Odeon

Lightweight, Open-Source Media Player for Windows

A modern, distraction-free video and audio player for Windows 10/11, powered by libmpv.
The privacy-focused, no-telemetry VLC alternative — 4K/HDR hardware-accelerated playback with native Windows acrylic materials.

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What Is Odeon?

Odeon is a lightweight, open-source media player for Windows, built on libmpv (using shinchiro's Windows builds) and WinUI 3. It delivers hardware-accelerated 4K/HDR playback via Direct3D 11, zero telemetry, and a clean, distraction-free interface — all in a small, fast-loading package with no bundled bloatware.

🎞️	Plays nearly every format without codec packs (MKV, MP4, AVI, WebM, FLAC, AAC, Opus)
⚡	Hardware-accelerated 4K/HDR playback via Direct3D 11
🔒	Zero telemetry — no tracking, no analytics, no phone-home
🎨	3 Built-in Accent Themes — Netflix Style (crimson), Default Windows Dynamic Accent (system color), and Monochromatic (pure white)
💬	Customizable subtitle rendering with forced Futura PT typography

The Name

"In classical antiquity, an Odeon (from Ancient Greek ᾨδεῖον — literally 'a place for singing') was an intimate, roofed amphitheater engineered specifically for musical performances and acoustic mastery."

Unlike colossal open-air arenas, ancient Odeons were enclosed sanctuaries designed for focused immersion and artistic purity. Odeon translates this philosophy into desktop media playback — an elegant, distraction-free auditorium where your cinema takes center stage.

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Why Odeon?

Most media players for Windows have grown into bloated media centers — background library scanners, intrusive telemetry, casting services, nested settings menus. Odeon strips all of that away.

🪶 Lightweight Small footprint, fast startup, no bundled bloatware.	🔓 Open Source GPL-3.0 licensed, with fully auditable source code.
🚫 No Telemetry 100% offline. No analytics SDKs, ever.	⚙️ libmpv Playback Powered by shinchiro's battle-tested libmpv runtime.
🎞️ 4K/HDR Hardware Decoding Smooth playback via Direct3D 11.	🎨 3 Accent Themes Netflix Style (Crimson), Default Windows Dynamic Accent, and Monochromatic (Pure White) — all over native Windows acrylic.
🪟 Modern Windows Design Built natively with WinUI 3 for Windows 10/11.	💬 Subtitle Customization Forced typography and a native ASS/SSA override pipeline.

Odeon is for people who want to press play and enjoy their media — nothing more, nothing less — in a minimal and beautifully crafted experience.

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Features

🎞️ 4K & HDR Hardware-Accelerated Playback

• Hardware decoding via Direct3D 11 (--hwdec=auto-copy) for smooth 4K/HDR content
• Powered by the high-performance libmpv engine (shinchiro/mpv-winbuild-cmake)
• Near-instantaneous playback startup — no cold-start delays
• Broad format support with no extra codec packs needed: MKV, MP4, AVI, WebM, MOV, FLAC, AAC, Opus, DTS, TrueHD, and more
• DXGI composition swap chain for pixel-accurate rendering at native resolution

🖤 Modern Windows Media Player UI & Themes

• WinUI 3 acrylic, glassmorphic backdrops on side panels and context menus
• Smart, centered titlebar that automatically strips file extensions
• Auto-dismissing HUD for volume, seek, and status notifications
• Properties HUD (Tab) — instant overlay with resolution, bitrate, duration, and file size
• Dynamic seekbar with spring-physics scrubbing
• 3 Curated Visual Accent Themes (all sharing the same native Windows acrylic background):
  • Netflix Style: Bold crimson/red accent highlights across controls and active elements (Netflix-inspired)
  • Default Windows Dynamic Accent: Seamlessly synchronizes with your active Windows 10/11 system accent color
  • Monochromatic: Ultra-clean, distraction-free minimalist pure white accents

💬 Subtitle Customization

• Forced Futura PT Medium & Linotte typography across all subtitles and UI elements for a clean, cinematic look
• Native ASS/SSA override pipeline: strips hardcoded fonts/colors while preserving timing and positioning
• GDI font discovery via AddFontResourceExW(FR_PRIVATE) — no embedded font blobs, no cache management
• Redesigned subtitle side panel with instant track switching

🔊 Audio Controls

• Redesigned Audio panel for quick access during playback
• Manual audio timing offset adjustment to correct sync issues on mismatched files

▶️ Play Next

• Full drag-and-drop reordering of upcoming items
• Multi-select mode with bulk actions
• Dedicated Play Next side panel
• Mini player mode with compact playback controls

🔒 Privacy-Focused, Zero Telemetry

• All tracking SDKs (App Center, Sentry, etc.) fully purged from source
• Odeon never communicates with remote analytics servers
• Complete offline operation — no internet connection required

🌐 Local & Network Streaming

• Play files from local storage, external drives, and network shares (SMB, NAS, HTTP/HTTPS)
• No background library scanning — instant file access

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Installation

Odeon is distributed as a standalone, self-contained Windows package:

1. Download the latest Odeon build (or .zip bundle) from Releases.
2. Double-click the .msixbundle → click Install in the Windows App Installer window.
3. Launch Odeon from your Start Menu and set it as your default player.

