Front Row

SwiftUI

Play HDR videos and spatial audio natively on your Mac.

Features

Plays HDR video with accurate color, and multichannel audio as spatial audio on AirPods and other supported headphones.
Small on-screen controls that stay clear of the video and subtitles, plus keyboard shortcuts: Space or K to play, Left and Right arrows to skip, Cmd+G to go to a time, Cmd+[ and Cmd+] to change speed, and M to mute.
Switch audio tracks and subtitles, change playback speed, and pick up where you left off.
The Inspector (Cmd+I) shows a file's format, tracks, and codecs.
Opens MKV files by converting them to MP4 with ffmpeg. Streams are copied without re-encoding whenever possible.
Open a video from a URL, control playback with media keys and Now Playing, and get updates automatically.
Open source.

Requirements

macOS 15.6 Sequoia or later on Apple Silicon (M1 and later). HDR needs an HDR-capable Mac, and spatial audio needs supported headphones.

Support

Found a bug or have a question? Open an issue on GitHub or email jpark@duck.com.

Why do I need this?

Many movies and TV shows come with multichannel audio, but you'd normally need a full surround sound setup to enjoy it. Spatial audio plays multichannel audio through regular headphones like AirPods Pro, with much more depth and roominess. Few video players support it, so I built Front Row on AVKit, which does.

What about just using QuickTime Player?

That works too. I just didn't like QuickTime Player's keyboard shortcuts, or its large on-screen controls that cover the video and subtitles.

Can I play MKV files?

Not directly. Front Row uses AVKit (the same playback stack as QuickTime Player), which can't open MKV files. But MKV is only a container, and it usually holds streams that Apple supports. When it does, Front Row offers to convert the file to an MP4 next to the original. This needs ffmpeg:

brew install ffmpeg

When the video and audio are both supported, they're copied as they are, which takes a few seconds. When only the audio isn't supported (DTS, TrueHD, MP3, or multichannel Opus), just the audio is re-encoded to AAC. Bitmap subtitles from Blu-ray and DVD can't go into an MP4, and Front Row warns you before it starts.

Can I convert the file myself instead?

Yes:

ffmpeg -i ./input.mkv -map 0 -c copy -tag:v hvc1 ./output.mp4

Add -c:s mov_text after -c copy to keep built-in subtitles, and use -tag:v avc1 instead of hvc1 for H.264 video. If there's no audio afterward, re-encode it to AAC by adding -c:a aac_at -b:a 448k after -c copy.

I don't hear spatial audio through my supported headphones

Make sure the audio track has more than two channels, and turn on spatial audio from the audio menu in the menu bar while the video is playing.

Which versions of macOS are supported?

macOS 15.6 Sequoia or later, on Apple Silicon (M1 and later).

Privacy policy

Last updated: 2026-10-19

Front Row is a macOS video player for HDR video and spatial audio. It plays your files on your Mac and does not collect, store, transmit, or sell any user data.

Data collection

None. Front Row does not collect personal information or identifiers, and has no analytics or telemetry.
Local settings only. Your recent files, where you left off in each one, and preferences such as the skip interval are saved on your Mac in the app's preferences.

Network connections

Updates: Front Row checks GitHub for new versions using Sparkle. This is an ordinary request to GitHub and sends no information about you or your files.
Open URL: when you open a video from a URL, Front Row connects only to the address you enter.

Converting files

MKV conversion runs entirely on your Mac using the ffmpeg you installed. Your files are never uploaded.

Contact

Questions or concerns: email jpark@duck.com.