# File properties

## Overview

The File Properties dialog allows you to choose various options that will apply only to a particular file or URL. Many of the options are the same or similar to the ones that can be chosen globally on the &kplayer; Settings dialog. The options set in file properties will override the global ones. The file properties give you full control of how the file is played, including options that are passed to &mplayer;. Other properties display information that &kplayer; found out about the file or stream, like time length, video size, and audio and video bitrates.

Select File Properties... to open the dialog box for the currently loaded file or URL. You can also open the properties for any item on the playlist by right clicking the item in the Playlist Editor and selecting Properties... from the playlist popup menu.

The dialog contains several sections which are selected by left clicking one of the items on the left side of the dialog box.

General section

  Shows general information about the file or URL and lets you control the video area size when playing it.

Video section

  Contains properties that show technical information about the video and let you control video output when playing the file, if it has a video component.

Audio section

  Contains properties that show technical information about the audio and let you control audio output when playing the file, if it has an audio component.

Subtitles section

  Contains properties that control subtitle loading and display, if the file is played with subtitles.

Advanced section

  Contains various properties that affect advanced command line parameters passed to &mplayer;, as well as interaction with the &kde; I/O Slave if it is used to transfer the file.

The buttons at the bottom of the dialog let you make choices about the contents of all sections of the dialog.

OK button

  Accepts your changes and closes the dialog.

Cancel button

  Closes the dialog without saving the changes.

Apply button

  Applies the changes without closing the dialog.

Defaults button

  Restores all settings to their original, predefined values and applies them.

Close button

  After you choose Apply or Defaults, the Cancel button changes to Close. Clicking it closes the dialog and discards changes you made since the last time changes were applied.

Help button

  Opens this user manual and displays the section that describes the currently selected section of the dialog.

You can also click the small What's This button with a question mark at the top right of the dialog and then click a property to get a brief explanation of it.

Clicking the rightmost button at the top of the dialog closes the dialog discarding any unapplied changes.

## General section

This section shows general information about the file or URL and lets you control the video area size when playing it.

Path or URL

  This property shows the file path for local files or the full URL for all other files. The URL identifies the file or stream, and all other properties are attached to it. For now it is not possible to change the URL, you have to create a new playlist entry instead, by using File Open or File Open URL commands, by dragging and dropping files onto &kplayer; window, or by starting &kplayer; with the new URL as the command line argument.

Name

  This property shows and lets you change the name of the item that is displayed in the playlist, the playlist editor, and also in the &kplayer; title bar when the item becomes is loaded.

Playlist

  This property shows and lets you choose whether this item is a playlist file. &mplayer; cannot automatically detect and play a playlist file, so &kplayer; has to explicitly tell it to parse a file as a playlist. Auto lets &kplayer; use the file extension to guess if it is a playlist file. The playlist extensions KPlayer recognizes are ram, rpm, smi, smil, asx, m3u, pls and strm. If a file that is not a playlist has one of these extensions, or a playlist file has a different extension, you will need to correctly set this property in order to be able to play the file or stream.

Length

  This property shows the time length of the file. &kplayer; tries to detect it with precision of one tenth of a second, and usually it gets it pretty close to the real length. This property is read only.

Original size

  This property shows the original size of the video in pixels. It is read only, and it is empty for audio only files.

Display size

  This property lets you choose the initial video size &kplayer; will use when it starts playing the file, unless you turned off the option to Resize Main Window Automatically on the General page in KPlayer Settings. The Auto setting will use the Minimum Initial Video Width option from the General page in KPlayer Settings. The Set Size setting will use the fixed initial size you specify. The Set Aspect setting will again use the Minimum Initial Video Width option, but will apply the fixed initial aspect you specify.

Full screen

  This property lets you choose the full screen or maximized window state for this file. Normally you would simply leave this at the default setting, which will keep the full screen or maximized state of the previous file. The normal setting will force normal windowed mode for this file, the full screen setting will force full screen mode unless it is an audio only file, and the maximized setting will force maximized window mode.

Maintain aspect

  This property lets you choose the Maintain Aspect option specifically for this file. The default setting will keep the Maintain Aspect setting you choose globally.

## Video section

This section contains properties that show technical information about the video and let you control video output when playing the file, if it has a video component.

Contrast

  This property controls the video contrast for this file. The default option uses the same contrast as for other files. The set to option sets the specified initial contrast when loading the file. The add and subtract settings will adjust the contrast relative to the default setting.

Brightness

  This property controls the video brightness for this file. The default option uses the same brightness as for other files. The set to option sets the specified initial brightness when loading the file. The add and subtract settings will adjust the brightness relative to the default setting.

