N64 Media Player

Play videos, music, and pictures from your flash cart’s SD card on a real Nintendo 64 (EverDrive 64, EverDrive X7, 64drive, SummerCart64, etc.).

No libdragon install needed if you only want to convert files on your PC and copy them to the card.

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Quick start (beginners)

What you need

On the N64	On your PC
Flash cart with FAT32 SD card	Python 3 + ffmpeg (for converting video)
The player ROM (see below)	Your video / MP3 / image files

Emulators: Most emulators do not show the cart’s SD card to homebrew. Use real hardware (or a cart-specific setup).

5 steps

1. Download the ROM from the latest release:
   N64 Media Player V2
   Get MediaPlayer_64.z64 (512 KB player ROM).

2. Put the ROM on your SD card
   Copy MediaPlayer_64.z64 where your cart expects homebrew (often ED64/ or ED64P/ — check your EverDrive manual).

3. Convert a video on your PC (see Convert video (V2) below)
   You get two files with the same name, for example:

   • myclip.h264 — video
   • myclip.wav — audio

4. Copy those files (and any MP3s / images) onto the SD card — any folder is fine, e.g. videos/, music/.

5. On the N64: boot the ROM → browse with the D-pad → A to play.
   Press C-Up in the menu for the full control guide.

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Convert video (V2) — recommended

Release V2 adds an updated video + audio conversion tool. It turns a normal file (MP4, MKV, AVI, …) into N64-ready .h264 + .wav sidecars. You do not need libdragon on your PC for this step.

What it produces

File	Purpose
name.h264	H.264 video (320px wide, N64-friendly settings)
name.wav	PCM audio (mono, 32 kHz) — paired with the video

Put both files in the same folder on the SD card. The player hides the .wav in the list and uses it automatically during playback.

Option A — download the release zip

From V2 assets download:

• MediaPlayer_64.z64 — ROM
• split_media_gui.py, split_media_lib.py, Run_N64_Media_Split.bat — converter
• MediaPlayer64.md — extra notes

Windows: install Python 3 (check “Add to PATH”) and ffmpeg, then double-click Run_N64_Media_Split.bat.

Option B — use the copy in this repo

Same tools live here:

scripts/n64-media-split/

GUI (Windows):

cd scripts\n64-media-split
Run_N64_Media_Split.bat

GUI (Mac / Linux):

cd scripts/n64-media-split
python3 split_media_gui.py

Command line:

cd scripts/n64-media-split
python3 split_media_cli.py -o ~/Videos/n64-out /path/to/episode.mp4

Default encode: 320px wide, H.264 baseline, 800k video, mono 32 kHz WAV. Adjust in the GUI if needed.

More detail: scripts/n64-media-split/README.md.

Optional: .wav64 instead of .wav

The ROM also accepts .wav64 (libdragon VADPCM, smaller / often smoother on 4 MB consoles). After V2 gives you a .wav, convert it with audioconv64 from the libdragon toolchain, or the standalone audioconv64 bundle from the V1.02 release. Keep the same base name as the .h264 file.

Music and images (no converter needed)

Copy these straight to the SD card:

• Music: .mp3, .mp2, .wav (not .m4a / .aac — convert to MP3 on PC first)
• Images: .jpg, .png, .gif, .bmp, and other common types (see Supported files)

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Controls (summary)

Where	Buttons
File menu	D-pad move · A open/play · B up folder · L/R/Z page · C-Up help
Video	A pause · B stop · D-L/R seek ±10 s · Z mute
Music	B stop · A pause · L/R seek · C-Up/Down visualizer
Pictures	B/Start back · L/R prev/next

Full 4-page guide is in the ROM (C-Up on the file menu).

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Supported files

Video

Extension	Notes
.h264	From V2 converter (recommended)
.m1v	MPEG-1 (older tools / video2n64.py)
.mp4	Label only if same_name.h264 or same_name.m1v exists
.wav / .wav64	Audio sidecar (same base name; hidden in browser)

~ after [V] = video has no audio sidecar (plays silent).

Long videos: split into parts on PC (name_part001.h264, name_part002.h264, …). The menu shows only part 1 and plays the chain automatically.

Music

.mp3, .mp2, .wav — ID3 tags, cover art, lyrics (USLT/SYLT), 8 visualizer modes.

Images

.jpg, .png, .gif, .bmp, .tga, and more — slideshow in the folder; small GIFs animate.

