Play without importing

Asked three times by the same user, each time sharper.

2026-06-18, the original:

I noticed that I need to import it in order to play. I have a lot of videos, importing it everytime to watch a video to play it can be cumbersome if I want to quickly watch a video. Is it possible not to import the video to watch it?

2026-07-03, again:

The only thing is missing to make it super practical is without needing to import.

2026-07-05, the rephrase, which names the real use case, previewing before committing:

Right now to play the video, the only way is to import it, which means in order a few videos quickly back and forth, then I must import and delete.

His files are MP4 mostly (answering the formats question).

Why this is deliberately hard, not an oversight:

• The engine is AVKit by decision, and format coverage is solved by remuxing imports to MP4 at the library boundary. Playing arbitrary files in place reopens the exact format problem the import step exists to close, and a second playback engine is off the table.
• Identity: lore is a library, not a player. An open-any-file mode is a step toward being a general-purpose player, a scope can of worms. lore can be a great library without being that.

Eventual, not planned.