Play in MPV | Browser Extension Guide & Documentation

Overview

YouTube Controls Button: Injects a sleek Play button into YouTube watch and Shorts player controls. Resumes playback in MPV at the exact current second and automatically pauses the browser video.
Stremio Web Integration: Adds a native "Play in MPV" option directly inside stream menus on web.stremio.com. Auto-pauses the web player and streams with zero manual copy-pasting.
Universal Context Menu: Right-click any video, audio element, hyperlink, or selected URL to open it in MPV instantly.
Zero Background Daemon: Communicates via Chrome's Native Messaging API (stdin/stdout). No open network ports, no background web server, and zero persistent RAM usage.
Full Config & Cookies Inheritance: Passes canonical URLs directly to MPV, utilizing your existing yt-dlp.conf, authenticated cookies, and HDR tone-mapping settings.

View Extension Source biraj-mpv-conf Repository

Installation & Setup Guide

1

Load Unpacked Extension (Chrome Web Store coming soon)

Open chrome://extensions (or brave://extensions / edge://extensions / opera://extensions) and toggle Developer mode in the top-right corner. Click Load unpacked and select the extension folder:

Browser-Play-in-MPV\extension
Copy the 32-character Extension ID shown on the extension card. (The official Chrome Web Store one-click install will be available as soon as review completes).
2

Register the Native Messaging Host

Run the one-time registration script. Writes safely to Current User registry (HKCU) without requiring Administrator rights:

Browser-Play-in-MPV\mpv_native_host\Install_Native_Host.bat
Select option 1 (Install), paste your Extension ID when prompted, and press Enter.
3

Verify Diagnostic Self-Test

Run the test command in PowerShell to ensure Python and MPV are detected properly:

python "Browser-Play-in-MPV\mpv_native_host\mpv_launcher.py" --test
Expected response: {"success": true, "mpv_path": "C:\\Program Files\\mpv\\mpv.exe"}

1

Install MPV & Python 3

Ensure mpv and python3 are available on your system PATH via your package manager (brew install mpv or apt install mpv python3).
2

Load Unpacked Extension in Browser

Open chrome://extensions, toggle Developer mode, click Load unpacked, and select Browser-Play-in-MPV/extension. Copy your Extension ID.
3

Copy Native Messaging Host Manifest

Copy com.biraj.play_in_mpv.json to your browser's native messaging directory:

~/.config/google-chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/
macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/

Visual Showcase

Click any screenshot to preview in full resolution.

YouTube Player Timestamp Button

Stremio Web Integration

Universal Context Menu

Security & Privacy Assurance

Play in MPV is engineered with a strict Zero Telemetry, Zero Data Collection architecture. Communication operates entirely on your local machine using Chromium's sandboxed Native Messaging IPC:

Data Tracking & Analytics

Zero Collection

No telemetry pings, no analytics SDKs, and 0 bytes transmitted remotely. The extension operates completely offline; media URLs are relayed purely between your active browser tab and local MPV.

Browser Cookies & Sessions

Zero Access

The extension never reads, stores, or accesses browser cookies, tokens, or account passwords. Authenticated streams (e.g. YouTube members) are resolved directly by MPV via your private on-disk yt-dlp.conf.

Local Network Attack Surface

No Open Ports

Unlike alternative tools that run an unauthenticated local HTTP server (which exposes your computer to cross-origin port-scanning and CSRF exploits from malicious browser tabs), Play in MPV communicates strictly over OS standard I/O pipes (stdin/stdout).

Command & Flag Injection

Hardened

mpv_launcher.py strictly validates URL protocols (http, https, magnet, file) and invokes MPV using parameter isolation with the standard -- argument delimiter guard to block rogue CLI flags.

Idle Memory & Background Load

0 MB Idle

Built for Chrome Manifest V3 event-driven execution. No persistent background process remains loaded in RAM. The background service worker spins up only upon user action and unloads immediately after process handoff.

