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What are the best cross-platform media players?
6
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88
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Jan 2, 2024
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Best cross-platform media players
Price
Platforms
License
74
VLC
Free
Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, ChromeOS, AppleTV
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MPV
Free
Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, Android
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MPlayer
Free
Windows, Mac, Linux
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SMPlayer
Free
Windows, Mac, Linux
-
See Full List
74
VLC
My Rec
ommendation
for
VLC
My Recommendation for
VLC
All
31
Experiences
1
Pros
23
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Needs no additional codecs
Everything VLC needs to play media files is contained within which means no outside codecs are needed.
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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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lostinlodos's Experience
Plays anything. Plays everything.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, ChromeOS, AppleTV
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
Con
•••
Ugly
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Top
Pro
•••
Plays anything: discs, streams, files
VLC can play not just files, but disc-based media, or even streams. Tools like LiveStreamer can be used to directly play streams from sites like Twitch.tv or Dailymotion directly.
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Top
Con
•••
Contains some insignificant, but irritating flaws
Despite all keyboard shortcuts, the width of the picture can't be controlled by trackpad. Besides that, the VLC start-up window doesn’t open at the same place or the same width at which it was previously closed.
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Top
Pro
•••
Can convert media
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Top
Con
•••
Absence of personalization
VLC Player has only one basic interface in white or black, and overall personalization opportunities are quite narrow. Unfortunately, you're pretty much stuck to the default look.
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Top
Pro
•••
Intuitive UI
An incredibly robust application but very simple on the surface. It makes playing music simple and puts the user in control.
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Top
Con
•••
Illegal
Like all free DVD players that use libdvdcss the software might be illegal in some countries.
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Top
Pro
•••
Doesn't manage your music library for you
You organize your music into folders any way you want. Want to play an album? Drag and drop. No tags, no confusion, no fluff. Easy.
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Top
Con
•••
Lacks libraries and advanced music player features
VLC is a media player first and foremost. There is no library management, aside from playlists, usage of tags is very limited, no rating system and VLC is best at playing a file directly from a folder as opposed to helping you manage or find good songs in your music library.
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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
•••
Streaming support
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Top
Pro
•••
Functionality can be extended with addons
VLC can be extended through scripting; it uses the Lua scripting language. More information VLC scripting in Lua can be found on their official forums.
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Top
Pro
•••
Unobtrusive
You'll never be bugged to register or pay, as is the case with many other software movie and DVD players.
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Top
Pro
•••
Active development
In addition to VLC being actively developed by the core developers, due to its popularity, VLC also receives regular update from the community.
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Top
Pro
•••
Tons of advanced settings
Besides basic configurations, video player has an extensive amount of adjustable settings.
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Top
Pro
•••
Global hotkeys
it supports global hotkeys.
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Top
Pro
•••
Large amount of extensions
VLC has a large amount of extensions.
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Top
Pro
•••
Can play every format video available (as of 2017)
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports a GUI interface and an ncurses terminal interface
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Top
Pro
•••
Doesn't require additional codecs
Everything VLC needs to play media files is contained within which means no outside codecs are needed. This makes it one of the most hassle-free music players as it can play virtually anything as soon as it's installed.
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Top
Pro
•••
Can easily stream music across your home network from any device on the network
Using sftp/ssh music (and videos) can be streamed from any server on the network to any device running VLC. VLC can also be used as a webcam for streaming and snapshots. Amazing all in one package.
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Top
Pro
•••
Very versatile and easy to use
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Top
Pro
•••
Surprisingly Lightest on Resources
Yes. Lightest. Even better than the ones known to be light. Both when playing music, only a single song or when playing a video. Either in terms of Ram and Cpu. Compared with almost all, including the ones from Windows like mpc-hc .. or light ones from Linux like Alsa Player, Audacious, SmPlayer.
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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
•••
Includes Blu-Ray playback support
Blu-Ray playback support was added on July 13th, 2014. It allows playing back DRM-free Blu-Rays with the help of libbluray, libaacs and libbdplus.
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Free
Recommend
50
3
--
MPV
My Rec
ommendation
for
MPV
My Recommendation for
MPV
All
3
Pros
1
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Con
•••
Illegal
Like all free DVD players that use libdvdcss the software might be illegal in some counties.
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Top
Pro
•••
Minimal interface
The whole interface is just a video with a minimal OSD.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, Android
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
8
1
--
MPlayer
My Rec
ommendation
for
MPlayer
My Recommendation for
MPlayer
All
7
Pros
5
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Works via CLI and GUI
MPlayer itself comes as an CLI application with an additional GUI(gmplayer or mplayer-gui) that is themable. Additionally, there exist many other forks or frontends for it like: MPV, SMPlayer or MPlayerX.
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Top
Con
•••
Illegal
Like all free DVD players that use libdvdcss the software might be illegal in some counties.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Linux
Top
Pro
•••
Needs no additional codecs
Everything MPlayer needs to play media files is contained within which means no outside codecs are needed.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Multiple forks
Some of the more popular forks include MPlayer2 and mpv.
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Top
Pro
•••
Easy shortcut keys
Quick skip ahead buttons and other shortcut keys.
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Top
Pro
•••
Works via CLI and has multiple frontends to choose from
Some of the more popular frontends include Deepin Media Player, GNOME MPlayer, KPlayer, KMPlayer, Rosa Media Player, SMPlayer and Xt7-Player.
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Free
Recommend
9
--
SMPlayer
My Rec
ommendation
for
SMPlayer
My Recommendation for
SMPlayer
All
6
Experiences
1
Pros
3
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Intergrated Subtitle download
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Top
Con
•••
Does not support global hotkey
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PerfectPoludnica's Experience
So easy to get subs while playing.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Linux
Top
Pro
•••
Faster than VLC in some cases
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Top
Pro
•••
Uses mplayer 2 and mpv as engines
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See All
Free
Recommend
12
Don't see your favorite option? Add it.
--
Elmedia Player
My Rec
ommendation
for
Elmedia Player
My Recommendation for
Elmedia Player
$19.99
Recommend
3
--
IINA
My Rec
ommendation
for
IINA
My Recommendation for
IINA
Get it
here
Recommend
2
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