Soia

🎬 HDR & Dolby Vision · 🌐 WebDAV + DLNA + SMB Streaming · 📱 Web Remote Controller

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An mpv-powered video player with network streaming and browser-based remote control.

Soia is a high-performance video player built on mpv, designed for smooth playback of everything from local Dolby Vision content to remote WebDAV, DLNA, and SMB streams — all in one fast, elegant, cross-platform experience.

✨ Key Features

High-Performance Playback

• mpv-powered playback with hardware acceleration (4K, HDR, Dolby Vision*)
• Picture in Picture (PiP) on macOS and Windows
• Dual subtitles for bilingual viewing
• Fuzzy subtitle matching for both local and network media
• Online subtitle search via OpenSubtitles and SubSource
• Advanced subtitle appearance controls for font, color, size, and position
• Custom shaders for high-quality scaling and rendering
• Anime mode with auto-detection and shader auto-apply

_{Dolby Vision is not currently supported on Linux}

Streaming & Remote Media

• WebDAV browsing and streaming
• DLNA and SMB/Samba discovery, browsing, and playback
• M3U (IPTV) parsing and playback
• Persistent playlists, including a built-in Favorites playlist
• Smart buffering with real-time speed indicators
• Resume playback with history tracking

Web Browser Remote Controller

• Control Soia playback from a web browser on the same local network
• Play, pause, seek, adjust volume, and select audio or subtitle tracks remotely
• Browse and play playlists or configured WebDAV, DLNA, and SMB media sources
• Continue network browsing from the folder last opened in the desktop app
• Enable Remote Controller in Settings, then show its QR code there or from the playback context menu to pair and connect in seconds
• Pair multiple remote devices to control the same player together

Both interfaces are equal clients of the same backend:

Native Experience

• Native media keys and Now Playing integration (macOS)
• Borderless window across macOS, Windows, and Linux (Wayland)
• Experimental Wallpaper Mode (Windows)
• Flexible playback preferences (speed, seek, auto-play, skip intro)

Install

Download from the release page.

On macOS, you can install it with Homebrew:

brew tap FengZeng/soia
brew install --cask soia

On Windows, you can install it with WinGet:

winget install soia

Or you can build it yourself. Support macOS 13+, Windows, and Linux. Linux builds have been tested on Ubuntu and Fedora Wayland sessions (X11 is not currently supported).

FAQ

Q: macOS says "Soia is damaged and can't be opened" or cannot verify it is free of malware.

A: This happens because the app is not yet signed with an Apple Developer ID certificate, so macOS may block it on first launch.

Easy fix (recommended):

1. Right-click Soia.app
2. Click "Open"
3. Click "Open" again in the dialog

If that doesn't work, run:

sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Soia.app

You can also go to System Settings -> Privacy & Security and click "Open Anyway" (it appears after a blocked launch attempt).

The app is open-source and its code is publicly available for anyone to inspect.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: Vue 3 + TypeScript + Vite
• App runtime: Tauri v2
• Backend: Rust
• Playback engine: libmpv
• Persistence: SQLite (media.db) + JSON state files

Getting Started

1. Prerequisites

   Ensure you have the following installed:

   • Node.js 18+ & pnpm 10.x
   • Rust (stable toolchain)
   • Tauri build prerequisites for your specific platform

2. Setup

   # Automatically prepares runtime libs
   pnpm install

3. Run

   # Launches with auto-injected library paths
   pnpm tauri dev

Build and Bundle

Common release build commands:

pnpm bundle:mac:release
pnpm bundle:linux:release
pnpm bundle:win:release

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Space: play/pause
• Left / Right: seek backward/forward (step from settings)
• I: toggle playback info panel
• Double-click video area: toggle fullscreen
• Middle-click during playback: hide or show controls; mouse movement stays suppressed for 3 seconds after hiding

Data Storage

App data is stored in Tauri's local app data directory and includes:

• media.db: playlists, playlist entries, playback history, and local installation/device metadata
• state.json: UI state and preferences
• network_connections.json: saved network connections
• thumbnails/: captured artwork for Now Playing

Security Note

Saved network credentials are currently persisted in network_connections.json as plain text. Avoid using sensitive production credentials on shared machines.

Troubleshooting

• If Linux build fails with glib-2.0 / gdk-3.0 / *.pc not found, install the Ubuntu deps:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
    build-essential \
    curl \
    wget \
    file \
    libgtk-3-dev \
    libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
    librsvg2-dev \
    pkg-config \
    libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev

• Linux runtime note: current bundle targets Ubuntu Wayland sessions only; launching under pure X11 is not supported.

• If build fails with Cannot find libmpv, run:

pnpm setup:libs

• If pnpm setup:libs fails, confirm release access to:

  • https://github.com/FengZeng/mpv/releases/tag/v0.41.0-r15
  • or set MPV_RELEASE_ASSET_URL to a direct asset URL and retry.

• If Linux/Windows bundle scripts report missing runtime manifest, generate it on the target platform:

pnpm sync:runtime:linux
pnpm sync:runtime:win

• If you have a local bundled mpv + dependencies directory for dev testing, use:

pnpm setup:libs /absolute/path/to/mpv-bundle

---

Author & Maintainer

Soia is an independent project developed and maintained by @FengZeng.

While development is driven independently, issues and feedback are actively reviewed and addressed whenever possible.

If you find Soia useful, consider giving it a ⭐ Star — it helps the project grow and reach more users.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 only (GPL-3.0-only). See LICENSE for the full text.