When it comes to the best video player for desktop, most of you may think of VLC Media Player. Undoubtedly, VLC dominates in the market of video player.
However, everyone thinks in his way.
VLC is free and support wide formats, but 4K video playback is its drawback.
Here, we gather the top-10 list of video players for Windows 11/10/8/7 and macOS X or above, including but not limited VLC. You can read the reviews and download to try.
Which one is the best? You decide it.
AnyMP4 Provides Verified Info by Doing the Following
Platform: Windows, Mac
Price: $23.40
Wide Format Support: MP4, MOV, WMV, WMV, MKV, M2TS, VOB, WebM, etc.
4K and HDR Support: Yes.
User Interface: 5/5
Additional Features: Hotkeys and Snapshots.
AnyMP4 Blu-ray Player, as its name replies, is the Blu-ray player. It also can be the universal video player, which supports almost all video formats playback on your Windows 11/10/8/7 or Mac OS X 10.9 or later, like MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, M4V, MTS, MKV, DivX, MXF, etc. Further, it supports 720p HD and 4K video playback with high quality.
More than that, this best video player for all formats for Windows 11 can also be a DVD player to play DVD discs or ISO files on your computer without any region limit. You can also use the customizable controls of playback to improve your visual experience.
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Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Chrome, Ubuntu, Fedora, etc.
Price: Free
Wide Format Support: AVI, ASF, WMV, WMA, MKV, OGG, WAV, etc.
4K and HDR Support: Yes
User Interface: 4/5
Additional Features: Convert videos, edit effects, and filters.
VLC Media Player is the most platforms supported video player. It supports various operating systems for desktop and mobile users. You can download it on Windows 11, 10, and Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later. It empowers the most frequently-used video formats, including MP4, WAV, MKV, etc., and can play Blu-rays, DVDs, and CDs. Moreover, this top-rated media player provides some extra settings for you to adjust the playback effects, like adding subtitles, editing filters, etc. You can also use hotkeys to quicken multiple playback tasks. It allows you to convert videos to multiple formats and lets you stream the local file online with WiFi. More importantly, this video player is totally free.
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Platform: Mac
Price: Free
Wide Format Support: MP4, MOV, M4V, ACC, MP3, etc.
4K and HDR Support: Yes
User Interface: 4/5
Additional Features: Video editing tools and screen recording function.
QuickTime is the best built-in video player for Mac computers. As a video player, it can play almost all video formats like MOV, most MP4 files (MP4, M4V, M4A, MP3), MPEG-2, DV Stream, and MJPEG, which is a good player if you want to use it to play videos safely because it is created by Apple. What's more, This Mac video player provides rich video editing tools for you to use, such as splitting videos, trimming clips, adjusting playback speed, cropping, or even rotating videos. It uses QuickTime uses onscreen controls similar to a CD or DVD player, so that you can easily record video screens on your computer.
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Platform: Windows
Price: Free
Wide Format Support: AVI, MPEG, ASF, WMV, M2V, MTS, MP4, etc.
4K and HDR Support: Yes
User Interface: 4.5/5
Additional Features: Snapshots for previewing the scenes.
PotPlayer is one of the best free video players for PCs with plenty of features and rich customization. It is capable of playing WAV, OGG, MP3, AVI, MP4, ASF, WMV, and more formats. You can use the provided settings to modify options for brightness, contrast, and hue, add ASS, SAA subtitle files, and adjust video volume. Without installing different codecs to use this video player, it supports OpenCodec so you can easily add whatever codecs you want. It supports Direct3D9 Ex Flip Mode and Overlay, which is a piece of good news for 3D Blu-ray movie lovers. Working well with Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP, it will be a good option for Windows users.
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Platform: Windows, Mac
Price: Free
Wide Format Support: MOV, MP4, WMV, AVI, MKV, etc.
4K and HDR Support: Yes.
User Interface: 4.5/5
Additional Features: Quick snapshot.
Aiseesoft Free Media Player is a totally free video and audio player that is available for Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, and Mac OS X 10.9 or higher. Supporting the wide video formats, it can play MKV, MP4, MOV, WMV, AVI, MKV, M2TS, MTS, etc. on your computer. With the user-friendly interface, you just need to open the video file and it will playback the file automatically and it will be the best companion for beginners. All the controls in the menu bar are easy to access. This best video player for Windows can also play lossless Blu-rays and DVDs. Moreover, it provides multiple useful playback features, like choosing the preferred audio track and subtitles and editing playback parameters to adjust the video effects.
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Platform: Windows
Price: Free
Wide Format Support: MP4, MKV, WMV, MOV, etc.
4K and HDR Support: No.
User Interface: 5/5
Additional Features: VR video playback.
