Cine Linux Video Player: GTK4 style, MPV Performance
Cine Linux Video Player: GTK4 style, MPV Performance
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/02/cine-linux-video-player-mpv
Publish Date: 2026-02-09 23:08:00
Source Domain: www.omgubuntu.co.uk
Cine is a new(ish) MPV-based Linux video player built with GTK4/libadwatia and Python, designed specifically for the GNOME desktop environment.
Rather like blockbuster superhero sequels in the cinema, there’s no shortage of video players for Linux. Is there enough mileage in the genre for an audience who’ll appreciate Cine?
I think so.
Cine offers a clean, uncomplicated UI that makes use of the entire window canvas to display your video – no frames, all content. It overlays player controls on top. These fade out view when you mouse away to give a distraction-free look automatically.
Controls and window buttons fade out of view
Inside, you’ll find all of the expected features present and correct. There’s audio and subtitle track selection, playback controls (including chapter markers), and a playlist. An advanced options menu lets you set a subtitle or audio delay or adjust video brightness, rotation, zoom, etc.
I watch a lot of local videos with subtitles, some of which are standalone .srt files. So I was pleased to see you can change the font, colour and size of subtitles in Cine for the latter type. It’s a feature I like in other video players I use, so I’m glad to see it here.
Direct your own Cine-matic experience
Most of the player’s various adjustment sliders, steppers and options come with a one-click reset buttons to undo your changes and revert back to how things were originally. This is especially useful since some settings persist between videos.
The Preferences panel allows you, among other things, enable hardware accelerated video decoding and enable a ‘normalise volume’ option – handy if your playlist will be jumping between a quiet indie film and a loud YouTube rip.
Performance in Cine vs. Showtime and Totem
Hardware decoding works great, even on my low-power laptop
Cine outperforms GStreamer-based players like Totem on older hardware by using the MPV backend…
