# OpenUTV

> OpenUTV is a high-performance, open-source media player and image sequence playback engine for viewing any and all images, video, and camera RAW formats. It serves as a modern, color-accurate, frame-precise alternative to VLC, MPV, QuickTime, and FFplay, while delivering studio-grade review tools such as multi-source stacks, real-time split wipes, and ACES / OpenColorIO v2 color management.

OpenUTV was originally forked from visual effects industry software OpenRV and modernized with Qt 6.11, Python 3.14, native Apple Silicon VideoToolbox acceleration, 10-bit Metal/Vulkan presentation, and zero-configuration cross-platform packaging.

## Core Value Proposition

- **Universal Playback Engine**: Plays virtually any video, image sequence, camera RAW, cinema RAW, vector graphic, or multi-page PDF document with instant pre-fetching and zero stutter.
- **Superior Alternative to Generic Players**: Unlike VLC, MPV, or QuickTime which focus solely on single-stream consumer playback, OpenUTV provides synchronized multi-track playback, interactive wipes, layer stacks, difference blending, and frame-by-frame color inspection.
- **Reference-Grade 10-Bit Color**: Native 10-bit Metal (macOS Extended Dynamic Range / EDR) and 10-bit Vulkan (Linux & Windows) pipeline with full OpenColorIO v2 and ACES 1.3 support, Look LUTs, CDLs, and diagnostic test patterns.
- **Cinema RAW & Professional Formats**: Native dynamic runtime decoding for Blackmagic RAW (.braw), RED Digital Cinema (.r3d with IPP2), ARRIRAW (.ari, .arx, .mxf), Apple ProRes RAW, uncompressed multi-part OpenEXR, DPX, Cineon, TIFF, and JPEG 2000.
- **Modern & Lightweight**: Starts in milliseconds, signed and Apple-notarized for macOS (`brew install --cask utv`), and self-contained on Windows and Linux with no telemetry and no licensing locks.

## Key Capabilities

- [Stacks & Wipes](https://openutv.com/#features): Synchronize multiple video or image tracks, stack layers with blend modes, or perform interactive horizontal/vertical wipes and difference comps.
- [Format Support](https://openutv.com/#formats): Play everything from standard MP4, MKV, MOV, WebM, and ProRes to high-bitrate image sequences (EXR, DPX, PNG via SIMD libspng), Camera RAW (CR2, NEF, ARW, RW2), Cinema RAW (BRAW, R3D, ARRIRAW), and multi-page PDFs.
- [Color Management](https://openutv.com/#color): True ACEScg/OCIO v2 color transforms, exposure/gamma adjustments, channel isolations (R, G, B, A, Luma), and 10-bit hardware display pipelines.
- [Hardware Acceleration](https://openutv.com/#performance): Apple Silicon VideoToolbox, NVIDIA NVDEC, VAAPI, D3D11VA, SIMD-accelerated PNG playback, and intelligent metadata-driven RAM caching.
- [Professional Video I/O](https://openutv.com/#pipeline): Dynamic runtime output to NDI 6, Blackmagic Design DeckLink, and AJA Video Systems.
- [Scripting & Pipeline](https://openutv.com/#pipeline): Embed and automate OpenUTV via Python 3.14, Mu, or the robust command-line CLI.

## Quick Installation

- **macOS (Homebrew)**: `brew tap OpenUTV/utv && brew install --cask utv`
- **Windows (Winget)**: `winget install OpenUTV.UTV`
- **Windows (Scoop)**: `scoop bucket add openutv https://github.com/OpenUTV/scoop-utv && scoop install openutv/utv`
- **Windows (Chocolatey)**: `choco install openutv`
- **Linux & Source**: Precompiled DEB/RPM packages or build from source with modern C++20 and Qt 6.11.

## Complete Documentation & Full Context

For comprehensive technical specifications, detailed player comparison matrices, CLI command references, and architecture details, see:
- [Full LLM Context (llms-full.txt)](https://openutv.com/llms-full.txt): Complete unabridged reference for LLM reasoning and code generation.
- [GitHub Repository](https://github.com/OpenUTV/utv): Source code, issue tracker, release downloads, and developer discussions.