-k**.

**-t** ***seconds***: Delay **seconds** after each file. If this option is used,
the "press any key to continue" prompt will not be displayed. **seconds** may
be any non-negative number.

**-l** ***loglevel***: Log between everything (loglevel 8) and nothing (loglevel 0) to stderr.

**-s** ***scalemode***: Scaling mode, one of **none**, **hires**, **scale**, **scalehi**, or **stretch**.

**-b** ***blitter***: Blitter, one of **ascii**, **half**, **quad**, **sex**, **braille**, or **pixel**.

**-m margins**: Define rendering margins (see below).

**-L**: Loop frames until a key is pressed. Not supported with **-k**.

**-k**: Use direct mode (see **notcurses_direct(3)**). This will have the effect of leaving the output on-screen after program exit, and generating it inline (rather than clearing the screen and placing it at the top). Not supported with **-L** or **-d**.

**-q**: Print neither frame/timing information along the top of the screen, nor the output summary on exit.

**-a**: Treat ***color*** as if it were transparent.

**-n**: Use non-interpolative scaling. The result is usually less pleasing to the eye, but it doesn't introduce new colors.

**-V**: Print the program name and version, and exit with success.

**-h**: Print help information, and exit with success.

files: Select which files to render, and what order to render them in.

Default margins are all 0 and default scaling is **stretch**. The full
rendering area will thus be used. Using **-m**, margins can be supplied.
Provide a single number to set all four margins to the same value, or four
comma-delimited values for the top, right, bottom, and left margins
respectively. Top, right, and bottom margins are ignored when **-k** is used.
Negative margins are illegal.

Scaling mode **stretch** resizes the object to match the target rendering
area exactly. Unless a blitter is specified with **-b**, **stretch** will use
the highest-resolution non-pixel blitter available. **scale** resizes the
object so that the longer edge of the rendering area is matched exactly, and
the other edge is changed to maintain aspect ratio. **none** uses the original
image size. Both **scale** and **none** aim for a 1:1 aspect ratio, and default
to **NCBLIT_2x1** at the cost of some potential resolution. The alternatives
**scalehi** and **hires** use the highest-resolution non-pixel blitter
available. Pixel blitting is never performed unless explicitly requested with
**-bpixel**.

Blitters can be selected at runtime by pressing '0' through '6'.
**NCBLIT_DEFAULT** corresponds to '0'. The various blitters are described in
**notcurses_visual(3)**. If a blitter cannot be used in the current environment,
the current blitter will be retained.

Multiframe media can be paused with space. Press space (or any other valid
control) to resume.

# NOTES

If you're looking for a fast, inline image viewer for the shell, try using
**ncplayer -k -t0 -q**.

Optimal display requires a terminal advertising the **rgb** terminfo(5)
capability, or that the environment variable **COLORTERM** is defined to
**24bit** (and that the terminal honors this variable), along with a
fixed-width font with good coverage of the Unicode Block Drawing Characters.

# BUGS

Direct mode is kinda fundamentally suboptimal for multiframe media, and
is not yet supported with **-L** nor **-d**. Top, right, and bottom
margins are ignored without warning when using direct mode.

# SEE ALSO

**notcurses(3)**,
**notcurses_direct(3)**,
**notcurses_visual(3)**,
**terminfo(5)**,
**unicode(7)**
