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Open Source VLC Media Player Alternatives

The best open source alternative to VLC Media Player is MPC-HC. 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, SMPlayer, MPC-BE and Media Player Classic.

VLC Media Player alternatives are mainly Media Players but may also be Audio Players or Internet Radio Services. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of VLC Media Player.
This page was last updated Jun 29, 2022
VLC Media Player
  6982
  • Free • Open Source
  • Mac
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • Android
  • iPhone
  • Chrome OS
  • Windows S
  • Android Tablet
  • BSD
  • Windows Phone
  • iPad
  • Blackberry 10
  • Apple Watch
  • Apple TV
  • F-Droid
  • Kindle Fire
  • Haiku

VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as...

Learn more about VLC Media Player

  1. MPC-HC

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    • Free • Open Source
    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com

    MPC-HC's biggest advantage is arguably just how lightweight it is. Not only is it small in terms of hard drive space, but its CPU and overall system resource use is incredibly small compared to other video players, VLC included.

    MPC-HC vs VLC Media Player opinions
    Almost everyone thinks MPC-HC is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
     all • positive • negative      relevance • date
    RootBoot

    Overall it just a better video player. Include basic feature such as click to pause/play, play the next file in folder, after playback task. MPC-HC also render (.ass) subtitle substantially better than any open source alternatives out there and can read .mkv better. Not to mention how light weight MPC is.

    Top positive comment  7 months ago
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    -1
    BIr4

    Run everything (with "K-lite mega codec pack" is perfect).

    Top positive comment  over 5 years ago
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    13

    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 2 years ago
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    3

    Performance is superior to VLC.

    Positive comment • almost 3 years ago
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    10

    mpc is best media player

    Positive comment • almost 3 years ago
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    2

    Extremely Light weight and better in performance than vlc

    Positive comment • about 3 years ago
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    12

    this softwere play any file in best output

    Positive comment • over 3 years ago
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    2
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    7 of 18 comments

  2. MPV is an MPlayer-based video player that is available on all major desktop operating systems. Linux users in particular cite MPV as one of the best alternatives to VLC. Its interface is extremely minimal, though with that comes extraordinary stability.

    MPV vs VLC Media Player opinions
    Almost everyone thinks MPV is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
     all • positive • negative      relevance • date
    Shuunen

    finally seeking in a video is smooth <3

    Top positive comment  about 1 year ago
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    2
    JohnFastman

    There was a time when VLC was justifiably considered the best open-source cross-platform movie player. MPV has closed the gap substantially and is likely to work out-of-the-box in a minority of cases where VLC gets stuck. Excellent software. Open souce (trustworthy) and free, of course.

    Top positive comment  over 5 years ago
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    11
    salvadormoraleslen

    It does not have similar interface.

    Top negative comment  5 days ago
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    0
    awvalenti

    Very minimal, indeed, and very fast. Has many keyboard shortcuts and displays album art for songs. I decided not to use it because I need global hotkeys (play/pause, next, previous) to work, and they didn't (at least on Windows).

    Comment • 7 months ago
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    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 year ago
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    0
    collorfrisie

    it integrates with syncplay

    Positive comment • over 1 year ago
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    0
    xvhpqg

    Changing playback speed doesn't cause audio dropouts.

    Positive comment • over 1 year ago
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    0
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    7 of 21 comments

  4. Like MPV, SMPlayer is based off of MPlayer, but unlike MPV, it's more focused on accessibility with its user interface. Out of the box, users cite SMPlayer as having the versatility and stability of MPV with the ease of use of players like VLC. It also supports add-ons such as a YouTube search.

    SMPlayer vs VLC Media Player opinions
    Almost everyone thinks SMPlayer is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
     all • positive • negative      relevance • date
    danydube

    Remember the configuration of each file (audio track, subtitles,). Remember position in time Storing a subtitle from a video including support for automatically forced subtitles. Lightness of the program and high reactivity.

    Top positive comment  4 months ago
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    1

    It is the best mpv frontend in my opinion. having such powerful media player engine such as mpv + a user friendly ui. built-in subtitle search engine makes you like a lot easier too.

    Top positive comment  3 months ago
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    1
    awvalenti

    Highly configurable, but lacks stability, at least on Windows. Freezes sometimes, even after switching between back-end players.

    Top negative comment  7 months ago
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    -1
    AnisBarghouthi

    All the benefits of MPV plus user-friendly reskinnable GUI ("Black" skin is clean and neat). You can customize everything (Subtitles, audio, video) from the GUI which is fairly easier than editing config files in my opinion.

    Positive comment • 8 months ago
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    1
    armyn

    It has beautiful skins and is suitable for weak systems.

