Compiling for Windows is supported using GNU-like compilers (GCC/Clang). Clang
is compatible with both the w64-windows-gnu
MinGW-w64
and pc-windows-msvc
Windows SDK
targets. It supports the production of both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries and is
suitable for building on Windows as well as cross-compiling from Linux and Cygwin.
Although it is possible to build a complete MinGW-w64 toolchain yourself, there are build environments and scripts available to simplify the process, such as MSYS2 on Windows or a packaged toolchain provided by your favorite Linux distribution. Note that MinGW-w64 environments included in Linux distributions can vary in versions. As a general guideline, mpv only supports the MinGW-w64 toolchain version included in the latest Ubuntu LTS release.
mpv employs Meson for building, and the process is the same as any standard Meson compilation.
For the most up-to-date reference on build scripts, you can refer to
build.yml,
which builds and tests all supported configurations: MinGW-w64
, Windows SDK
,
and MSYS2
builds.
When cross-compiling, it is recommended to use a Meson --cross-file
to set up the
cross-compiling environment. For a basic example, please refer to
Cross-compilation.
Alternatively, consider using mpv-winbuild-cmake, which bootstraps a MinGW-w64 toolchain and builds mpv along with its dependencies.
-
Create
cross-file.txt
with definitions for your toolchain and target platform. Refer to x86_64-w64-mingw32.txt as a directly usable example.- Important: Beware of pkg-config usage. By default, it uses build machine
files for dependency detection, even when
--cross-file
is used. It must be configured correctly. Refer topkg_config_libdir
andsys_root
in the documentation for proper setup. In this example pkg-config is not used/required.
- Important: Beware of pkg-config usage. By default, it uses build machine
files for dependency detection, even when
-
Initialize subprojects. This step is optional; other methods are also available to provide the necessary dependencies.
# Update the subprojects database from Meson's WrapDB. meson wrap update-db # Explicitly download wraps as nested projects may have older versions of them. meson wrap install expat meson wrap install harfbuzz meson wrap install libpng meson wrap install zlib # Add wraps for mpv's required dependencies mkdir -p subprojects cat <<EOF > subprojects/libplacebo.wrap [wrap-git] url = https://github.com/haasn/libplacebo revision = master depth = 1 clone-recursive = true EOF cat <<EOF > subprojects/libass.wrap [wrap-git] revision = master url = https://github.com/libass/libass depth = 1 EOF # For FFmpeg, use Meson's build system port; alternatively, you can compile # the upstream version yourself. See https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/CompilationGuide cat <<EOF > subprojects/ffmpeg.wrap [wrap-git] url = https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/meson-ports/ffmpeg.git revision = meson-6.1 depth = 1 [provide] libavcodec = libavcodec_dep libavdevice = libavdevice_dep libavfilter = libavfilter_dep libavformat = libavformat_dep libavutil = libavutil_dep libswresample = libswresample_dep libswscale = libswscale_dep EOF
-
Build
meson setup -Ddefault_library=static -Dprefer_static=true \ -Dc_link_args='-static' -Dcpp_link_args='-static' \ --cross-file cross-file.txt build ninja -C build mpv.exe mpv.com
This will produce fully portabiel, statically linked,
mpv.exe
andmpv.com
binaries.
-
To also build
libmpv
, execute the following commands:# For a static library meson configure build -Dlibmpv=true -Ddefault_library=static ninja -C build libmpv.a # For a shared library meson configure build -Dlibmpv=true -Ddefault_library=shared ninja -C build libmpv-2.dll
-
Depending on the use case, you might want to use
-Dgpl=false
and review similar options for subprojects. -
If any of Meson's subprojects are not linked statically, you might need to specify options like the following example for ffmpeg:
-Dffmpeg:default_library=static
.
The process above produces a basic mpv build. You can enable additional features. Check the Meson WrapDB packages for available dependencies or by providing them through other means.
Enhancing mpv with more features is as simple as adding more arguments to the Meson setup command, for example:
-Dlua=enabled -Djavascript=enabled -Dlcms2=enabled -Dlibplacebo:lcms=enabled
they will be automatically downloaded and built by Meson.
