Playing multimedia

KPlayer can play multimedia from many different sources. In addition to local files, it can play remote network addresses or URLs, various devices like disks and cards, and many other sources like network locations and compressed files using KDE feature known as I/O Slaves.

Local files

Use any of the following ways to start playing local files from your hard drive or any other device mounted as a directory on your system.

When KPlayer is running, select Library->Go->Home Directory. KPlayer will open your home directory in the multimedia library and list any multimedia files you have in it. Then you can select the file or files you want to play or look for multimedia files in other directories.
The multimedia library allows you to organize your multimedia collection for easier access. For example, once you create some playlists, playing one of them becomes as easy as selecting File->Play List and then selecting the playlist name from the submenu.
If your file does not show up in the library, select File->Play..., or click the Play button on the main toolbar. The standard Play files dialog will appear, letting you choose a local file or several files. After you click the Open button or press Enter, KPlayer will put your selection on the current playlist and start playing it.
KPlayer is associated with all media file types it can play. If a type has more than one program associated to it, you need to move KPlayer to the top of the list on the File Associations page in the Konqueror configuration dialog. Then you can simply execute a media file in Konqueror File Manager with the left mouse button, and it will open KPlayer if it is not yet running and start playing the file.
Right click context menu in Konqueror File Manager will show the Play command when a multimedia file or files are selected. Selecting the command will open KPlayer, put all the selected files on the current playlist and play them. You can also right click a directory and play all multimedia files contained in it and in all of its subdirectories.
You can also drag files and directories from Konqueror File Manager and drop them on the KPlayer window. KPlayer will then put them on the current playlist and start playing them.
In a terminal program like Konsole type
kplayer filename
where filename can be an absolute or relative path to the file or directory you want to play, or just the name if the file or directory is in the current directory. You can give multiple file and directory names separated with spaces. After you press Enter, KPlayer will start if it is not already running, add the files and directories to the current playlist and start playing them.

Remote URLs

Use any of the following ways to start playing a remote file or stream with a remote URL using a network protocol like HTTP, FTP, Samba, MMS, RTSP, PNM, etc.

Once KPlayer starts, select File->Play URL..., or click the Play URL button on the main toolbar. The standard Play URL dialog will appear, letting you type or paste in a remote URL. After you click the Open button or press Enter, KPlayer will start playing the URL you entered.
KPlayer is associated with all media types it can play. If a type has more than one program associated to it, you need to move KPlayer to the top of the list on the File Associations page in the Konqueror configuration dialog. Then you can simply left click a link to a media file or stream of that type in Konqueror Web Browser, and it will open KPlayer if it is not yet running, put the link on the current playlist and start playing it.
Sometimes a web page will have a media object embedded in it. If KPlayer is at the top of the list of programs associated with the media type of the object, when you open the page in Konqueror Web Browser it will embed KPlayer into the web page and start playing the media. However, it is recommended that you right click the media object and choose Start KPlayer so that the full KPlayer opens up and starts playing the media. This will give you a better interface and more options than an embedded KPlayer.
Just like with local files, you can start KPlayer from a terminal program like Konsole with the URL you want to play. This is useful for example if you copied the URL to the clipboard in a text editor. In the terminal program type
kplayer mediaurl
where mediaurl can be any of the many URL types KPlayer supports. You have to give the full URL, and if it has spaces or other special characters in it, you need to enclose the URL in single quotes so your shell does not try to interpret them. You can give multiple URLs separated with spaces. After you press Enter, KPlayer will start if it is not already running, put the URLs on the current playlist and start playing them.
And of course you can keep your favorite multimedia links in the multimedia library and include them on your playlists. Then you can play a playlist by choosing its name from the File->Play List submenu.

Disk and tuner devices

KPlayer finds any disk and tuner devices you have on your computer and shows them on the File menu and in the Devices section of the multimedia library.

When you insert a disk into a DVD or CD device, KPlayer finds the titles or tracks on the disk and shows them on the device submenu under the File menu as well as in the multimedia library.

To play the whole disk:

Select Play Disk from the device submenu under the File menu, or
Right click the device node in the Devices section of the multimedia library and select Play, or
Left click the disk icon when it shows in the Devices applet in the KDE task bar and select Play from the menu, or
Right click the disk icon when it shows on the desktop and select Play from the menu.

To play a title or track:

Select the title or track from the device submenu under the File menu, or
Open the device node in the Devices section of the multimedia library and execute the title or track with the left mouse button or right click it and select Play.

For tuner devices like TV or DVB KPlayer shows the available channels on the device submenu under the File menu as well as under the device node in the Devices section of the multimedia library.

To play a channel:

Select the channel from the device submenu under the File menu, or
Open the device node in the Devices section of the multimedia library and execute the channel with the left mouse button or right click it and select Play.

KDE I/O slaves: fish, sftp, webdav, tar, zip, audiocd, etc.

KDE has a great way to access all kinds of data through a system known as I/O Slaves. They are little programs that let you represent many different sources of data as URL like addresses, and open them in KDE programs like Konqueror and KPlayer. For example you can access a network host over SSH with a URL like fish:/host/path, or a zip file with a URL like zip:/home/cooldude/my.zip.

So you paste a URL like that in Konqueror address bar, hit Enter and see the data source as if it was a usual file or a directory with files and subdirectories in it. If one of those files happens to be a multimedia file like an MP3 file for example, you can execute it with the left mouse button so that KPlayer opens up and starts playing the file, just like with plain local files. As usual, for this to work KPlayer needs to be the top program for that file type on the File Associations page in Konqueror or KDE Control Center.

Those same URLs will work in the Play files dialog that you get when you select File->Play..., or click the Play button in KPlayer. Or if you have the full URL to the media file itself, like fish:/host/path/song.mp3 or zip:/home/cooldude/my.zip/subdir/song.mp3, you can paste it into the Play URL dialog that you get by selecting File->Play URL... or clicking the Play URL button in KPlayer.

Just like with local files and remote addresses, you can start KPlayer from a terminal program like Konsole with the URL you want to play. This is useful for example if you copied the URL to the clipboard in a text editor. In the terminal program type

kplayer mediaurl

where mediaurl can be any of the many URL types KPlayer supports. You have to give the full URL, and if it has spaces or other special characters in it, you need to enclose the URL in single quotes so your shell does not try to interpret them. You can give multiple URLs separated with spaces. After you press Enter, KPlayer will start if it is not already running, add the URLs to the playlist and start playing them.