Open Source VLC Media Player Alternatives

    The best open source alternative to VLC Media Player is MPC-HC, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to VLC Media Player and loads of them is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to VLC Media Player are MPV (Free, Open Source), SMPlayer (Free, Open Source), Kodi (Free, Open Source) and MPC-BE (Free, Open Source).

    The list of alternatives was last updated Jun 4, 2021
    VLC Media Player info, screenshots & reviewsAlternatives to VLC Media Player
    • 260 alternatives
    •  104 showing

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Xfce
    • BSD
    • Windows Phone
    • mpv
    • MPlayer
    • Windows Mobile
    • Online
    • Windows S
    • Apple TV
    • Kindle Fire
    • Haiku
    • GNOME
    • PortableApps.com

    Features

    • Support for subtitles
    • Music Library
    • Lightweight
    • Portable
    • Integrated codecs
    • Internet Radio
    • Equalizer
    • Integrated Last.fm scrobbler
    • Create PlayList
    • Multiple languages
    • Chromecast Support
    • Mp3 Tag Editor
    • Radio Player
    • Matroska
    • Customizable
    • Support AirPlay
    • Artwork
    • CD Ripper
    • Built-in Equalizer
    • Gapless Playback

    License

    × Clear
    • Free
    • Open Source
    • Paid
    All Filters

    • MPC-HC

      MPC-HC is an extremely light-weight, open source media player for Windows. It supports all common video and audio file formats available for playback. View 117 alternatives to MPC-HC
      Almost everyone thinks MPC-HC is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Windows
      • PortableApps.com
      ▼
      ▼
      MPC-HC vs VLC Media Player
      pros, cons and recent comments
       all • positive • negative      relevance • date
      BIr4 Run everything (with "K-lite mega codec pack" is perfect).
      Top positive comment  over 4 years ago

      13
      karpovskiipa Very light-weight. With super easy interface and without any bugs.
      Top positive comment  about 2 years ago

      11
      In my opinion MPC-HC is the definition of perfect for normal usage. It almost does every thing one can expect from a media player. Considering its performance, its size on the hard-disk as well as its CPU consumption is unbelievably low. Besides one have: Full control of playing screen size by default or cursor-dragging options Full control of video, audio, and playlist Full control of all after-play options Thank to all people who develop the program.
      Positive comment • about 1 year ago

      2
      Performance is superior to VLC.
      Positive comment • almost 2 years ago

      9
      mpc is best media player
      Positive comment • almost 2 years ago

      1
      Extremely Light weight and better in performance than vlc
      Positive comment • almost 2 years ago

      11
      no screen tearing or greying out like in vlc. it has all the codecs necessary to play. Only downside is interface cannot be themed like VLC
      Positive comment • almost 3 years ago

      -2
      Show more comments ▾
      7 of 16 comments

    • MPV

      MPV is an audio and movie player based on MPlayer and mplayer2. View 76 alternatives to MPV
      Almost everyone thinks MPV is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Mac
      • Windows
      • Linux
      • Android
      • BSD
      • Xfce
      ▼
      ▼
      MPV vs VLC Media Player
      pros, cons and recent comments
       all • positive • negative      relevance • date
      Development is active and can be found on many of the same platforms as VLC.
      Top positive comment  about 2 years ago

      10
      vektorweg I had some rare cases were VLC and MPlayer couldn't play a video correctly. MPV did it for me on Linux and Windows. Also like the GUI (or the lack of it) a lot more.
      Top positive comment  over 4 years ago

      9
      Shuunen finally seeking in a video is smooth <3
      Positive comment • 15 days ago

      0
      vanzkiiee Best player for entertainment language learning as it can display 2 subs at a time and can be synched with Anki, the best tool for learning. ?
      Positive comment • about 1 month ago

      0
      collorfrisie it integrates with syncplay
      Positive comment • 3 months ago

      0
      xvhpqg Changing playback speed doesn't cause audio dropouts.
      Positive comment • 5 months ago

      0
      RemovedUser Clean and simple, easy to manage configuration.
      Positive comment • 10 months ago

      0
      Show more comments ▾
      7 of 19 comments

    • SMPlayer

      SMPlayer intends to be a complete front-end for MPlayer, from basic features like playing videos, DVDs, and VCDs to more advanced features like support for MPlayer filters and... View 104 alternatives to SMPlayer
      Almost everyone thinks SMPlayer is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
      No screenshots yet
      • Free • Open Source
      • Windows
      • Linux
      • BSD
      • mpv
      • PortableApps.com
      • Haiku
      • MPlayer
      ▼
      ▼
      SMPlayer vs VLC Media Player
      pros, cons and recent comments
       all • positive • negative      relevance • date
      On Linux systems is much better than VLC, faster, with no bugs and read every kind of video file.
      Top positive comment  almost 5 years ago

      6
      faster, better quality, no distortions in the videos like vlc.
      Top positive comment  about 3 years ago

      4
      jrstrai SMPlayer is a better choice for playing videos and has an easier to use interface than alternatives, like MPV. I love MPV, but it's not intuitive at all, beyond playing. I have problems sharing playlists made within VLC with other players, regardless of the format used. SMPlayer playlists just work.
      Positive comment • 6 months ago

