The MG 131 was designed for use at fixed, flexible or turreted, single or twin mountings in Luftwaffe aircraft during World War II.

The other main Axis automatic weapon of similar caliber, the Italian Breda 12.7 mm was around 13 kg heavier and bigger, while slower by at least 150 rpm.

The MG 131’s relatively small size allowed them to be mounted in the restricted space available in the nose of Luftwaffe fighters, originally designed to house the lighter caliber 7.92 mm machine guns.

The Fernbedienbare Drehlafette FDL 131Z remotely-controlled gun turret system used either a single or, more commonly, a pair of MG 131s for dorsal defense.

The quadmount Hecklafette HL 131V weapons "system" for tail defense, had two MG 131 guns apiece in a pair of rotating, side-mount exterior elevation carriages (the manned turret "core" provided the traverse function), was meant for standardization on many late-war prototype developments of German heavy bomber airframes, but never came to fruition beyond a small number of dimensional prototype mockups and kinetic test units.