Playa - Image Sequence Player

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

Installation

Download Pre-built Binaries

Download from Releases:

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

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

User Interface

Panels

Viewport

Tools

Keyboard Shortcuts

Playback

Play Range

Timeline

Global

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

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.

Documentation

About

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

Icon: Flaticon by Yasashii std

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