What are the best cross-platform media players?

Question

5

Options
Considered

72

User
Recs.

Nov 24, 2020

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 4 OptionsWhy?

Best cross-platform media players	Price	Platforms	Release Date
95 VLC	-	Windows/MacOS/Linux/Android/iOS/ChromeOS/AppleTV	August 19, 2019
-- SMPlayer	0	-	-
-- MPV	-	-	-
-- MPlayer	-	-	-

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3 Other Options Considered

MPlayer

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. See More

Top Con

Illegal

Like all free DVD players that use libdvdcss the software might be illegal in some counties. See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Easy shortcut keys

Quick skip ahead buttons and other shortcut keys. See More

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. See More

See All

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score 46 · Accepted Answer

VLC

Top Pro

Needs no additional codecs

Everything VLC needs to play media files is contained within which means no outside codecs are needed. See More

Top Con

Ugly

lostinlodos's Experience

Plays anything. Plays everything. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows/MacOS/Linux/Android/iOS/ChromeOS/AppleTV

Release Date:August 19, 2019

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. See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Streaming support

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. See More

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. See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Can convert media

Top Con

Illegal

Like all free DVD players that use libdvdcss the software might be illegal in some countries. See More

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. See More

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. See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Unobtrusive

You'll never be bugged to register or pay, as is the case with many other software movie and DVD players. See More

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. See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Tons of advanced settings

Besides basic configurations, video player has an extensive amount of adjustable settings. See More

Top Pro

Global hotkeys

it supports global hotkeys. See More

Top Pro

Large amount of extensions

VLC has a large amount of extensions. See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Can play every format video available (as of 2017)

Top Pro

Supports a GUI interface and an ncurses terminal interface

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. See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Very versatile and easy to use

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. See More

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. See More

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. See More

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. See More

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What are the best cross-platform media players?

The Best 1 of 4 OptionsWhy?

VLC

My Recommendation for VLC

My Recommendation for VLC

Needs no additional codecs

Ugly

Free, open source and cross-platform

Contains some insignificant, but irritating flaws

Streaming support

Not really meant to be a music player

Plays anything: discs, streams, files

Absence of personalization

Can convert media

Illegal

Doesn't manage your music library for you

Lacks libraries and advanced music player features

Intuitive UI

Unobtrusive

Active development

Functionality can be extended with addons

Tons of advanced settings

Global hotkeys

Large amount of extensions

Simple to setup and use

Can play every format video available (as of 2017)

Supports a GUI interface and an ncurses terminal interface

Doesn't require additional codecs

Can easily stream music across your home network from any device on the network

Very versatile and easy to use

Surprisingly Lightest on Resources

Free, open source, and cross-platform

Includes Blu-Ray playback support

Can be almost completely keyboard-driven

3 Other Options Considered

SMPlayer

My Recommendation for SMPlayer

My Recommendation for SMPlayer

Faster than VLC in some cases

Does not support global hotkey

Uses mplayer 2 and mpv as engines

Intergrated Subtitle download

MPV

My Recommendation for MPV

My Recommendation for MPV

Minimal interface

Illegal

MPlayer

My Recommendation for MPlayer

My Recommendation for MPlayer

Works via CLI and GUI

Illegal

Needs no additional codecs

Multiple forks

Easy shortcut keys

Works via CLI and has multiple frontends to choose from

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IINA

My Recommendation for IINA

My Recommendation for IINA

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