GOM Player, similar to VLC, is the best video player for Windows 11 to play AVI, MP4, MKV, FLV, WMV, MOV, DVD, and Audio CD. This free media player has its own movie subtitle collected, and you can use its search functions to sync the subtitles for the video you are playing. Even the popular VR 360° videos on YouTube, this player also supports playing back them.
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Platform: Windows
Price: Free
Wide Format Support: MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, etc.
4K and HDR Support: Yes.
User Interface: 4.5/5.
Additional Features: Automatically mount ISO images.
Media Player Classic (MPC) is also the best video player for Windows users. It supports the most common video and audio files for playback, like MP4, MKV, VOB, MMV, and others, with internal codecs. Unlike Windows Media Player, it provides most options and features available in modern media players, like customizing hotkeys to control the video playback and supporting subtitles. Moreover, Media Player Classic - Home Cinema (MPC-HC), can add new features and fix some bugs in updating its libraries. You can download and use it on Windows 7, and 8.
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Platform: Windows, Mac
Price: Free
Wide Format Support: MKV, MP4, AVC, FLAV, etc.
4K and HDR Support: Yes.
User Interface: 4/5.
Additional Features: Built-in video downloader and video library.
Though 5Kplayer is one of the new births on the block in the market, it can be regarded as one of the top video players for PC, and the system can be Windows 11, 10, and 8. It can play 4K, 1080p, 360 video, DVD, and IPTV with a revolutionary design. This video player comes with various features, like downloading videos from multiple sites and building your own library. Besides, it also supports AirPlay & DLNA Wireless Stream, which is a great need in modern society. Such an excellent video player should be free. Yes, it is free.
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Platform: Windows, Mac
Price: $19.99
Wide Format Support: AVI, DIVX, MKV MP4, and more.
4K and HDR Support: Yes.
User Interface: 4/5.
Additional Features: Chapter navigation.
DivX Player is the all-in-one video player, converter and caster. As one of the best video players for Mac OS X 10.3 or higher, it supports DivX, AVI, MKV, and HEVC files - in up to 4K quality. Moreover, it lets you enjoy premium AC3 and DTS audio files and sync to cloud storage. It provides the chapter points function to navigate to some specific chapters of videos. It also can be used on Windows 11/10.
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Platform: Windows, Mac
Price: Free
Wide Format Support: MP4, MOV, M4V, etc.
4K and HDR Support: Yes.
User Interface: 4.5/5.
Additional Features: VR videos.
Total Cinema 360 Oculus Player is the VR video player, which provides users with the optimized live-action 360° videos on computer. Supporting the resolution up to 4K, you could get the immersive experience with your VR headset. You just need to download a Google Cardboad or download a Web VR browser to enjoy 360° videos at home. Your computer should run Windows 7/8/10/11, or macOS 10.11 and later to use this tool.
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|
Compatibility |
Price |
Supported Formats |
Best for |
Ads |
Latest Update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows, Mac | $23.40 | TS, MTS, M2TS, MXF, TRP, TP, MP4, M4V, QT, MOV, MPG, MPEG, MPEG2, MPEG4, MJPG, MJPEG, AVI, 3GP, 3G2, FLV, MOD, TOD, RM, RMVB, WMV, ASF, MKV, SWF, F4V, VOB, DAT, DV, DIF, WebM, etc. | Play any video file with excellent quality at home smoothly and safely | No | Frequently |
| Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Chrome, Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. | Free | MP3, WMV, WebM, MKV, MPEG-4/2 etc. | Open source, support multimedia | No | Frequently |
| Mac | Free | Ogg, Matroska, Flash Video, DivX Media Format, ASF, MPEG, MP3, DV-DIF, WAV, and AIFF, etc. | Comes with Mac; Can play and record | No | Stop from 2016 |
| Windows | Free | MP4, AVI, and MKV, WebM, FLV, etc. | Good 3D Viewing Experience | Yes | Frequently |
| Windows, Mac | Free | MP4, AVI, MKV, MOV, FLV, WMV. Etc. | Free and very easy to use | No | No longer update |
| Windows | Free | AVI, MP4, MKV, FLV, WMV, MOV, etc. | Play 4K and 360-degree videos | Yes | Frequently |
| Windows | Free | SVCD, VCD, DVD, H.264, MPEG-4 ASP, OGG, FLV | Lightweight for Windows OS | Yes | No longer update |
| Windows, Mac | Free | MP4, AVI, WMV, FLV, MKV, MTS/M2TS, /264, VP8/9, WebM. | High-Resolution | Yes | Not very often |
| Windows, Mac | $19.99 | DivX, AVI, MKV and HEVC, etc. | Play DivX videos in 4K | Yes | Frequently |
| Windows, Mac | Free | MP4, MOV, M4V | Support VR | No | Frequently |
Before getting the best one video player, we should make the rule to judge it.
