VLC Media Player AlternativesOnly Open Source apps categorised as Media Players

The best open source Media Player 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 are open source Media Players so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source Media Player alternatives to VLC Media Player are MPV, SMPlayer, IINA and MPC-BE.

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VLC Media Player alternatives are mainly Media Players, but if you're looking for Audio Players or Image Viewers you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Android, Linux, Windows, iPhone, Android + Open Source, Free and MS-DOS + Free. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to VLC Media Player.
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Alternatives list

  1. MPC-HC icon

    MPC-HC

     1328 likes

    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.

    155 MPC-HC alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
    MPC-HC screenshot 1
     
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    22
    MPC-HC vs VLC Media Player Comments
    Top Positive Comment
    Paul Karpo
    11

    Very light-weight. With super easy interface and without any bugs.

    Top Negative Comment
    AikkabBasH
    0

    MPC-HC is not under active development since 2017 and therefore there is no downloads available of this application on their official website.

    veddev
    Positive
    0

    Its light-weight, included with the K-Lite codec pack... so awesome media player!

    3 of 22 comments
    • MPC-HC is Free and Open SourceVLC Media Player is also Free and Open Source
    • MPC-HC is LightweightVLC Media Player is not according to our users
  2. MPV icon

    MPV

     584 likes

    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.

    125 MPV alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • BSD
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • F-Droid
    • Haiku
    • Xfce
    • Chocolatey
    MPV screenshot 1
     
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    28
    MPV vs VLC Media Player Comments
    Top Positive Comment
    John Fastman
    13

    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 Negative Comment
    Marek-Piekielnik
    0

    MPV on Windows is half baked (at best). No setup, no file associations, no hi-dpi interface.

    crayon-cod-usable
    Positive
    0

    Although it doesn't have a proper UI to set things up, its quite minimalist yet powerful compared to VLC because of their pre-configured easy to use keybindings

    3 of 28 comments
    • MPV is Free and Open SourceVLC Media Player is also Free and Open Source
    • MPV is Lightweight and MinimalisticVLC Media Player is not according to our users
  4. SMPlayer icon

    SMPlayer

     464 likes

    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.

    139 SMPlayer alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • mpv
    • Snapcraft
    • PortableApps.com
    • Haiku
    • MPlayer
    • Flathub
    • Homebrew
    Playing video - Default Skin
     
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    18
    SMPlayer vs VLC Media Player Comments
    Top Positive Comment
    Armin
    3

    It has beautiful skins and is suitable for weak systems.

    Mayank-Arora
    Positive
    1

    I have stopped using VLC, since I came across SMPlayer. It works seamlessly on all my devices. I once made keyboard shortcuts, and saved it on cloud. Now, it is very easy to copy that file and have same settings and same shortcuts across all devices. For me, this is better than VLC media player and it is so easy to set aspect ratio, increase and decrease volume, manage video speeds and sync audio/subtitles.

    Guest
    Positive
    3

    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.

    3 of 18 comments
    • SMPlayer is Free and Open SourceVLC Media Player is also Free and Open Source
    • SMPlayer is LightweightVLC Media Player is not according to our users
  5. IINA icon

    IINA

     148 likes

    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.

    59 IINA alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • mpv
    IINA screenshot 1
     
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    8
    IINA vs VLC Media Player Comments
    Top Positive Comment
    Paul
    5

    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 Negative Comment
    Lai Curaga
    0

    still no RTSP support (for local webcam/small cctv)

    nicolaspatate
    Positive
    2

    IINA is the best modern player out there

    3 of 8 comments
    • IINA is Free and Open SourceVLC Media Player is also Free and Open Source
    • IINA is LightweightVLC Media Player is not according to our users
  7. MPC-BE icon

    MPC-BE

     185 likes

    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.

    131 MPC-BE alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    MPC-BE screenshot 1
     
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    2
    MPC-BE vs VLC Media Player Comments
    Guest
    Positive
    -1

    thumbnail view, available on MS store

    rapheal dowry
    Positive
    -2

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

    thanks!

