Best Videoplayer for most formats

r3tr0S1c · Mar 4, 2023

Hello,

i've found a thread here where some people were ranting about others using the Media Player Classic (K-Lite.. whateva). Due to never have been forced to think about whats best (never had issues, every format played well) I thought most media players do a good job. I am not sure about that anymore. After trying different players (Windows Mediaplyer, VLC, Kodi, MPC-HC) I still can't see a great difference in video or audio playback except the look of the different frontends. I am no IT-specialist or programmer... so what would you consider the best (free) Player for most common formats?

bob3d · Mar 4, 2023

VLC without a doubt. It's free and regularly and actively developed. Good online community.

jimbo45 · Mar 4, 2023

VLC is probably the one most popular here (it can also stream etc).

If you have an android device / smart TV / firestick type of box then kodi can be installed on it and it not only can stream it can play almost any audio / video codec from your lan and also for dvd's etc can get subtitles dynamically from the web.

So on Windows and Linux computers --VLC, for Android devices including things like firesticks etc - Kodi. For Mac's and iPhones -- no idea.

Kodi needs a bit of serious config to get it to work really well but IMO worth it. VLC is simple to instal on traditional computers and even the default settings are usually more than good enough.

Cheers
jimbo

cereberus · Mar 4, 2023

bobhurd said:
VLC without a doubt. It's free and regularly and actively developed. Good online community.

I like vlc - not the flashiest but does what it says on the tin. It is alo supported on android, Linux etc.

People will always recommend a different tool saying it has more features blah blah blah but that is like comparing cars. VLC is like a Ford car - not too flashy, does the job and is pretty reliable. We do not always need a Rolls Royce.

PS - term best is subjective to a users needs.

r3tr0S1c · Mar 4, 2023

I worked with Kodi (aka XBMC

) for a long time on my living room mini PC... It is a great and very aesthetic interface. Sometimes a bit tricky when it comes to customization but nothing unsolvable.

What I don't understand is the strong opposing against MPC? Why do some folks get so emotional about this one? Or is it the bundling with k-lite?...

neves · Mar 4, 2023

Well, in 2023 - every player that's updated regularly has a wide support for most used formats. And there's dozens of them. Thus, every answer you'll get - will be 100% subjective (a player one personally likes for whatever reasons). IT specialists or even programmers - don't really have a higher accreditation - at judging which is best (equally biased - if you will). An IT specialist (as you put it) - can simply recommend you a player that works - while programmers might know even less (unless.... they're specialized in the multimedia field - and this is their job, tho... if that's the case - they're simply gonna recommend "their product" - even if it's mediocre compared to others).

That being said, the most objective recommendation i can give is: go to one of the top multimedia sites and do a search for Video Players based on the highest rating - like so....

Video Software Downloads - VideoHelp

Download free video and audio software. Old versions, user reviews, version history, screenshots.

www.videohelp.com

Except for AcSoft and Kantaris (paid and/or outdated) - give a try to the rest - and stick with the one you like best (for whatever reason). And that's all there is to it - a subjective/preferential choice. As mentioned above - every recommendation you'll get in this regard is biased (same goes for a multimedia forum - if not especially since there you'll also meet fanatics).

bob3d · Mar 4, 2023

Thank you, neves, for displaying that list of media players in your post. I noticed that the most "views" were for VLC media player and Potplayer by far. I have never heard of Potplayer before, so I downloaded it and tried it. It's a really good media player from the limited amount of experience I have had with it in the last hour. I may like it better than VLC, but that remains to be seen. I have a lot of experience with VLC, but I can be won over by a better program if that's how it turns out to be. We'll see. Anyway, thanks for the list!
- bob

MadScientist · Mar 4, 2023

Another vote for VLC. I have tried several others. VLC will play anything you throw at it.

