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4.7 star rating
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Audio
macOS
Movies
Video
What are the best video players for macOS?
12
Options
Considered
272
User
Recs.
Jan 21, 2024
Last
Updated
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Best video players for macOS
Price
Platforms
License
75
IINA
-
-
-
66
MPV
-
Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, Android
-
54
VLC
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Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, ChromeOS, AppleTV
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--
Kodi
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Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, AndroidTV, iOS, tvOS
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--
QuickTime
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-
-
See Full List
75
IINA
My Rec
ommendation
for
IINA
My Recommendation for
IINA
All
21
Experiences
10
Pros
9
Cons
2
Top
Pro
•••
Like MPV with better GUI and settings
It's like mpv, just more user friendly GUI and more settings available via UI.
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Top
Con
•••
Unstable
May crash unexpectedly, while clicking on something in the subtitles section in the right-hand panel, for example.
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GregariousXamanEk's Experience
It's like mpv just with a lot of settings accessible to end user via preferences, while in mvp you have to edit it's conf file if you want to set something as your preference. Plus IINA can use mvp conf file too. It's great, it uses more or less the same CPU while playing, can't say which one uses more, because it's down to 1-3% fluctuating difference. IINNA uses more cpu when seeking video, though.
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Top
Pro
•••
Extremely stable
Extremely stable, even while still in the beta.
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Top
Con
•••
Blacks out other displays when going full screen
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CourageousPollux's Experience
Crashes on my M1 mac
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Top
Pro
•••
Support for lots of codecs
Supports lots of video codecs, like mp4, mkv, etc, and lots of audio codecs including opus.
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KnowledgeableBabaYaga's Experience
pure native xp and read everything hw accelerated
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Top
Pro
•••
Doesn't black out other displays when going full screen
It can black out other screens if you want, but out of the box it leaves your other displays alone.
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Jordan Fischer's Experience
Super light and fast, literally has never crashed in the years I have been using it. Just the best video player for mac.
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Top
Pro
•••
Runs on MPV so it's scriptable and runs any MPV script.
More information here. Tip: if you're doing a lot of cropping and slicing of videos and you thought the new quick tools in Finder / Quicktime Player are a great improvement, try setting up IINA with slicing.lua and some keybindings for navigating your video + setting the slicing positions. Make sure your ffmpeg command (in slicing.lua) is set to copy the original codecs and that it's using your GPU.
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BrightArtemis's Experience
Will not correctly play 10-bit h265 full HD video files. Try skipping forward or backward and the playback fails.
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Top
Pro
•••
Online subtitle searching and intelligent local subtitle matching
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MeticulousPhantasos's Experience
Super Easy to use
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Top
Pro
•••
Fully customizable keyboard, mouse, trackpad, and gesture controls
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puzzyhunter84's Experience
Just a great media player
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Top
Pro
•••
Open source
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JollyTonacatecuhtli's Experience
I use this for everything from audio to video to youtube downloading. Love how it seamlessly integrates with my Mac in functionality and design language (like Force Touch, PiP and Touch bar support), and it is very stable.
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Top
Pro
•••
Powered by FFmpeg
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AwarePriapus's Experience
Very unstable
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monotom's Experience
Powered by FFmpeg .
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here
Recommend
110
8
66
MPV
My Rec
ommendation
for
MPV
My Recommendation for
MPV
All
9
Experiences
1
Pros
6
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Minimal interface
The whole interface is just a video with a minimal OSD.
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Top
Con
•••
Lack of a typical GUI can be jarring to some
The minimal interface comes at the cost of beginner-friendliness. You need to know keyboard shortcuts by heart, settings are set in text files, right-clicking won't bring up a menu, etc.
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Ray's Experience
Blazing fast and doesn't require installation of other codecs. Everything I needed was included and ready out of the box; I didn't even configure anything. It just works.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, Android
Top
Pro
•••
Needs no additional codecs
Everything MPV needs to play media files is contained within which means no outside codecs are needed.
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Top
Pro
•••
Fast
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Open source
It's free, open source and works on many platforms
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Top
Pro
•••
Up to date
Always up to date, rapid development.
