diff --git a/hosts/common/programs/mpv/mpv.conf b/hosts/common/programs/mpv/mpv.conf
index ea872ea7f..50d1ec636 100644
--- a/hosts/common/programs/mpv/mpv.conf
+++ b/hosts/common/programs/mpv/mpv.conf
@@ -71,6 +71,10 @@ demuxer-max-back-bytes=2048MiB
 # demuxer-readahead-secs=20
 prefetch-playlist=yes
 
+# don't auto-play the next image
+# N.B.: i override this later in case the playlist looks like an album
+image-display-duration=inf
+
 # debanding: good test case is 2001: A Space Oddyssey at 54:00
 deband=yes
 # iterations: 1-16 (default: 1). quality v.s. compute tradeoff. values > 4 are "practically useless".
@@ -107,3 +111,11 @@ deband-iterations=3
 # this extends the builtin `fast` profile
 # - <https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv/blob/e8d14cd3142b117eabf23df026ee946cfded6424/etc/builtin.conf#L43>
 deband=no
+
+[audio]
+# when playing an album, and we hit album art, just automatically skip it.
+# in a playlist setting this activates when an audio/video item becomes the active playlist item,
+# and the config updates here persist across future playlist items (until/unless they're overriden by those items profiles)
+# `p["audio-codec"]` parameter can be found in <repo:mpv-player/mpv:player/command.c>
+profile-cond=p["audio-codec"]
+image-display-duration=2