As the best video player, you should not miss the following considerations.
A good video player should be generous to accept various video formats, like TS, MTS, M2TS, MXF, MP4, M4V, MOV, MPG, MPEG, AVI, FLV, RMVB, WMV, ASF, MKV, SWF, VOB, OGM, WTV, WebM, etc. Let alone the best video player, and it should support almost, even any video format.
For bringing people super clear vision, full HD, 4K, 5K, even 8K are coming to your ears. Such high resolution videos are also coming into your life. When you get a 4K video, and want to play it with your computer player, you find it cannot play the 4K or the playback quality is poor, you must be annoyed. Therefore, the best video player should support high resolution video input and also output the high resolution video file.
To play a video file can be easily achieved with most common video players in the market. However, to control your playback, like forward, backward, full screen, half screen, audio track selection, etc. the best video player should empower those. Get an easy, but useful controls are necessary for the best video playing software.
While Microsoft launches its Windows operating system, it also creates different OS versions, like Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, etc. While you are creating multiple Windows versions on one computer, or get several computer with different versions separately, you must prefer to get the best video player work well on all of them. So is Mac.
Most of you like free, so do I. However, free is free, and paid also gets its worthy points. So if you can get the best video player with zero cost, it will be better. If not, a reasonable price is more attractive than the expensive cents with similar features of the video player.
After getting to know the basic elements you should take into consideration, now it is the time to check the top-10 list of video player for Windows and Mac.
One important point you should consider is whether the player is safe, does it has a malicious software package, etc. Moreover, you should test whether it can play videos smoothly.
You should check out whether the player has ads and ads contain inappropriate content. You need to try the player to see if you can accept the location, frequency, and content of ads.
In this part, we will pick up the one of the best video player to playback the video files on your computer.
Here, we take the first one video player, AnyMP4 Blu-ray Player, as the example to show you how to play video file on your computer.
1. Download and install AnyMP4 Blu-ray Player on your computer. Run it immediately.
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2. In the main interface of the program, click Open File to locate the video file that you want to play.
Then this software will play the selected video file automatically.
While you are playing the video file, you could use the menu options to control the playback mode (pause, stop, forward, backward, etc.), audio track/channel/device, screen size (full, half, normal, etc.), effects, interface language, etc.
Now, you have learned the 10 best video players for Windows and Mac. Which one is your best pick? AnyMP4 Blu-ray Player stands out for its good compatibility, wide-supported video formats, and superb video and audio quality. More importantly, it provides many additional features to improve your viewing experience, like setting playlist, adjusting play order, taking snapshots, etc.
Features
• It can play any region DVD and Blu-rays.
• It offers smart menu navigation to guide you.
• You can customize skin, preferences, and more to optimize your user experience.
• You can use hotkeys to control the video playback.
It provides a 30-day free trial. Don't hesitate and have a try!
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How to change the default video player on Mac?
First, find the video file that you want to open with a different player on your Mac. Then right-click on the video and choose Get Info from the menu. Find Open with a section in the new window, and select the desired video player from the list. To make the change apply to all files, click the Change All button.
How to play a video on Loop on Mac?
The built-in QuickTime Player will be your best choice. Open the video in QuickTime Player, then click View at the top of the screen. In the dropdown menu, choose Loop. The video will begin to play in a loop until you stop it. Also, you can use third-party media players like VLC media player.
Which video player is best for Windows 10 and 11?
There are several video players you can choose to use for Windows 10 and 11. Good choices include VLC Media Player, PotPlayer, and KMPlayer. They offer a range of features and support various video formats. The best video player for you will depend on your specific needs and preferences.
Can Mac play a 4K video?
Yes, Mac is capable of playing 4K video. However, different models of Mac computers may vary. You can check the specifications of your Mac to ensure it meets the requirements for playing 4K video smoothly.
Can my PC play a 4K video?
Yes, PCs can play 4K video. But it depends on the hardware specifications of them. To play 4K video smoothly, you need a powerful processor, a dedicated graphics card, and sufficient RAM. Your PC should have a 4K-capable display or be connected to a 4K TV. It's also important to have a reliable internet connection.
On this page, we gather the top-10 list of video players for Windows 11/10/8/7 and macOS X or above. AnyMP4 Blu-ray Player is the best HD video player with rich input formats and good visual quality. PotPlayer is a 3D player that provides you with a 3D immersive experience. Total Cinema 360 Oculus Player is a professional VR player. Every video player has its highlights and shady face. Actually, the best one will be the best one depending on your own needs. Which one is your best video player, in your opinion? Tell your reviews in the following comment.
Updated by Riley Mitchell to PlayerMore readings
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