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.
Cost / License
- Free
- Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- BSD
- Snapcraft
- Flathub
- F-Droid
- Haiku
- Xfce
- Chocolatey



MPV vs VLC Media Player Comments
MPV on Windows is half baked (at best). No setup, no file associations, no hi-dpi interface.
Incredibly fast. Incredibly bare bones (in a good way). Shortcut controlled and autohiding seekbar. The speed and graphical rendering is amazing.
- MPV is Free and Open Source
- MPV is Lightweight and Minimalistic



































































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.