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How it works on the N64

flowchart TD
    Boot[N64 + flash cart] --> ROM[Media player ROM]
    ROM --> SD[Reads sd:/ on SD card]
    SD --> Menu[ED64 MEDIA menu]
    Menu -->|video| FMV[H.264 or MPEG-1 + WAV sidecar]
    Menu -->|music| MP3[MP3 / WAV player]
    Menu -->|image| Pic[Image viewer]
    FMV --> Menu
    MP3 --> Menu
    Pic --> Menu

Loading

• libdragon handles the SD filesystem, 320×240 display, audio mixer, and FMV decode.
• minimp3 plays MP3/MPEG audio.
• stb + gifdec decode stills and GIFs.
• Media stays on the SD card; the ROM is only the player (~512 KB) plus small menu graphics in rom:/.

Optional autoplay: create sd:/ED64P/VIDEO.CFG or sd:/ED64/VIDEO.CFG with one line:

video=sd:/path/to/clip.h264

The ROM plays it once, then deletes the config.

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Features

File browser

• Browse all folders on sd:/
• Tags: [V] video · [M] MP3 · [W] WAV · [I] image
• N64-style header bar, framed list, gold/muted UI
• C-Up → 4-page control guide in-ROM

Video playback

• H.264 and MPEG-1 elementary streams
• PCM .wav or VADPCM .wav64 sidecar audio with sync
• Pause, seek ±10 s, mute, multi-part episodes
• MP4 “catalog” filenames when elementary file exists

Music playback

• MP3/MP2/WAV, ID3 metadata, album art, synced/unsynced lyrics
• Progress bar, pause, seek ±5 s, 8 visualizer modes
• Optional folder wallpaper: mp3_bg.jpg next to the track

Image viewer

• Centered scaling, folder slideshow, animated GIFs when size allows

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Build the ROM from source (developers)

Requires libdragon preview (FMV is not on stable trunk). See Installing libdragon.

. ./env.sh
make -f Makefile.ed64combo ed64media.z64

Output: ed64media.z64 (same player as the release ROM; you may rename it when copying to SD).

Other builds in this repo:

Command	Output	Purpose
make	n64video.z64	Demo with one clip baked into ROM
make sdvideo	sdvideo.z64	SD video-only browser
make sdmp3	sdmp3.z64	SD music + images only

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Older conversion tools (optional)

This repo also includes MPEG-1 pipelines if you prefer .m1v + .wav64:

Tool	Use
scripts/video2n64.py	CLI: .m1v + .wav64, chunking, ROM packing
scripts/video2n64_gui.py	GUI for the same
scripts/encode_video.sh	Simple ffmpeg → filesystem/movie.m1v
scripts/mp4_demux_for_n64.sh	Demux MP4 → .h264 + .wav
scripts/sd_music_from_aac_m4a.sh	AAC/M4A → MP3 for SD

Windows standalone GUI: see PACKAGING.md.

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Project layout (code)

File	Role
sd_ed64_combo_menu.c	Main menu, routes to players
sd_ed64_menu_ui.c	Menu chrome + help screens
sd_player.c	FMV playback, VIDEO.CFG, chunks
sd_mp3_player.c	Music + image viewer
sd_fmv_container.c	MP4 catalog / path rules
scripts/n64-media-split/	V2 .h264 + .wav converter

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Troubleshooting

Problem	What to try
Black screen / no files	Real N64 + FAT32 SD; not most emulators
Video, no sound	Add matching .wav or .wav64; ~ means no sidecar
.mp4 won’t play by itself	Use V2 converter; keep .mp4 only as a label beside .h264
AAC / M4A won’t play	Convert to MP3 on PC
Converter fails	Install ffmpeg; add to PATH
Build fails	libdragon preview, run . ./env.sh

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More documentation

Video Setup Explanation https://github.com/DragonMinded/libdragon/wiki/MPEG1-Player

• FIRMWARE_ROADMAP.md — future firmware / engine plans
• ALTRA64_INTEGRATION.md — EverDrive menu handoff via VIDEO.CFG
• PACKAGING.md — Windows .exe for older FMV converter GUI
• docs/WSL2_LIBDRAGON_SETUP.md — WSL2 + libdragon for developers

Credits

• libdragon (preview) — N64 SDK used by the ROM
• minimp3 · gifdec · menu icons under assets/mirza_icons/

This repository also contains separate experiments (SM64 hooks, MK64 tools, demos) that are not required for the media player.