      0
      It's great. Open everything and it fully (really fully) customizable. Also have YouTube search engine (need to be isntalled aside) with a lot of features like search video by date, size etc.
      Positive comment • 6 months ago

      0
      it's better at playing incomplete files than VLC. VLC is better overall, but if VLC can't do it, SMPlayer can.
      Positive comment • about 1 year ago

      2
      MPV made easy. Plays everything out of the box with no codecs necessary.
      Positive comment • about 2 years ago

      4
      ghos3t One click downloading of subtitles, less buggy subtitle downloading and handling compared to VLC.
      Positive comment • about 3 years ago

      0
      Show more comments ▾
      7 of 12 comments

    • Kodi

      Kodi, formerly XBMC, is a free and open source media player and entertainment center for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, XBox, and iOS. View 65 alternatives to Kodi
      Some users think Kodi is a great alternative to VLC Media Player, some don't.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Mac
      • Windows
      • Linux
      • Android
      • iPhone
      • Android Tablet
      • BSD
      • iPad
      • Raspberry Pi
      • Fire TV
      ▼
      ▼
      Kodi vs VLC Media Player
      pros, cons and recent comments
      Kody is more oriented to being a fullscreen video/music cataloguing application, but it has an internal video/audio/iptv playing system with very good decoding capabilities like VLC and can be windowed as well
      Top positive comment  almost 6 years ago

      4
      Can also play many formats, and can organize video libraries, playing over UPnP, FTP, and many other protocols
      Top positive comment  about 2 years ago

      -3
      Kodi, formerly XBMC, is a software media center.
      Top negative comment  almost 6 years ago

      16
      LesterCovax Kodi is a media server first and foremost. It's like comparing Google Docs to Microsoft Office.
      Negative comment • 4 months ago

      0
      Kodi is a fullscreen media library manager, a whole home theater frontend. Slower for the purpose, with more complex navigation.
      Negative comment • about 1 year ago

      4

    • MPC-BE

      MPC-BE is a free and open source audio and video player for Windows. View 94 alternatives to MPC-BE
      Almost everyone thinks MPC-BE is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Windows
      ▼
      ▼

    • Media Player Classic

      Media Player Classic was designed to look just like Windows Media Player 6.4, but with many additional new features. View 115 alternatives to Media Player Classic
      Most users think Media Player Classic is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.

      Discontinued

      The project is no longer developed. The currently active fork is MPC-HC . Latest version, 6.4.9.1, released in April 2011, can be still downloaded from FreeCodec.com

      • Free • Open Source
      • Windows
      ▼
      ▼
      Media Player Classic vs VLC Media Player
      pros, cons and recent comments
      It doesn't feature an online streamer...
      Negative comment • over 4 years ago

      4

    • IINA

      IINA is born to be a modern macOS application, from its framework to user interface. View 21 alternatives to IINA
      Almost everyone thinks IINA is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Mac
      • mpv
      ▼
      ▼
      IINA vs VLC Media Player
      pros, cons and recent comments
      POX Great alternative to VLC if you're on macOS. It's lightweight, the UI is very clean, and has even more functionalities than VLC.
      Top positive comment  over 3 years ago

      4
      Hansaplast The best alternative for macOS users who like a small, fast and minimalistic (yet very functional!) media player.
      Top positive comment  over 2 years ago

      3
      nicolaspatate IINA is the best modern player out there
      Positive comment • about 1 year ago

      2
      Lean (simple), mean (versatile) player, void of the bad audio-video-sub sync as in VLC of late (i.e. at least for me).
      Positive comment • about 1 year ago

      1
      Great integration with Mac touchbar & gestures, PiP, and looks like a native app instead of something cobbled together.
      Positive comment • about 1 year ago

      1
      Best video player for macOS. Lightweight, clean user interface, many features...
      Positive comment • over 1 year ago

      2
      VarunMohapatra The best video player for mac!
      Positive comment • over 1 year ago

      0

    • MPlayer

      MPlayer is a movie player which runs on many systems (see the documentation). View 114 alternatives to MPlayer
      Most users think MPlayer is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Mac
      • Windows
      • Linux
      • BSD
      • AmigaOS
      • Xfce
      • MorphOS
      ▼
      ▼
      MPlayer vs VLC Media Player
      pros, cons and recent comments
      It read and play most media without any constraints.
      Positive comment • about 4 years ago

      1

    • Quod Libet

      A extensible Music player with Podcast support, web radio, playlists and many more. As it is written in Python, writing new plug-ins is really easy. View 134 alternatives to Quod Libet
      Most users think Quod Libet is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Mac
      • Windows
      • Linux
      • Debian
      • Xfce
      ▼
      ▼

    • DeaDBeeF

      DeaDBeeF (as in 0xDEADBEEF) is a modular audio player for GNU/Linux, *BSD, OpenSolaris, macOS, and other UNIX-like systems. View 136 alternatives to DeaDBeeF
      Most users think DeaDBeeF is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
      • Free • Open Source
      • Mac
      • Windows
      • Linux
      • BSD
      • KDE
      • Cinnamon
      • GNOME
      • MATE
      • Xfce
      ▼
      ▼
      DeaDBeeF vs VLC Media Player
      pros, cons and recent comments
      Only plays music, not video.
      Negative comment • almost 2 years ago

      0
    Showing 10 of 104 alternatives