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Top
Pro
•••
Best video quality
Offers better out-of-the-box video quality than VLC, and can be improved more by using the HQ profile option.
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Get it
here
Recommend
28
5
54
VLC
My Rec
ommendation
for
VLC
My Recommendation for
VLC
All
17
Pros
11
Cons
5
Specs
Top
Con
•••
Not so great for audio files
While VLC is doing a good job with video reproducing, it is fairly suitable for audio files.
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Top
Pro
•••
Plays back almost everything
From basic .avi to .mov, VLC is capable of playing BluRay, HD and most common video format types used on Mac – .mp4 & .mov.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, ChromeOS, AppleTV
Top
Con
•••
Not really meant to be a music player
VLC is made to be a video player. Therefore, it won't carry out actions such as managing your music library.
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Top
Pro
•••
Fast and light software
Players efficiency is based on good compatibility with OS X and light weight.
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Top
Con
•••
Some insignificant, but irritating flaws
Despite all keyboard shortcuts, the width of the picture can not be controlled by trackpad. Besides that, VLC start up window doesn’t open at the same place, or same width it was previously closed at.
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Top
Pro
•••
No payment is required
VLC is free to download. Despite this fact, it is frequently updated just to correspond with users needs.
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Top
Con
•••
Has problems with video formats used on iTunes
Unfortunately, if .mp4 & .mov is not a problem, then .m4P is. VLC video player can play .m4A and .m4V files, but .m4p audio files will be a problem.
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Top
Pro
•••
Great ability to play content over the network
Software is capable of creating and connecting to a video stream.
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Top
Con
•••
Limited personalization/customization available
Player has only one basic interface in white or black colour. There are a numerous skins available for VLC, but at the moment do not work with the OSX version of the application. There are some third-party skins that Mac users can download though.
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Top
Pro
•••
Vast amount of keyboard shortcuts
VLC player can be controlled with simple and customizable keyboard commands.
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Top
Pro
•••
Tons of advanced settings
Besides basic configurations, video player has great amount of adjustable settings.
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Top
Pro
•••
Simple to setup and use
VLC is an incredibly robust application but very simple on the surface. It makes playing music simple, yet still manages to give the user all the tools he/she wants in a music player.
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Top
Pro
•••
Can be almost completely keyboard-driven
VLC includes keyboard shortcuts for most actions. The video player can be controlled with simple and customizable keyboard commands.
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Top
Pro
•••
Chromecast support
Version 3 of VLC has built in support for Chromecast making it easy to play videos on a laptop and watch on a bigger screen connected to a Chromecast.
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Top
Pro
•••
Free, open source, and cross-platform
VLC is licensed under the CC-SA v3.0+ and available on Windows, OSX, and Linux with source code available here.
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Top
Pro
•••
Built-in audio equalizer
As sometimes audio track of a video file can be quieter than usual, it is possible to boost the sound a little bit without major distortion.
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Recommend
20
7
--
Kodi
My Rec
ommendation
for
Kodi
My Recommendation for
Kodi
All
4
Pros
2
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Can install on several devices
Apple TV (jailbroken), Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Xbox, and more.
See More
Top
Con
•••
For some devices it requires them to be jailbroken or similar
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, AndroidTV, iOS, tvOS
Top
Pro
•••
Free
See More
Hide
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Get it
here
Recommend
7
1
--
QuickTime
My Rec
ommendation
for
QuickTime
My Recommendation for
QuickTime
All
11
Experiences
2
Pros
5
Cons
4
Top
Con
•••
Video player can interfere with other software
Leaving QuickTime's video player running in background doesn't play well with certain software, especially games and full-screen software.
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Top
Pro
•••
Recording and editing is possible
Unlike other video players, QuickTime offers recording and editing opportunity. To unlock this features QuickTime Pro 7 is required, which is a fee-based software (29.99$). Program features include possibility to record video and audio directly from microphone, FireWire camcorder and iSight camera. Speaking of video editing, cutting, deleting, resizing, flipping, or rotating a movie is possible.