- Install Build Tools for Visual Studio
or the full Visual Studio:
- From the installer, select the necessary components:
- Clang compiler for Windows
- C++ CMake tools for Windows
- Windows SDK
- Activate the developer shell:
& "<Visual Studio Path>\Common7\Tools\Launch-VsDevShell.ps1" -Arch amd64 -HostArch amd64 -SkipAutomaticLocation | Out-Null
- From the installer, select the necessary components:
- Install Meson, as outlined in Getting Meson:
-
Important: At the time of writing, there is an issue in Meson with escaping response files.
See: mesonbuild/meson#8981 and mesonbuild/meson#11715
If you wish to install a fixed version, follow the steps outlined here.
-
- The following build script utilizes the Meson subprojects system to build mpv and its dependencies.
To make sure all dependency versions are up-to-date, update the subprojects database from Meson's WrapDB.
Also explicitly download several wraps as some nested projects may pull older versions of them.
meson wrap update-db meson wrap install expat meson wrap install harfbuzz meson wrap install libpng meson wrap install zlib
- Set environment variables or use the
--native-file
option in Meson.Note that some dependencies (e.g. LuaJIT) may require$env:CC = 'clang' $env:CXX = 'clang++' $env:CC_LD = 'lld' $env:CXX_LD = 'lld' $env:WINDRES = 'llvm-rc'
sed
to configure. Fortunately, it is already bundled in Git for Windows:$env:PATH += ';<Git Path>\usr\bin'
- Execute ci\build-win32.ps1. Refer to the script for more details.
This process will produce a fully static mpv.exe
and mpv.com
, as well as
a static libmpv.a
.
For Windows developers seeking a quick setup, MSYS2 is an effective tool for compiling mpv natively on a Windows machine. The MSYS2 repositories provide binary packages for most of mpv's dependencies, simplifying the process to primarily involve building mpv itself.
- Follow the installation steps from MSYS2.
- Initiate one of the Environments,
with the CLANG64 (
clang64.exe
) being the recommended option. Note: This environment is distinct from the MSYS2 shell that opens automatically after the final installation dialog. You must close that initial shell and open a new one for the appropriate environment.
For guidance on updating MSYS2, please refer to the official documentation: Updating MSYS2.
# Install pacboy and git
pacman -S pactoys git
# Install MSYS2 build dependencies and a MinGW-w64 compiler
pacboy -S python pkgconf cc meson
# Install key dependencies. libass and lcms2 are also included as dependencies
# of ffmpeg.
pacboy -S ffmpeg libjpeg-turbo libplacebo luajit vulkan-headers
To compile and install mpv, execute the following commands.
The binaries will be installed in the directory /$MSYSTEM_PREFIX/bin
.
# Set up the build directory with the desired configuration
meson setup build -Dlibmpv=true --prefix=$MSYSTEM_PREFIX
# Compile
meson compile -C build
# Optionally, install the compiled binaries
meson install -C build
Depending on your build configuration, mpv.exe
may rely on external
libraries. To create a portable package, you will need to include these
dependencies as well. The quickest way to determine which libraries are needed
is to run mpv.exe
and note any error messages that list the required .dll
files. You can find these libraries in the sysroot used for compilation, such as
/clang64/bin/
in MSYS2.
Building mpv/libmpv directly with the MSVC compiler (cl.exe) is not supported due to differences in compiler flags. Our build system is designed specifically for GNU-like compiler drivers. However, you can still build programs in Visual Studio and link them with libmpv.
If the toolchain used generates a .lib
file, it will be ready for use.
Otherwise, you will need to create an import library for the mpv DLL with the
following command:
lib /name:mpv-2.dll /out:mpv.lib /MACHINE:X64
Ensure that the string in the /name:
parameter matches the filename of the
DLL, as this is the filename that the MSVC linker will reference.
Note: Static linking is only feasible with matching compilers. For instance, if you build with Clang in Visual Studio, static linking is possible.