    • MPC-BE is Free and Open SourceVLC Media Player is also Free and Open Source
    • MPC-BE is LightweightVLC Media Player is not according to our users
  8. Media Player Classic icon

    Media Player Classic

     764 likes

    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.

    141 Media Player Classic alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Media Player Classic screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Discontinued

    The project is no longer developed. The currently active fork is MPC-HC icon 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 Comments
    Guest
    Negative
    4

    It doesn't feature an online streamer...

    • Media Player Classic is Free and Open SourceVLC Media Player is also Free and Open Source
  9. MPlayer icon

    MPlayer

     342 likes

    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.

    141 MPlayer alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • AmigaOS
    • Xfce
    • MorphOS
    • Haiku
    MPlayer on Ubuntu (Linux)
     
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    2
    Discontinued

    Latest stable release was on 27 February 2022.

    MPlayer vs VLC Media Player Comments
    Sam Lander
    Positive
    0

    Very lightweight, glitchless. MPlayer is probably the best media player currently on the market.

    Guest
    Positive
    1

    It read and play most media without any constraints.

    • MPlayer is Free and Open SourceVLC Media Player is also Free and Open Source
    • MPlayer is LightweightVLC Media Player is not according to our users
  10. Celluloid icon

    Celluloid

     49 likes

    Celluloid (formerly GNOME MPV) is a simple GTK+ frontend for mpv. Celluloid interacts with mpv via the client API exported by libmpv, allowing access to mpv's powerful playback capabilities.

    69 Celluloid alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • mpv
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • Linux Mobile
    Celluloid screenshot 1
     
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    2
    Celluloid vs VLC Media Player Comments
    Paul
    Positive
    2

    Good alternative to VLC, it's basically MPS with a nice GTK interface. Pretty lightweight, easy to use, with enough settings for 99% of the use cases.

    Guest
    Positive
    0

    In Linux, VLC sometime struggles playing MP4 videos & navigating within those MP4 videos. Celluloid (MPV frontend) works better in these regards.

    • Celluloid is Free and Open SourceVLC Media Player is also Free and Open Source
    • Celluloid is LightweightVLC Media Player is not according to our users
  11. LLPlayer icon

    LLPlayer

     28 likes

    A media player to enhance your language skills with dual and AI-generated subtitles powered by OpenAI Whisper. Real-time OCR, translation with Google/DeepL, and word lookup boost learning. Supports 134 languages, fully customizable shortcuts, and it's free & open-source.

    72 LLPlayer alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    LLPlayer screenshot 1
     
  12. Haruna icon

    Haruna

     28 likes

    Open source video player leveraging Qt/QML and libmpv, featuring dual subtitle support, customizable shortcuts, auto chapter skipping by keyword, YouTube and online video playback, integrated playlist overlay, dynamic navigation, and KDE ecosystem compatibility.

    55 Haruna alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • KDE Plasma
    • mpv
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    Haruna screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Haruna vs VLC Media Player Comments
    librevr
    Positive
    1

    Works much better than others on this list that I have tried. Has a pretty good clean and modern interface with shortcuts that make actions faster.

    • Haruna is Free and Open SourceVLC Media Player is also Free and Open Source
    • Haruna is LightweightVLC Media Player is not according to our users
  13. Screenbox icon

    Screenbox

     22 likes

    Screenbox is a modern video player that cares about performance and ease of use on a wide range of device types. It features a beautiful, friendly user interface while being fast and lightweight

    49 Screenbox alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Black and White Themes
     
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    1
    Screenbox vs VLC Media Player Comments
    candroid_man
    Positive
    0

    Always hated Windows Media Player for a number of reasons, but VLC, MPC-HC, MPV, they all have terrible UI/UX for some reason! Screenbox is basically VLC with a Windows UI and it works great, and is exactly what I was looking for

    • Screenbox is Free and Open SourceVLC Media Player is also Free and Open Source
    • Screenbox is LightweightVLC Media Player is not according to our users
12 of 59 VLC Media Player alternatives