neves · Mar 4, 2023

bobhurd said:
Thank you, neves, for displaying that list of media players in your post. I noticed that the most "views" were for VLC media player and Potplayer by far. I have never heard of Potplayer before, so I downloaded it and tried it. It's a really good media player from the limited amount of experience I have had with it in the last hour. I may like it better than VLC, but that remains to be seen. I have a lot of experience with VLC, but I can be won over by a better program if that's how it turns out to be. We'll see. Anyway, thanks for the list!
- bob

I used it for couple of years, so i don't repeat myself:

neves said:
Used to try it (GOM Player) once in awhile - for past 20 years (among with dozen others) - but was always mediocre at best. I'm actually surprised it's still around. Started with MPC-HC (paired with Mega Codec Pack - latter K-lite Codec Pack) back on Windows 98. Also tried VLC multiple times - used it for awhile (mostly for radio stations) - but sometimes the colors didn't look right - and only more recently (past years) - implemented a more advanced customization for subtitles & better support for GPU acceleration. That's actually among the reasons - why i switched to KMPlayer around 20 years ago (pairing it with madVR around a decade latter - followed by Lav Filters). KMPlayer lost the core dev for some reason - which latter started another project called PotPlayer (like a fork or updated version of KMPlayers). So i end-up switching to PotPlayer.... after 2 years of so of using SMPlayer. Tho, similar with KMPlayer - they kept adding options upon options and features upon features - most of which i didn't use. So it kinda felt like a bloatware app - which is something i tend to dislike. Tried MPC-HC again - but this too was declared a dead project (at that time) - but i found a fork named MPC-BE - which kept offering further updates.

One of those updates - bugged it - and while looking for a solution i bumped into MPV. Its LITE interface - was like a breath of fresh air, it's just that - at first - i thought that what i see is what i get (a lite player with little room for customization). Was used to 99.9% all the other players with a right-click tab click click tab click click click tab click tab click tab click click click GUI - so i didn't realize MPV had a different way of customizing it (by editing a text/conf file). Once i found that option and got the hang of using it - was hooked. It's what i use mostly - even tho i still have couple of others installed (for streaming YouTube and such - or just in case i ran into some issues / also keep/update them for visual comparisons - while checking the changes - just curious if the improvements are noticeable or worthwhile).

And that's my personal experience with Video Players - since once again - one's choices is mainly about preferences (one's trash can be another's treasure).

SlicEnDicE · Mar 4, 2023

I would definitely recommend VLC, however it is not the fastest and best optimized player (the actual CODECs) out there. But for widest range of video playback support it is almost a must today on Windows.

Archigos · Mar 4, 2023

jimbo45 said:
Mac's and iPhones -- no idea.

Jimbo, I can't really speak for iPhones, but VLC is great on Mac's... (VLC is also available for iPhones).

But yeah, I put another vote to VLC, I use it on all my computers, and I use Emby (used to use Kodi) on all my iDevices and TV.

mxlexmark2 · Mar 4, 2023

For me is the best PotPlayer

jimbo45 · Mar 4, 2023

VLC is almost a "Harrods quality" product at a "Primark" level of GUI -- but ZERO complaint with it. Runs on everything needed -- note though to play standard commercial "encrypted" DVD's you need either to rip the DVD first so via another app such as slysoft DVD ripper / blue Ray ripper or install the libdvdcss decryption library.

--Not sure if LIBDVDCSS is installable on Windows though. - And probably these days very few now bother with "Old SKULE !! DVD's any more.

That's what some of the commercialpaid for DVD player apps have as they've licensed the "unencryption" mechanism. But if you know your way around VLC player really can't be bettered for what it does.

Cheers
jimbo

Bree · Mar 4, 2023

jimbo45 said:
note though to play standard commercial "encrypted" DVD's you need either to rip the DVD first so via another app such as slysoft DVD ripper / blue Ray ripper or install the libdvdcss decryption library.

--Not sure if LIBDVDCSS is installable on Windows though.....

Yes, libdvdcss.dll works in Windows, just copy it into the Program Files folder of any app that's knows how to use it.