Totem is the default movie player for the GNOME desktop. Totem provides the following multimedia features:
Support for a variety of video and audio files
A variety of zoom levels and aspect ratios, and a full screen view
Seek and volume controls
Playlists
Complete keyboard navigation
Video thumbnailer for GNOME
Nautilus properties tab
To start Totem, click +++.
When you start Totem, the following window is displayed.
Click +.
Select the files you want to open, then click
You can also drag a file from another application (such as a file manager) to the Totem window. Totem opens the file and plays the movie or song. Totem displays the title of the movie or song beneath the display area and in the titlebar of the window.
![[Note]](admon/note.png) | Unrecognized File Format |
|---|---|
If you try to open a file format that Totem Movie Player does not recognize, the application displays an error message and recommends a suitable codec. | |
You can double-click a video or audio file in the Nautilus file manager to open it in the Totem window by default.
Click +.
Specify the URI location of the file you want to open, then click .
To play a DVD, VCD, or CD, insert the disc in the optical device of your computer, then click +.
To eject a DVD, VCD, or CD, click +.
To pause a movie or song that is playing, click the 
button, or click +.
When you pause a movie or song, the statusbar displays
and the time elapsed on the current movie or
song.
To resume playing a movie or song, click the 
button, or click +.
To view properties of a movie or song, click + to make the sidebar appear, then click in the drop-down list. The dialog contains the title, artist, year, and duration of movie or song, video dimensions, codec, framerate, and the audio bitrate.
To seek through movies or songs, use any of the following methods:
- To skip forward
To skip forward, click +.
- To skip backward
To skip backward, click +.
- To move to next movie or song
To move to the next one, click + or click the
button.
- To move to previous movie or song
To move to the previous movie or song, click +, or click the
button.
To change the zoom factor of the display area, use any of the following methods:
- To zoom to full screen mode
Click +. To exit fullscreen mode, click the Leave Fullscreen button or press Esc.
- To zoom to half size (50%) of the original movie or visualization
Click ++.
- To zoom to size (100%) of the original movie or visualization
Click ++.
- To zoom to double size (200%) of the original movie or visualization
Click ++.
To switch between different aspect ratios, click +. The supported aspect ratios include:
Auto
Square
4:3 (TV)
16:9 (Widescreen)
2.11:1 (DVB)
The default aspect ratio is .
To hide Totem window controls, click + and deselect the Show Controls option. To show the controls on the Totem Movie Player window, right-click the window, then select .If the Show Controls option is selected, Totem Movie Player shows the menubar, time elapsed slider, seek control buttons, volume slider, and statusbar on the window. If the Show Controls option is not selected, the application hides these controls and shows only the display area.
To show the playlist, click +, then click at the top of the sidebar. The Playlist dialog box is displayed.
You can use the Playlist dialog box to do the following:
To add a track or movie: Click the button. Select the file you want to add to the playlist, then click
To remove a track or movie: Select the filenames from the filename list box, then click .
To save a playlist to file: Click the button, then specify a filename
To move a track or movie up the playlist: Select the filename from the filename list box, then click the button.
To move a track or movie down the playlist: Select the filename from the filename list box, then click the button
To hide the playlist, click +, or click the Sidebar button.
To enable or disable repeat mode, click +. To enable or disable shuffle mode, click +.
To choose the language of the subtitles, click +, then select the subtitles language you want to display.
To disable the display of subtitles, click ++.
By default, Totem Movie Player chooses the same language for the subtitles that you use on your computer.
Totem Movie Player automatically loads and displays subtitles if the
file that contains them has the same name as the video file and has an
asc, txt,
sub, smi, or
ssa file extension.
To modify Totem Movie Player preferences, click +s. You can modify the following:
The Totem General Preferences let you select a network connection speed, specify a TV-out connection type, and change the font and encoding used to display subtitles.
General Preferences include the following:
- Networking
Select network connection speed from the Connection speed drop-down list box.
- Text Subtitles
Lets you change the font and encoding used to display subtitles.
The Totem Display Preferences let you choose to automatically resize the window when a new video is loaded, change the color balance, and configure visual effects when an audio file is played.
Display Preferences include the following:
- Automatically resize the window when a new video is loaded
Select this option if you want Totem Movie Player to automatically resize the window when a new video is loaded.
- Also disable the screensaver when playing audio
Select this option if you want Totem Movie Player to automatically disable the desktop screensaver while an audio file is playing.
- Visual Effects
You can choose to show visual effects when an audio file is playing, select the type of visualization you want to show, and the visualization size.
- Color Balance
Specify the level of color brightness, contrast, saturation, and hue.
