Pupil Player
Pupil Player is a free, open-source tool for viewing, visualizing, and exporting Pupil Capture recordings.
What Pupil Player is
Pupil Player is a free, open-source tool for viewing, visualizing, and exporting Pupil Capture recordings. It provides video playback, frame stepping, timeline trimming, and five playback speeds from 0.25x to 4x. Its plugin framework supports gaze visualizations, marker and surface tracking, and data export. Analysis plugins include post-hoc fixation and blink detection, pupil detection, gaze calibration, and head-pose tracking. Users can display gaze positions as circles, crosses, polylines, or light points, and extend the software with runtime-loaded Python plugins, including community plugins. The Raw Data Exporter saves pupil and gaze data as CSV, while the World Video Exporter saves video with visualizations. An iMotions exporter creates data for use with iMotions, including undistorted world video and gaze data in a gaze.tlv file. Exports go into an exports subfolder; Player does not remove or overwrite raw capture data or existing exports. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Plugin availability depends on recording source, and some features have specific recording or marker requirements.
Good
- Free and open source.
- Playback includes frame stepping and timeline trimming.
- Plugins support post-hoc analysis and gaze visualization.
- Exports include CSV and video with visualizations.
- Runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Watch out
- Plugins available depend on the recording source.
- Eye-video overlay requires eye video enabled during recording.
- Head-pose tracking supports only the default tag36h11 family.
Who it suits
Pupil Player suits eye-tracking researchers and others working with Pupil Capture recordings. It is useful for users who need post-hoc visualization, analysis, or export across Windows, macOS, or Linux.
Verdict
Pupil Player combines recording playback, plugin-based analysis, and export tools in a free, open-source package. Check the recording source and feature requirements before relying on a particular plugin or overlay.
The facts
Each one read from Pupil Player's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Analysis
- Available analysis plugins include post-hoc fixation and blink detection, pupil detection, gaze calibration, and head-pose tracking.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Custom plugins
- Users can extend Pupil Core software with runtime-loaded Python plugin files, including third-party plugins from the pupil-community repository.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Exports
- The raw data exporter saves pupil and gaze data as CSV files, while video exporters can save video with timestamp files.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Export safety
- Exports are saved in an exports subdirectory, and the documentation says Player does not remove or overwrite capture raw data or overwrite exports.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Eye video requirement
- The eye-video overlay requires eye video to have been enabled during Pupil Capture recording.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Head-pose limit
- The head-pose tracker currently supports only the default tag36h11 marker family.checked 8 Oct 2026
- iMotions integration
- The iMotions Exporter creates data for use with iMotions, including undistorted world video and gaze data in a gaze.tlv file.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Integration
- An iMotions exporter creates data for use with iMotions, including undistorted gaze data in a gaze.tlv file.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- Pupil Labs describes the Core documentation as serving users getting started with eye-tracking glasses and developers building eye-tracking applications and integrations.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Offline use
- Pupil Player exports into an exports subfolder and does not remove or overwrite raw capture data.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Playback
- It can play recordings, scrub the timeline, step frame by frame, and change playback speed among 0.25x, 0.5x, 1x, 2x, and 4x.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Plugins
- Pupil Player uses the Pupil Capture plugin framework, and the documentation says Capture plugins can often work in Player with little or no modification.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Post-hoc analysis
- Plugins support post-hoc pupil detection and gaze calibration, mapping, and validation.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Pupil Player is a media and data visualizer for viewing Pupil Capture recordings and exporting data.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Recording compatibility
- The documented plugin availability varies by recording product: Pupil Core, Pupil Invisible, and Pupil Mobile do not all support the same plugins.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Support
- The Core documentation directs users with issues or questions to the Pupil Labs Discord chat.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Visualization
- Visualization plugins can overlay gaze positions as circles, crosses, polylines, or light points.checked 9 Oct 2026
The company
- Founded
- 2014checked 28 Sep 2026
- Headquarters
- Berlin, Germanychecked 28 Sep 2026
- Maker
- Pupil Labs says it was founded in 2014 and identifies its main office as Berlin, Germany.checked 9 Oct 2026
Alternatives to Pupil Player
- 1
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Chiasm
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GazePlotter
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iTrace
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