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ResourcefulAmmit's Experience
I like to click on a file and have it play not wait for 30 minutes while it is verified and then converted to some internal format. I don't want to also open everything I've watched lately. They forget what the point is. Just play the damn movie!
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Top
Con
•••
Some common video file formats are not supported
QuickTime does not have native support for some common formats such as DivX, .wmv, and .mkvs.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to use streaming features
QuickTime video player has "Zero-configuration streaming" - video player automatically determines best connection speed. Plus, it can automatically reconnect, if the connection was lost. Step by step video file stream or broadcast guide can be found in the source.
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Ray's Experience
Laggy when playing certain formats and takes a long time to launch.
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Top
Con
•••
Can't play .srt subtitle files
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Screen recording is a easy
See More
Top
Con
•••
Crashes after OS X update
Sometimes after an OS X update, if the video player wasn’t updated for a long time, QuickTime can crash for no reason
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Top
Pro
•••
Elegant look and comfortable interface
QuickTime is developed by Apple, which is known for its plain, but gorgeous and user-friendly design. QuickTime is included in the list of default programs on macOS systems, so it is a good free option for beginners and users who love style and comfort.
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Top
Pro
•••
Posh smell
Look up Posh and see if you think a software movie player should be POSH. What a hoot.
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here
Recommend
7
6
--
MplayerX
My Rec
ommendation
for
MplayerX
My Recommendation for
MplayerX
All
11
Experiences
1
Pros
6
Cons
4
Top
Con
•••
System crash is more frequent
MPlayerX creshes occur more often than in usual video players. They should be tackled properly.
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Top
Pro
•••
Pleasant Mac Style view
MplayerX fits in OSX environment perfectly with it’s hot keys and plain, but stylish design, giving pleasure to work with
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ReverentMictlanpachecatl's Experience
It does nothing but crash now, and even the App Store version is corrupt
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Top
Con
•••
High CPU usage is possible
Sometimes after the player or OS X update file reproduction can demand a significant part of CPU usage
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Top
Pro
•••
Players “memory” of a last reproduced file
If turned off, player will start file reproduction from exact spot it was interrupted on
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Top
Con
•••
No proper playlist feature
In spite of easy and comfy smart-play, in general playlist isn’t user friendly
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Smart-play or automatic next video file search
For example, if number of files with sequent names are mashed up and thrown in the playlist, MplayerX is able to reproduce them in right order
See More
Top
Con
•••
No retina display support on old OSX
MPlayerX does not support retina display on OS X older than Mountain Lion, but amount of Mac’s with older OS X are quite rare nowadays
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Smart multi-touch control
Convenient track pad commands, that allows user to toggle full screen, change frame size, aspect ratio and volume. To learn more, watch an easy and understandable "how-to" youtube video in the sources.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Compatibility with other Apple products
File reproduction can be controled with an Apple remote, that awards user with more freedom. Furthermore, dirrect pass through is possible. Start streaming, connect and enjoy your home theatre
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Top
Pro
•••
Softwere was designed specially for OS X
As OS X is the only supporting system, the amount of bugs and problems is minimized. This also means, that player can play .m4p, .mp4 & .mov video files.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
6
7
--
5KPlayer
My Rec
ommendation
for
5KPlayer
My Recommendation for
5KPlayer
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
5
2
--
Infuse
My Rec
ommendation
for
Infuse
My Recommendation for
Infuse
Hide
Get it
here
Recommend
1
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My Rec
ommendation
for
Elmedia Player
My Recommendation for
Elmedia Player
free
Recommend
40
5
--
iFunia Media Player
My Rec
ommendation
for
iFunia Media Player
My Recommendation for
iFunia Media Player
FREE
Recommend
5
--
Apeaksoft Blu-ray Player for Mac
My Rec
ommendation
for
Apeaksoft Blu-ray Player for Mac
My Recommendation for
Apeaksoft Blu-ray Player for Mac
34.30
Recommend
2
--
Stellarplayer - Media Player
My Rec
ommendation
for
Stellarplayer - Media Player
My Recommendation for
Stellarplayer - Media Player
$0.00
Recommend
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