Hue

  This property controls the video hue for this file. The default option uses the same hue as for other files. The set to option sets the specified initial hue when loading the file. The add and subtract settings will adjust the hue relative to the default setting.

Saturation

  This property controls the video saturation for this file. The default option uses the same saturation as for other files. The set to option sets the specified initial saturation when loading the file. The add and subtract settings will adjust the saturation relative to the default setting.

Codec

  This property specifies the video codec to use when playing this file. The default setting will use the codec chosen on the Video page in KPlayer Settings, normally Auto. Auto will tell &mplayer; to choose the codec it thinks is the best for playing this file.

Fallback

  This property specifies whether &mplayer; should try other codecs if the one you choose fails. The default setting will use the option on the Video page in KPlayer Settings.

Bitrate

  This property shows the video bitrate of this file. It is read only, and it is empty for audio only files.

Framerate

  This property shows the video framerate of this file. It is read only, and it is empty for audio only files.

## Audio section

This section contains properties that show technical information about the audio and let you control audio output when playing the file, if it has an audio component.

Volume

  This property controls the sound volume for this file. The default option uses the same volume as for other files. The set to option sets the specified initial volume when loading the file. The add and subtract settings will adjust the volume relative to the default setting.

Delay

  This property controls delay of the sound relative to video. By default this property is remembered automatically when you use the Increase Delay and Decrease Delay commands from the Audio submenu of the Player menu. The default setting always resets audio delay to zero when the file is loaded.

Codec

  This property specifies the audio codec to use when playing this file. The default setting will use the codec chosen on the Audio page in KPlayer Settings, normally Auto. Auto will tell &mplayer; to choose the codec it thinks is the best for playing this file.

Fallback

  This property specifies whether &mplayer; should try other codecs if the one you choose fails. The default setting will use the option on the Audio page in KPlayer Settings.

Bitrate

  This property shows the audio bitrate of this file. It is read only, and it is empty for files without an audio track.

## Subtitles section

This section contains properties that control subtitle loading and display, if the file is played with subtitles.

Autoload

  If this is a local file, this property tells &kplayer; whether to try to autoload subtitles for it. The default setting uses the Autoload settings from the Subtitles page in KPlayer Settings. Setting this property to no allows you to enter the path or URL of the subtitles you want to use in the next field.

Path or URL

  This property specifies the subtitles to be used for this file. By default this property is set automatically when you use the Load Subtitles, Load Subtitle URL and Unload Subtitles commands from the File menu.

Show

  This property lets you choose whether subtitles should be shown initially. By default subtitles are initially shown.

Position

  This property lets you set vertical position of subtitles. The default setting will use the same subtitle position as for other files. An easy way to set this property is by using keyboard shortcuts for subtitle position commands on the Subtitles submenu of the Player menu while holding down the &Shift; key.

Delay

  This property controls delay of the subtitles relative to video. By default this property is remembered automatically when you use the Increase Delay and Decrease Delay commands from the Subtitles submenu of the Player menu. The default setting always resets subtitle delay to zero when the file is loaded.

## Advanced section

This section contains various properties that affect advanced command line parameters passed to &mplayer;, as well as interaction with the &kde; I/O Slave if it is used to transfer the file.

Additional command line arguments

  This property lets you specify additional arguments to be passed to &mplayer;. You can either append the arguments to the ones given on the Advanced page in KPlayer Settings or use the set to setting to override them. The default option uses the arguments given in KPlayer Settings.

Frame drop

  This property allows you to tell &mplayer; to drop some frames if your system is too slow to play the file properly. The soft setting drops less frames than the hard one, so you should try it first. The default option uses the Frame Drop setting from the Advanced page in KPlayer Settings. You can also change this option while playing a file using commands on the Player menu. If you hold &Shift; when choosing them, &kplayer; by default will use the setting only for the current file and remember it in this property.

Cache

  This property lets you choose whether to use cache for this file and set its size. The default setting uses the cache options from the Advanced page in &kplayer; Settings, auto lets &mplayer; use the its own configuration, none tells &mplayer; to use no cache, and set size lets you set a specific size.

Build new index

  This property lets you choose whether &mplayer; should build a new index for seeking. The default setting uses the option from KPlayer Settings, yes builds an index if the file does not have it, no tells &mplayer; not to build an index, and force tells it to always build an index.

Use KIOSlave

  This property lets you choose whether to use a &kde; I/O Slave to transfer and play this file. The auto setting tells &kplayer; to decide it automatically using options set in KPlayer Settings.

Use temporary file

  This property lets you choose whether to use a temporary file for playing from &kde; I/O Slave. The default setting uses the option from KPlayer Settings. This property has no effect for URLs passed directly to &mplayer;.