When comparing Exaile vs MPV, the Slant community recommends Exaile for most people. In the question“What are the best audio players for UNIX-like systems?” Exaile is ranked 8th while MPV is ranked 20th. The most important reason people chose Exaile is:
Exaile comes pre-loaded with a lot of plugins so users can customize the application how they see fit.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro A lot of built-in plugins
Exaile comes pre-loaded with a lot of plugins so users can customize the application how they see fit.
Pro Can handle large libraries
Exaile utilizes a SQLite database to store information. As such, it can handle large music libraries.
Pro Smart Playlists
Has the ability to configure dynamic playlists based on various criteria.
Pro Trimmed down interface
Exaile excels for being a simple-to-use music player that is not filled with a lot of guff.
Pro Equalizer
Exaile has a built-in equalizer.
Pro Integrates with streaming services
When used with youtube-dl.
Pro Needs no additional codecs
Everything MPV needs to play media files is contained within which means no outside codecs are needed.
Pro Minimal interface
Click to open files and get Video with sound (and passthrough of codecs like DTS etc) for a perfect cinema experience. Works okay for many files.
Default window is not much more than a title bar - and if you drag/resize the window it resizes the video and leaves no empty areas. There is no visible control or display unless you use mouse/keyboard over the window.
This is the best player to use unless you're going for a media center (then use MPV based Plex Media Player to display and play the Plex Server library).
Pro Up to date
Always up to date, rapid development.
Pro Extremely responsive
Pro Caches livestreams
Intelligently caches livestreams and enables jumping within the cached stream.
Pro Fast
Cons
Con Can't handle CUE files
Con Minimal theme support
Con Lack of a typical GUI can be jarring to some
The minimal interface comes at the cost of beginner-friendliness. You need to know keyboard shortcuts by heart, settings are set in text files, right-clicking won't bring up a menu, etc.