What mtivi can play: protocols, containers and files

The stream types, file types and local media mtivi handles, and the one rule that decides the rest.

2 min readUpdated 20 Sep 2026

mtivi plays whatever your playlist points at, in every delivery form services use, plus files on your own drives.

Stream types

Type	Where you meet it
HLS	The most common live and catch-up format
MPEG-DASH	Used by some services, often with protected content
Raw MPEG-TS	A continuous live stream with no playlist file. Very common on playlists
Direct file streams	Movies and episodes served as one file over HTTP
RTSP	Cameras and a few specialist sources
Local files	Internal storage, USB sticks and SD cards

Containers

MKV, MP4, M4V, TS and AVI all play. On a real 25,000 title library the split was roughly half MKV, half MP4, with a few hundred TS and under a hundred AVI.

The one rule that decides everything else

Sound has a safety net. Picture does not. mtivi carries its own audio decoders, so unusual audio still plays on devices that cannot handle it. Video is decoded entirely by your device’s own chip, and no app can add a decoder it does not have.

The detail is in Video formats and Audio formats.

Local media

Your own videos are browsed by folder across internal storage and any connected drive, with thumbnails and recently played, and they open in the same player with seek, resume and speed.

What cannot be played or captured

Streams whose license cannot be obtained. See Protected streams.
A stream delivered as a manifest of many parts cannot be recorded, although it plays normally.

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