Playa - Image Sequence Player

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What is Playa?

Initially started as a simple EXR Image Image Sequence Player in Rust. The aim was to actually learn Rust and create something useful. LLMs and agentic applications like Claude Code, Codex, Qwen and the rest provide enormous help here and allow to perform 10x-100x faster, so I started to add some more features upon my friends requests: flexible viewport, layers, timeline, attribute editor, h264/265/ProRes encoding, REST api, multithreaded composing with LRU cache and more.

Key Features

System

• Single binary, cross-platform - One executable, no dependencies.
• Download and run on Windows, macOS, or Linux

Performance

• Instant scrubbing - Epoch-based cache keeps UI responsive at any speed
• Parallel loading - Work-stealing across CPU cores
• Smart memory - LRU cache with configurable memory limit
• JKL shuttle - Industry-standard transport with speed ramping

Format Support

• EXR - Via exrs (pure Rust) or OpenEXR C++ (DWAA/DWAB compression)
• Images - PNG, JPEG, TIFF, TGA, HDR
• Video - MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV via FFmpeg
• Pixel formats - 8-bit, 16-bit half-float, 32-bit float

Video Export

• Hardware encoding - NVENC (NVIDIA), QSV (Intel), AMF (AMD)
• Software encoding - H.264, H.265 via libx264/libx265
• Range export - Encode only selected frame range (B/N markers)

Compositing

• Node-based - FileNode, CompNode, CameraNode, TextNode
• Blend modes - Normal, Screen, Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, Difference
• 3D transforms - Position, Rotation, Scale with perspective camera
• Layer effects - Gaussian Blur, Brightness/Contrast, HSV (CPU)
• Interactive gizmos - Move/Rotate/Scale manipulation in viewport

Integration

• Smart sequence detection - Load one frame, finds all automatically
• REST API - Remote control via HTTP endpoints
• Custom GLSL shaders - Drop shaders in shaders/ folder
• Persistent state - Remembers settings between sessions

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Installation

Download Pre-built Binaries

Download from Releases:

Platform	Recommended	Alternative
Windows	playa-x.x.x-exrs-x64-setup.exe	.msi, portable .zip
macOS	playa-x.x.x-exrs.dmg	OpenEXR variant for DWAA/DWAB
Linux	playa-x.x.x-exrs.AppImage	.deb package

macOS: All DMG releases are code-signed and notarized.

Build from Source

See DEVELOP.md for build instructions.

git clone https://github.com/ssoj13/playa.git && cd playa
./bootstrap.ps1 build              # Windows (exrs backend)
./bootstrap.ps1 build --openexr    # Windows (OpenEXR C++)
./bootstrap.sh build               # Linux/macOS

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Quick Start

# Launch empty (drag-drop files)
playa

# Load sequence (auto-detects all frames)
playa render.0001.exr

# Load with options
playa -f sequence.exr --frame 50 -a -F    # Frame 50, autoplay, fullscreen

Version info (-V):

playa 0.1.138
EXR:    openexr-rs 0.11 (C++, DWAA/DWAB)
Video:  playa-ffmpeg 8.0 (static)
Target: x86_64-windows

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User Interface

Panels

Panel	Hotkey	Description
Viewport	-	Image display with zoom/pan
Timeline	-	Layer timeline with trim/move
Project	F2	Media pool
Attributes	F3	Layer properties
Encode	F4	Video export
Settings	F12	Preferences
Help	F1	Keyboard shortcuts

Viewport

Action	Control
Zoom	Mouse wheel (centers on cursor)
Pan	Middle mouse drag
Fit	F
100%	A or H
Fullscreen	Z
Scrub	Right click + drag
Pick layer	Left click (Select mode Q)

Tools

Key	Tool
Q	Select/Scrub
W	Move
E	Rotate
R	Scale

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Playback

Key	Action
Space	Play/Pause
K	Stop
J / L	Jog backward/forward (cumulative)
Left / Right	Step 1 frame
Shift+Arrows	Step 25 frames
Home / End	Jump to start/end
; / '	Prev/Next layer edge
`	Toggle loop
- / =	Decrease/Increase FPS

Play Range

Key	Action
B	Set range start
N	Set range end
Ctrl+B	Reset to full range

Timeline

Key	Action
[	Align start to cursor
]	Align end to cursor
Alt+[	Trim start to cursor
Alt+]	Trim end to cursor
Ctrl+D	Duplicate layers
Delete	Delete layer

Global

Key	Action
F1	Help
F2	Project panel
F3	Attributes panel
F4	Encode dialog
F12	Settings
Z	Fullscreen
Ctrl+S	Save project
Ctrl+O	Open project

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Workflows

Review Sequence

1. Drag-drop folder or playa render.0001.exr
2. Space to play, J/L for shuttle
3. Mouse wheel to zoom, middle-drag to pan

Export to Video

1. Load sequence
2. Set range: B (start), N (end)
3. F4 - encode dialog
4. Select codec, click "Encode"

Composite Layers

1. Create composition (right-click in Project)
2. Drag clips to timeline
3. Transform with W/E/R tools
4. Adjust blend mode in Attributes (F3)
5. Add effects (Blur, Brightness, HSV)

Remote Control

Enable in Settings > Web Server:

curl http://localhost:8080/api/status
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/player/play
curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/player/frame/100

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Architecture

+--------------------------------------------------+
|                    PlayaApp                       |
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  Player          |  Viewport      |  Timeline    |
|  (state machine) |  (OpenGL)      |  (layers)    |
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  EventBus        |  GlobalCache   |  Workers     |
|  (pub/sub)       |  (LRU + epoch) |  (parallel)  |
+--------------------------------------------------+
|  Project (media pool) | Nodes (File/Comp/Camera) |
+--------------------------------------------------+

How acceleration works:

1. User scrubs - SetFrameEvent emitted
2. Epoch increments - Previous frame requests marked stale
3. Cache check - Return immediately if cached
4. Worker dispatch - Job added to work-stealing queue
5. Parallel load - Workers compete to process jobs
6. Epoch validation - Workers skip stale requests
7. Cache insert - Result stored, UI repainted

For detailed architecture, see AGENTS.md.

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Documentation

Document	Description
DEVELOP.md	Build from source, FFmpeg setup
AGENTS.md	Architecture, dataflow diagrams
CHANGELOG.md	Version history

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About

Built with Rust. Powered by exrs, openexr-rs, playa-ffmpeg, egui, and the Rust ecosystem.

Icon: Flaticon by Yasashii std

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For build instructions, see DEVELOP.md. For architecture details, see AGENTS.md.