Vū Studio Player (Desktop)
The Vū Studio Player is a desktop application that turns a Windows, macOS or Linux computer into a Vū Studio player. It signs in with your Vū Studio account, appears in Vū Studio alongside your other players, and plays the content you cast to it. Media it has already loaded is cached on disk, so content it has played before keeps playing if the network drops.
This release brings all three platforms to the same footing: the Windows build now ships as a proper installer, and every platform updates itself.
The download page shows a Beta build notice: the Vū Studio Player is still in active development, so expect rough edges.
Downloading the App
The Vū Studio Player has its own download page:
one.vu.studio/vu-studio-player/releases
To get there from inside Vū Studio:
- Click the Vū Studio icon to go Home.
- Click your avatar in the top-right to open the profile menu, then click Account.
- Under Plan & Resources, find Media Server Licenses and click Download Vū Media Server. This opens the Vū Media Server download page.
- Click the banner at the top: "Looking for the next gen Vū Studio Player beta for Windows, Mac, and Linux?"
On the download page, click Download on the release you want, then choose your operating system from Select Your Operating System:
| Button | Platform | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Windows | An installer (.exe) |
| Mac OS | macOS | A disk image (.dmg) |
| Linux | Linux | An AppImage (.AppImage) |
The newest release is shown at the top of the page with its release notes; older builds are listed under Previous Releases, each with its own Download button.
The same page also carries a link back to the current Vū Media Server for Windows, if that is what you were looking for.
Installing on Windows
The Windows build is now a proper installer (NSIS), not the portable single-file executable it used to be. The portable build ran from a temporary folder and never actually installed itself, which is why a restart could leave you with no way back into the app.
With the installer:
- The app is installed for the current user, so there is no administrator prompt during installation — and, just as importantly, no administrator prompt in front of each automatic update. An unattended display can never answer one.
- You get a Start Menu entry for the Vū Studio Player.
- The shortcut survives a restart and the app stays registered with Windows, so it is still there — and still updatable — after the machine reboots.
Run the downloaded .exe and follow the prompts, then launch Vū Studio Player from the Start
Menu.
The Windows build is not yet code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may warn you the first time you
run the installer. Choose to continue if you are sure you downloaded it from
one.vu.studio/vu-studio-player/releases.
Installing on macOS
Download the .dmg, open it, and drag Vū Studio Player into your Applications folder, then
launch it from there. The macOS build is signed and notarized, so it opens without a Gatekeeper
override.
Installing on Linux
Download the .AppImage, mark it executable, and run it. The AppImage is distribution-agnostic, so
it does not need a package manager. Like the Windows build, it is not code-signed.
Automatic Updates
The desktop player updates itself on all three platforms — Windows, macOS and Linux. You do not need to return to the download page for each new build.
How it behaves:
- The app checks for an update once, at launch, and downloads it quietly in the background.
- A downloaded update is installed the next time the app quits and relaunches — never in the middle of a session. A display that is playing content is not interrupted.
- If a check or a download does not succeed, the app keeps running the version you already have and tries again at the next launch.
Because the install happens on relaunch, the quickest way to pick up a pending update on an unattended display is to quit the app and start it again.
Version and Environment on the Welcome Screen
The welcome (splash) screen shows a small version badge in the form v<version>-<letter> — for
example v0.1.7-S. The letter is the environment the build is pointed at:
| Suffix | Environment |
|---|---|
| P | Production |
| S | Staging (pre-release) |
| D | Development |
The badge appears only in the desktop app — the browser-based web player does not show it — and it is hidden entirely if either the version or the environment cannot be determined, so you never see a half-formed label. Quote the whole badge when you report an issue: it identifies both the build and the environment it is talking to.
The welcome screen also shows the player's name, its ID and the QR code used to connect to it. A player that has not been licensed yet shows Unlicensed Player in place of the name.
The Window Title
The application window is titled with your player's name, not a generic label — so several players open on one desk are told apart at a glance, and a screenshot says which player it came from. A player that has not been named yet falls back to Vū Studio Player.
Connecting Your Player
Once the app is installed and running, connecting it to Vū Studio works the same way as any other player — by QR code, by ID or name, or from the dashboard.
See Connecting a Player → for the full walkthrough, and Displays & Players → for how players appear and are managed in Vū Studio.
Known Limitations
- Beta. The app is still in active development and its behavior may change between releases.
- Unsigned on Windows and Linux. SmartScreen may warn on first run; macOS builds are signed and notarized.
- An installed build launches full screen on start, matching how a dedicated display player behaves.