The false choice between productivity and leisure
The problem isn't willpower. It's the binary nature of watching video: your player takes the screen, your workspace disappears, and the moment you alt-tab back to work, the video becomes a distraction you close. Nobody wins. The content piles up, the backlog grows, and you tell yourself 'I'll watch it this weekend' โ a promise you've broken 40 weeks in a row. Picture-in-Picture doesn't help either. Browser PiP works for streaming platforms. It does nothing for local files โ your own library sitting on your own drive.
So I built BackDrop_
BackDrop_ plays any video file from your PC as a ghost overlay directly on your desktop. Transparent, click-through, adjustable. You see the video through everything โ your code editor, your spreadsheet, your browser. Your mouse passes right through it. Your keyboard types through it. You work, and the video plays. Both things happen at the same time, on the same screen, without compromise. Press ESC at any moment and it vanishes. Ctrl+Shift+Space brings it back. It just runs in the background โ patient, invisible-when-needed, always there.
What it does
Ghost overlay
Opacity from 0 to 100%. Subtle presence or full visibility โ adjust on the fly.
Click-through
Your mouse ignores the video entirely. Zero interference with your work.
Any local file
MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, TS, WebM โ if VLC plays it, BackDrop_ plays it. Your library, your formats.
Folder playlist
Load an entire folder. BackDrop_ queues and plays in order. Perfect for long series or personal collections.
Themes & effects
5 built-in visual themes. Customize the overlay to fit your setup.
100% local โ fully private
No upload, no account, no cloud. What you watch stays on your drive. Your content, your rules.
Who it's for
Anyone with a video library they never find time to visit. Remote workers who want background content without losing their desktop. People with a personal collection that deserves to be watched โ whatever it contains, whenever they want. If you've ever closed a video to 'focus' and never came back to it, BackDrop_ is for you. One-time payment of โฌ23.99. No subscription, no cloud, no account. Install and go.
About
Patrick Chen โ indie developer at Sublimearts.io. Built BackDrop_ after realizing my own video library had been sitting unwatched for months. It now runs on my desktop every day.