diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 33b6061..8c7a0ee 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -227,6 +227,6 @@ You may also, of course, just `cat` the files together yourself. See the [`cat_o
 
 #### Footnotes
 
-<sup>1</sup>You _may_ need to add `mpv[.exe]` to your `PATH` (and _will_ have to add `ffmpeg[.exe]` if you want faster generation).
+<sup>1</sup>You _may_ need to add `mpv[.exe]` to your `PATH` (and _will_ have to add `ffmpeg[.exe]` if you want faster generation). Manual lookup of these binaries is attempted on macOS since GUI apps do not inherit user `PATH` on that OS.
 
-<sup>2</sup>Tested on Linux (Arch), but it _should_ work on Windows/Mac and whatnot as well, if <sup>1</sup> has been taken care of.
+<sup>2</sup>Tested on Linux (Arch, Ubuntu) and macOS, but it _should_ work on Windows and whatnot as well, if <sup>1</sup> has been taken care of.
diff --git a/lib/helpers.lua b/lib/helpers.lua
index 7645014..349dff4 100644
--- a/lib/helpers.lua
+++ b/lib/helpers.lua
@@ -119,6 +119,15 @@ function create_directories(path)
   utils.subprocess(cmd)
 end
 
+function find_on_paths(name, paths)
+  for _, path in ipairs(paths) do
+    if file_exists(path .. name) then
+      return path .. name
+    end
+  end
+  return nil
+end
+
 -- Find an executable in PATH or CWD with the given name
 function find_executable(name)
   local delim = ON_WINDOWS and ";" or ":"
diff --git a/src/thumbnailer_server.lua b/src/thumbnailer_server.lua
index 5b35772..8cb2a81 100644
--- a/src/thumbnailer_server.lua
+++ b/src/thumbnailer_server.lua
@@ -26,7 +26,13 @@ function create_thumbnail_mpv(file_path, timestamp, size, output_path, options)
 
     local log_arg = "--log-file=" .. output_path .. ".log"
 
-    local mpv_path = ON_MAC and "/opt/homebrew/bin/mpv" or "mpv"
+    local mpv_path = nil
+    if ON_MAC then
+        local applications_path = "Applications/mpv.app/Contents/MacOS/"
+        mpv_path = find_on_paths("mpv", { applications_path, os.getenv("HOME") .. applications_path })
+    else mpv_path = "mpv"
+    end
+
 
     local mpv_command = skip_nil({
         mpv_path,
@@ -73,7 +79,12 @@ end
 function create_thumbnail_ffmpeg(file_path, timestamp, size, output_path, options)
     options = options or {}
 
-    local ffmpeg_path = ON_MAC and "/opt/homebrew/bin/ffmpeg" or "ffmpeg"
+    local ffmpeg_path = nil
+    if ON_MAC then
+        ffmpeg_path = find_on_paths("ffmpeg", { "/opt/homebrew/bin/", "/usr/local/bin/", os.getenv("HOME") .. "bin/" })
+    else ffmpeg_path = "mpv"
+    end
+
 
     local ffmpeg_command = {
         ffmpeg_path,