Playback

This page covers the on-screen player: how to move around a video, switch subtitles and audio, and tune quality and behaviour to your taste.

The player controls

Tap once anywhere on the video to show or hide the controls. From there you can play and pause, scrub through the timeline, and open the options for subtitles, audio, speed, and more.

Skipping and seeking

Scrub the timeline to jump to any point in the video.
Double-tap the left or right side of the screen to skip backward or forward. The skip amount is adjustable (3, 5, 10, 15, or 30 seconds) in Settings → Playback.

Resume or start over

When you open something you’ve already partly watched, Zuno resumes from where you left off. Use Play from beginning if you’d rather start over.

Half-folded on iPhone Duo

On iPhone Duo, fold the screen partway, like a laptop, and the player splits in two: the video plays on the top half and the controls move to the bottom half, with large buttons for play, pause, and skipping, plus the timeline, brightness, volume, speed, and your audio and subtitle options. The video’s colours are softly reflected behind the controls.

Open the screen flat again to return to the full-screen player. To use the full-screen player while folded, tap the expand button in the bottom corner.

Subtitles

Open the Subtitles option from the player to choose a subtitle track, turn subtitles off, or search for and download new ones. Choose Subtitle Appearance there to restyle subtitles while the video keeps playing. You can also set subtitles to appear automatically.

For the full details, including the formats Zuno supports and every appearance setting, see the dedicated Subtitles page.

Audio tracks

Open the Audio Track menu to switch languages or audio formats. Each track shows its language, codec, and channel layout so you can pick the right one.

In Settings → Playback → Audio, you can have Zuno automatically select an audio language when a video starts, trying your preferred languages in order and falling back to the file’s default track. For a series, your most recent choice is remembered per show.

Playback speed

Change the Playback Speed from the player controls, from normal (100%) up to faster speeds for catching up quickly.

Chapters

When a video has at least two chapters, Zuno adds a chapter browser to the player. Each chapter shows its name, start time, and a preview image when one is available. Choose a chapter to jump straight to it.

On iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, open the Chapters tab in the player.
On Mac, choose Chapters from the player controls.

Chapter selection works with videos from Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby, including chapters stored in the video itself. Names provided for scenes or sections are kept. If a chapter only has an automatically generated timestamp for its name, Zuno shows a simple name such as Chapter 17 instead.

Zuno uses chapter pictures from your server when available. Otherwise it uses the video’s seek previews or creates a preview from the video, so pictures may take a moment to appear the first time.

To remove chapter discovery and selection entirely, turn off Show Chapters in Player in Settings → Playback → Chapters. This preference syncs across your devices when settings sync is enabled.

Identifying songs

While you watch, Zuno listens out for music in the film or episode and identifies it with Shazam. When it finds a song, it shows it in the player:

On iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, open the Info tab in the player. The song appears with its artwork, title, and artist.
On Mac, a button with the song’s name appears at the top of the player controls. Click it to see the details.

The song is labelled Now Playing while it’s on, and Last Played once it has finished, so you can still find out what that song was after the scene moves on. From there you can:

Add to Shazam to save the song to your Shazam library, so it’s waiting on your iPhone later.
Listen on Apple Music to open the song in Apple Music.

Zuno uses the sound from the video itself, not your microphone, so it works with headphones and at any volume. It needs an internet connection. Only a short summary of the sound is sent to Shazam to find a match, never the audio itself.

Not every piece of music can be identified. Scores written for the film, music buried under dialogue, and very short snippets often won’t match.

To turn it off, switch off Identify Songs in Settings → Playback → Music. This preference syncs across your devices when settings sync is enabled.

Aspect ratio and zoom

If a video looks stretched or squashed, or has black bars you’d rather lose, you can change how it fills the screen. This is especially handy for older TV programmes, where the shape of the picture is sometimes recorded incorrectly.

Aspect ratio

Open Aspect Ratio from the ⋯ button in the player options, then choose:

Original: the video’s own shape. This is the default.
Stretch to Screen: stretches the picture to fill the whole screen.
4:3, 5:4, 16:9, 16:10, 18:9, 21:9 or 2.39:1: shows the picture at that shape. 4:3 suits older TV programmes, and 2.39:1 suits widescreen films.

Your choice lasts until you leave the player, including any episodes that play next. If widescreen DVDs look squashed, try turning on Aspect Ratio Correction in Settings → Playback first.

Zoom on iPhone and iPad

Pinch out on the video to zoom in and fill the screen, and pinch in to go back. This works with any aspect ratio.

Zoom on Apple TV

Select the ⋯ button in the player options, then Zoom. Use −10, −1, +1 and +10 to zoom anywhere from 100% to 200%, with the picture updating as you go. Select Reset to return to 100%, and press Back when you’re done.

Zoom works together with the aspect ratio. For an older programme with black bars on every side, for example, choose 4:3 and then zoom in until the bars disappear.

Remembering your choice

To set it once per show, turn on Remember Aspect Ratio in Settings → Playback → Player on iPhone and iPad, or Remember Aspect Ratio & Zoom in Settings → Playback on Apple TV. Zuno then uses your choice for every episode of that show, or for that film. A zoom you set on Apple TV isn’t applied on iPhone or iPad.

Deinterlacing

Older and standard-definition video, like DVD rips and recordings from broadcast TV, is often interlaced, which can show fine horizontal lines or a combed look across anything that moves. Deinterlacing smooths that out.

In Settings → Playback, Deinterlacing has three modes:

Auto (the default): Zuno deinterlaces only the content that is genuinely interlaced and leaves everything else untouched. This is right for almost everyone.
Off: never deinterlace.
Force: deinterlace every frame, whatever the file reports. Use this only when a source clearly looks combed but Auto hasn’t caught it, as it can slightly soften video that was never interlaced.

Most people never need to change this from Auto.

Intros, credits, and Up Next

In Settings → Playback → Intros & Credits:

Show Skip Intro Button: shows a Skip Intro button during intros.
Auto-Skip Intros: skips the intro automatically after showing the button briefly. This needs intro markers from Plex Pass or the relevant Jellyfin plugin.
Show Up Next Overlay: shows an Up Next prompt near the end of an episode so you can roll straight into the next one.

Sleep timer

Set a Sleep Timer from the player to stop playback after a set time, or at the end of the current item.

Casting and AirPlay

Use Cast / AirPlay from the player controls to send playback to a compatible TV or device.

Stats for Nerds

For a detailed technical readout of what’s playing (resolution, codecs, bitrate, and more), open Stats for Nerds from the ⋯ button in the player options.