Note

The mpv-2.dll runtime is included in the package — no separate installation required.

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Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 (Build 1903+) or Windows 11
• Visual Studio 2022 with:
  • Universal Windows Platform development workload
  • Windows 10/11 SDK (10.0.2610.0 or compatible)
• Windows Developer Mode enabled
• mpv-2.dll — Download the dev package from shinchiro's mpv-winbuild-cmake releases and place mpv-2.dll in the Odeon/ project folder (git-ignored).

Build Steps

git clone https://github.com/9ixe/Odeon.git
# Open Odeon.sln in Visual Studio 2022
# Set Configuration: Release, Platform: x64
# Build or Deploy the Odeon project

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FAQ

🔄 Is Odeon a good VLC alternative for Windows?

If you want a fast, no-telemetry media player that just plays a file without extra menus, Odeon is a strong lightweight VLC alternative. VLC still has a larger overall feature set (a built-in streaming server, a broader plugin ecosystem, and support for macOS/Linux/mobile), so if you rely on those specific features, VLC may still be the better choice. For everyday local playback on Windows, Odeon aims to feel lighter, faster, and more modern.

💸 Is Odeon free and open source?

Yes. Odeon is completely free and licensed under GPL-3.0 — the full source code is available in this repository.

🪟 Does Odeon work on Windows 10 and Windows 11?

Yes. Odeon supports Windows 10 (Build 1903 or later) and Windows 11, 64-bit, with a native WinUI 3 interface designed for both.

🎞️ Does Odeon support 4K and HDR playback?

Yes. Odeon is a 4K video player for Windows with HDR support, using Direct3D 11 hardware decoding (--hwdec=auto-copy) for smooth, high-resolution playback.

⚡ Does Odeon use hardware acceleration?

Yes. Decoding runs through Direct3D 11, and decoded frames are composited via a DXGI swap chain for pixel-accurate rendering at native resolution.

💬 Does Odeon support subtitles?

Yes. Odeon includes a redesigned subtitle side panel with instant track switching, forced Futura PT Medium typography, and a native ASS/SSA override pipeline that preserves timing and positioning while normalizing fonts and colors.

🎨 What visual accent themes are available in Odeon?

All themes share the same native Windows acrylic background — only the accent colors change to suit your style:

• Netflix Style: Bold crimson/red accent highlights across controls, badges, and active elements (Netflix-inspired).
• Default Windows Dynamic Accent: Automatically synchronizes with your active Windows 10/11 system accent color in real time.
• Monochromatic: Ultra-clean, distraction-free minimalist aesthetic featuring crisp, pure white accents.

(Note: Odeon is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Netflix.)

🔒 Does Odeon collect any telemetry?

No. All tracking SDKs (App Center, Sentry, etc.) have been completely removed. Odeon is a privacy-focused, no-telemetry media player that runs 100% offline and never phones home.

⚙️ What playback engine does Odeon use?

Odeon uses libmpv as its playback engine, powered by shinchiro's official Windows build toolchain (shinchiro/mpv-winbuild-cmake), paired with a Direct3D 11 rendering pipeline — a massive upgrade from the legacy LibVLC engine.

🔀 What is the difference between Odeon and Screenbox?

Odeon is a modern fork of Screenbox that replaces LibVLC with libmpv (shinchiro builds) for the playback engine, removes all telemetry, adds 3 curated accent themes (Netflix Style, Default Windows Dynamic Accent, Monochromatic), implements forced subtitle typography and an ASS/SSA override pipeline, redesigns Play Next with drag-and-drop reordering, and strips unnecessary bloat.

🖥️ What are the system requirements?

Windows 10 (Build 1903 or later) or Windows 11, 64-bit. Odeon has no separate installer dependencies — the mpv-2.dll runtime ships inside the package.

🔤 What is the Futura PT Medium font requirement?

Odeon uses Futura PT Medium as its default subtitle and UI typeface for a consistent, cinematic look. You do not need to install the font yourself as it comes bundled with the app. If any issues occur, it will gracefully fall back to Segoe UI.

🌐 Can Odeon play network streams?

Yes. Odeon supports SMB, NAS, HTTP/HTTPS network shares, and any stream URL supported by libmpv.

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Contributing

Bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests are all welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines. If Odeon is useful to you, starring the repository is one of the easiest ways to help other people find it.

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Credits

Author & Maintainer	Joel Biju (9ixe)
Original Project	Fork of Screenbox by Huynh Son Tung (huyn)
Playback Engine	libmpv with Direct3D 11 composition
Windows libmpv Builds	Native mpv-2.dll toolchain & binaries by shinchiro
Architecture References	Richasy/mpv-winui, WangyuHello/HotPotPlayer
License	GNU General Public License v3.0

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⬇ Download Odeon · Report a Bug · Contribute

_{Made for people who just want to press play. 🎬}