    Positive comment • 12 months ago
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    1
    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 • over 1 year ago
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    1

    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 • over 1 year ago
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    1
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    7 of 17 comments

  5. MPC-BE is another fork of Media Player Classic (specifically of the Home Cinema fork) with a focus on bug fixes and for automatically mounting ISO images. It is actively updated and performs really well for video playback. Users do not recommend it for music playback, as it lacks support for playlist looping and includes odd behaviors for shuffling media playback.

    MPC-BE vs VLC Media Player opinions
    Almost everyone thinks MPC-BE is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
    rapheal21

    I haven't tried it until now but will try it soon and will update the reviews too.

    thanks!

    Positive comment • 6 months ago
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    -1

    thumbnail view, available on MS store

    Positive comment • 8 months ago
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    -1

  6. Media Player Classic

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    • Free • Open Source
    • Windows

    Though it's been discontinued and almost entirely superseded by successors like Media Player Classic Home Cinema, some users still swear by it as a sort of "old reliable" video player that can play most files people throw at it with no issue. However, it's been 10 years since its last release, so it's highly recommended to look at MPC-HC and other forks actively in development.

    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

    Media Player Classic vs VLC Media Player opinions
    Most users think Media Player Classic is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.

    It doesn't feature an online streamer...

    Negative comment • over 5 years ago
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    4

  8. Though Kodi can function as an alternative to VLC, its strengths lie in its robust cataloging of media and robust sorting and organization options for TV shows, movies, and music. Its media server capabilities are front and center, its playback functionality is nothing to sneeze at, and it can be used for that exact purpose.

    Kodi vs VLC Media Player opinions
    Some users think Kodi is a great alternative to VLC Media Player, some don't.

    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 7 years ago
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    5

    Can also play many formats, and can organize video libraries, playing over UPnP, FTP, and many other protocols

    Top positive comment  over 3 years ago
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    -3

    Kodi, formerly XBMC, is a software media center.

    Top negative comment  almost 7 years ago
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    17
    LesterCovax

    Kodi is a media server first and foremost. It's like comparing Google Docs to Microsoft Office.

    Negative comment • over 1 year ago
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    2

    Kodi is a fullscreen media library manager, a whole home theater frontend. Slower for the purpose, with more complex navigation.

    Negative comment • about 2 years ago
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    4

  9. Though it's exclusive to macOS, IINA's users swear by it for being lightweight, efficient, and performative. Minor annoyances such as performance-based audio-video-subtitle desyncs that can be found on VLC are not a problem when using IINA. Additionally, its interface is neat clean, with clearly labelled settings. This ease of use combined with its excellent performance makes it an easy recommendation for macOS users looking for a media player.

    IINA vs VLC Media Player opinions
    Almost everyone thinks IINA is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
    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 4 years ago
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    4
    nicolaspatate

    IINA is the best modern player out there

    Top positive comment  about 2 years ago
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    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 2 years ago
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    1

    Great integration with Mac touchbar & gestures, PiP, and looks like a native app instead of something cobbled together.

    Positive comment • over 2 years ago
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    1

    Best video player for macOS. Lightweight, clean user interface, many features...

    Positive comment • over 2 years ago
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    2
    VarunMohapatra

    The best video player for mac!

    Positive comment • over 2 years ago
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    0
    Hansaplast

    The best alternative for macOS users who like a small, fast and minimalistic (yet very functional!) media player.

    Positive comment • over 3 years ago
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    3

  10. MPlayer

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    • Free • Open Source
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • AmigaOS
    • Xfce
    • MorphOS

    MPlayer is a movie player which runs on many systems (see the documentation). It plays most MPEG/VOB, AVI, Ogg/OGM, VIVO, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, RealMedia, Matroska, NUT, NuppelVideo, FLI, YUV4MPEG, FILM, RoQ, PVA files, supported by many native, XAnim, and Win32 DLL codecs.

    MPlayer vs VLC Media Player opinions
    Most users think MPlayer is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.

    It read and play most media without any constraints.

    Positive comment • over 5 years ago
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    1

  11. DeaDBeeF is a lightweight graphical music player created for easy playback of music and management of playlists. It supports major audio codecs and tags, global hotkeys, gapless playback, streaming audio, command line control, and has an 18-band equalizer.

    DeaDBeeF vs VLC Media Player opinions
    Most users think DeaDBeeF is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
    rivee03

    The only music player that can loop an audio file perfectly. Not for video though.

    Positive comment • 4 months ago
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    0

    Only plays music, not video.

    Negative comment • almost 3 years ago
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    0

  12. Quod Libet is a Gapless GTK+-based audio player written in Python. Its designed around the idea that you know how to organize your music better than we do. It lets you make playlists based on regular expressions (dont worry, regular searches work too).

    Most users think Quod Libet is a great alternative to VLC Media Player.
Showing 10 of 113 alternatives