Isolated Native Messaging Architecture Flow:

Browser UI (YouTube Watch / Shorts / Stremio Web / Context Menu) ↓ chrome.runtime.sendMessage() [Sandboxed browser IPC] Manifest V3 Service Worker (Event-driven / Zero persistent RAM) ↓ Chrome Native Messaging API (Local OS binary stdin/stdout pipe) mpv_launcher.py (Schema validation & '--' argument injection guard) ↓ subprocess.Popen(creationflags=DETACHED_PROCESS) mpv.exe (Hardware-accelerated playback with local config & yt-dlp)

Tested Environments & Hardware Details

Extensively verified across diverse hardware testbenches, operating systems, and browser builds to ensure immediate process spawning, zero dropped frames, and 100% reliable IPC handoff:

Reference Rig 1 High-Performance Desktop

Operating System: Windows 11 Pro 64-bit (24H2 / 23H2)
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (8 Cores, 16 Threads, 4.7 GHz Boost)
GPU & Video Engine: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (Vulkan API, NVDEC hardware decode)
Display Environment: 4K UHD 144Hz (HDR10, libplacebo tone-mapping active)
Cold Handoff Latency: ~0.12s from browser click to active MPV window
Verification Status: Passed • Zero frame drops on 4K60 HDR YouTube & Stremio streams

Reference Rig 2 Thin & Light Laptop

Operating System: Windows 11 Home / Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Dual-Boot)
Processor: Intel Core i5-1240P (12 Cores, 16 Threads, Iris Xe)
GPU & Video Engine: Intel Iris Xe Graphics (d3d11va / vaapi hardware decode)
Display Environment: 1080p 60Hz SDR, low-power battery profile
Cold Handoff Latency: ~0.18s from browser click to active MPV window
Verification Status: Passed • 0 MB idle background RAM footprint, zero battery drain

Browsers Verified

Google Chrome (v120 - v131+), Brave (v1.60+ with Shields), Microsoft Edge (v120+), Vivaldi, and Chromium Manifest V3 runtimes.

MPV Player & Tools

MPV v0.37.0+, v0.38.0+, v0.39.0-git (shinchiro / zhongfly builds) with gpu-next, Python 3.9 - 3.12+ (zero pip deps), and yt-dlp 2024.08+.

Platforms & Formats

YouTube Standard Player & Shorts (exact timestamp pause/resume), Stremio Web (auto-pause on stream launch), direct MP4, WebM, HLS m3u8, and magnet links.

Credits & Acknowledgements

Play in MPV builds upon foundational open-source tools, extensions, and projects across the multimedia ecosystem:

Francisco Becheli Concept & Inspiration

Author of the original play-in-mpv extension, pioneering lightweight browser-to-mpv Native Messaging workflows.

github.com/baldomo/play-in-mpv →

mpv Media Player Project Core Playback Engine

The industry-leading, scriptable media player delivering pristine playback via gpu-next and libplacebo color management.

mpv.io →

yt-dlp Project Media Extractor Engine

The premier command-line audio/video downloader and streaming resolver utilized by MPV for online media streams.

github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp →

Biraj Sarkar Maintainer & Integrator

Author of biraj-mpv-conf. Built YouTube Shorts integration, Stremio Web hooks, timestamp auto-pause, and Windows registry installers.

github.com/Biraj2004/biraj-mpv-conf →

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the extension collect or transmit telemetry?

No. Play in MPV has zero analytics, zero external network calls, and zero tracking. Communication occurs strictly over local OS pipes on your computer.

Why is a one-time native host registration required?

Chromium extensions run in isolated sandboxes and cannot launch arbitrary local binaries directly without an OS registry key (Native Messaging Host) configured by the user.

How does MPV play members-only or age-restricted videos?

The extension hands the canonical URL to MPV. MPV automatically loads your local yt-dlp.conf and exported cookie file (e.g., --cookies).

What should I do if MPV does not open on click?

Run python mpv_launcher.py --test in PowerShell to verify MPV detection. If the notification says "Native host not installed", re-run Install_Native_Host.bat and paste your extension ID.