CLI Reference
While UMedia has a minimal GUI (OSC), its true power lies in the terminal. Every single option available in the configuration file can be overridden at launch via command-line arguments.
Basic Syntax
umedia [options] [file|URL|playlist]
# Example: Play a file in fullscreen, forcing the second audio track
umedia --fs --aid=2 "C:\Movies\Inception.mkv"Common Arguments
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| --fs | Start in fullscreen mode. |
| --hwdec=<api> | Specify the hardware decoding API (e.g., auto-safe, d3d11va, nvdec, vaapi). |
| --audio-exclusive=yes | Take exclusive control of the audio device (WASAPI/CoreAudio). |
| --sid=<ID> | Select subtitle track ID. Use 'no' to disable subtitles. |
| --speed=<rate> | Playback speed multiplier (e.g., 1.5 for 150% speed). |
IPC (Inter-Process Communication)
You can control a running instance of UMedia by creating a socket/named pipe at launch:
# Launch the player and open a socket
umedia --input-ipc-server=/tmp/umedia-socket video.mkv
# Send a JSON command to the socket (e.g., using socat on Linux)
echo '{ "command": ["set_property", "pause", true] }' | socat - /tmp/umedia-socketThis allows seamless integration with Home Assistant, Python scripts, or custom web interfaces.