How to uninstall mpv on Mac

Back up ~/.config/mpv first if you have your own mpv.conf, input.conf or scripts in it; when Mole lists that folder, it does not select it. This covers the mpv.app build hosted at the address the Homebrew cask stolendata-mpv declares as its source, and that cask itself.

Quit mpv and remove the app

  1. Quit mpv from its application menu or Cmd+Q. No menu bar helper or login item was found registered for mpv in testing.
  2. Find mpv in Finder's Applications folder and move it to Trash.

Where the data lives

Location What it holds What to do
~/.config/mpv Your mpv.conf, input.conf and scripts Mole can also list ~/.config/mpv, taken from Homebrew's zap list for this app, but does not select it. Back it up if you have your own configuration.
~/Library/Logs/mpv.log mpv's log file, if you enabled logging Mole can also list ~/Library/Logs/mpv.log, taken from Homebrew's zap list for this app, but does not select it.
~/Library/Preferences/io.mpv.plist App preferences Selected by default.
~/Library/Preferences/mpv.plist An older preferences file named in the cask's zap list; it was not present in this test Mole can also list ~/Library/Preferences/mpv.plist, taken from Homebrew's zap list for this app, but does not select it.
mpv's per-session temporary cache A cache macOS creates automatically each run, under the folder getconf DARWIN_USER_TEMP_DIR prints, inside a C/io.mpv subfolder Selected by default. Safe to remove.

If you installed it with Homebrew

Mole skips --zap when its list reaches unchecked or shared data, or cannot be fully checked, and still cleans the leftovers you selected.

The stolendata-mpv cask's zap list includes ~/.config/mpv, ~/Library/Logs/mpv.log, ~/Library/Preferences/io.mpv.plist, and an older-style ~/Library/Preferences/mpv.plist. Because ~/.config/mpv and the log file are listed but not ticked by default, Mole leaves --zap out and removes only what you selected through its own deletion step. Running brew uninstall --cask --zap stolendata-mpv yourself removes every path in the list, your configuration included, without looking at Mole's checkboxes.

To keep your configuration and scripts, back them up first, or remove only the app:

brew uninstall --cask stolendata-mpv

Check the result

pgrep -il mpv
ls -d ~/.config/mpv
ls -d ~/Library/Preferences/io.mpv.plist
  • No output from pgrep means no mpv process is running.
  • ls -d ~/.config/mpv printing the path means your configuration is still there, expected if you kept it; "No such file or directory" means it is gone.
  • The preferences file returning "No such file or directory" confirms it was removed.

Files that change under ~/Library/Biome or ~/Library/DuetExpertCenter around the time you uninstall belong to macOS's own suggestion databases, not to mpv.

What Mole lists

For an mpv app installed from the official build or the Homebrew cask:

  • ~/Library/Preferences/io.mpv.plist and the per-session temporary cache are selected by default.
  • Mole can also list ~/.config/mpv, ~/Library/Logs/mpv.log and ~/Library/Preferences/mpv.plist, taken from Homebrew's zap list for this app, but does not select them. Without that list Mole does not find these three paths.

What this test covered

On September 25, 2026, mpv 0.40.0 was downloaded from the address the Homebrew cask names as its source, copied into /Applications without running brew, and uninstalled with a development build of Mole on a Mac that had Homebrew's cask list cached. Mole listed four rows: the preferences file and the temporary cache as selected rows, and ~/Library/Logs/mpv.log and an empty ~/.config/mpv from the zap list as unselected rows. Every row was ticked for the test. Mole's operations log records the app, the preferences file and the temporary cache going to the Trash, and a scan by name afterwards found nothing of mpv's left; the two changed files it did find, under ~/Library/Biome and ~/Library/DuetExpertCenter, are macOS system databases. Playback, video output configuration, and the command-line and man-page entries the cask also installs were not tested.