Comparison of video player software
The following comparison of video players compares general and technical information for notable software media player programs.
For the purpose of this comparison, video players are defined as any media player which can play video, even if it can also play audio files.
General
Active players
Inactive players
Operating system compatibility
This section lists the operating systems on which the player works. There may be multiple versions of a player, each one for a given operating system.| Video player | Windows | Windows IoT | Windows Mobile | Mac OS X | iOS | Android | Linux | BSD Unix | Solaris | Unix-like | DOS | BeOS, Haiku, ZETA | OS/2 |
| ALLPlayer | |||||||||||||
| Apprentice Video | |||||||||||||
| FFplay | |||||||||||||
| GOM Player | |||||||||||||
| Microsoft Movies & TV | |||||||||||||
| iTunes | |||||||||||||
| jetAudio | |||||||||||||
| JRiver Media Center | |||||||||||||
| K-Multimedia Player | |||||||||||||
| Mac Blu-ray Player | |||||||||||||
| Media Go | |||||||||||||
| Media Player Classic Home Cinema | |||||||||||||
| MediaPortal | |||||||||||||
| MPlayer | |||||||||||||
| mpv | |||||||||||||
| Plex Media Player | |||||||||||||
| PotPlayer | |||||||||||||
| QuickTime Player | |||||||||||||
| RealPlayer | |||||||||||||
| SMPlayer | |||||||||||||
| GNOME Videos | |||||||||||||
| Videostream | |||||||||||||
| VLC | |||||||||||||
| Winamp | |||||||||||||
| Windows Media Player | |||||||||||||
| Kodi | |||||||||||||
| xine | |||||||||||||
| Video player | Windows | Windows IoT | Windows Mobile | Mac OS X | iOS | Android | Linux | BSD Unix | Solaris | Unix-like | DOS | BeOS, Haiku, ZETA | OS/2 |
Features
Extended features
Consumer video format ability
Information about what video formats the players understand. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins/filters that provide such abilities.| Video player | MPEG-1 | MPEG-2 | MPEG-4 Part 2 | MPEG-4 Part 10 H.264 | WMV | RealVideo | Theora | Flash | Dirac | VP8 | VP9 | HEVC |
| ALLPlayer | ||||||||||||
| Apprentice Video | ||||||||||||
| FFplay | ||||||||||||
| GOM Player | ||||||||||||
| iTunes | ||||||||||||
| jetAudio | ||||||||||||
| JRiver Media Center | ||||||||||||
| K-Multimedia Player | ||||||||||||
| Mac Blu-ray Player | ||||||||||||
| Media Player Classic Home Cinema | ||||||||||||
| MediaPortal | ||||||||||||
| Microsoft Movies & TV | ||||||||||||
| MPlayer | ||||||||||||
| mpv | ||||||||||||
| Plex Media Player | ||||||||||||
| PotPlayer | ||||||||||||
| QuickTime Player | ||||||||||||
| RealPlayer | ||||||||||||
| SMPlayer | ||||||||||||
| GNOME Videos | ||||||||||||
| VLC | ||||||||||||
| Winamp | ||||||||||||
| Windows Media Player | ||||||||||||
| Kodi | ||||||||||||
| xine | ||||||||||||
| Video player | MPEG-1 | MPEG-2 | MPEG-4 Part 2 | MPEG-4 Part 10 H.264 | WMV | RealVideo | Theora | Flash | Dirac | VP8 | VP9 | HEVC |
Production video format ability
| Video player | MPEG-4 SStP | AVC-Intra | AVC-Ultra | XAVC | Apple ProRes | VC-2/Dirac Pro | VC-3/Avid DNxHD | VC-5/GoPro CineForm | Redcode RAW | ARRIRAW | CinemaDNG | Cineon/DPX sequence | OpenEXR sequence | TIFF sequence | PNG sequence | JPEG sequence | JPEG 2000 sequence |
| FFplay | |||||||||||||||||
| MPlayer | |||||||||||||||||
| VLC | |||||||||||||||||
| Video player | MPEG-4 SStP | AVC-Intra | AVC-Ultra | XAVC | Apple ProRes | VC-2/Dirac Pro | VC-3/Avid DNxHD | VC-5/GoPro CineForm | Redcode RAW | ARRIRAW | CinemaDNG | Cineon/DPX sequence | OpenEXR sequence | TIFF sequence | PNG sequence | JPEG sequence | JPEG 2000 sequence |
Audio format ability
Information about what audio formats the players understand. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins/filters that provide such abilities.Container format ability
Information about what container formats the players understand. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or filters that provide such abilities.| Video player | AVI | ASF | QuickTime | Ogg | OGM | Matroska | MP4 | NUT | FLV | WebM |
| ALLPlayer | ||||||||||
| Apprentice Video | ||||||||||
| FFplay | ||||||||||
| GOM Player | ||||||||||
| iTunes | ||||||||||
| jetAudio | ||||||||||
| JRiver Media Center | ||||||||||
| K-Multimedia Player | ||||||||||
| Mac Blu-ray Player | ||||||||||
| Media Player Classic Home Cinema | ||||||||||
| MediaPortal | ||||||||||
| Microsoft Movies & TV | ||||||||||
| MPlayer | ||||||||||
| mpv | ||||||||||
| Plex Media Player | ||||||||||
| PotPlayer | ||||||||||
| QuickTime Player | ||||||||||
| RealPlayer | ||||||||||
| GNOME Videos | ||||||||||
| VLC | ||||||||||
| Winamp | ||||||||||
| Windows Media Player | ||||||||||
| Kodi | ||||||||||
| xine | ||||||||||
| Video player | AVI | ASF | QuickTime | Ogg | OGM | Matroska | MP4 | NUT | FLV | WebM |
Streaming support
Information about which internet protocols the players understand, for receiving streaming media content.| Video player | HTTP | HTTPS | HLS | DASH | HDS | Smooth | FTP | SFTP | RTSP RTSPU/RTSPT | MMS MMSU/MMST | RTMP | Podcast | RDT/RealRTSP | RTP | DAAP | DLNA |
| ALLPlayer | ||||||||||||||||
| Amarok | ||||||||||||||||
| Apprentice Video | ||||||||||||||||
| FFplay | Yes | Yes | ||||||||||||||
| GOM Player | ||||||||||||||||
| iTunes | ||||||||||||||||
| jetAudio | ||||||||||||||||
| JRiver Media Center | ||||||||||||||||
| K-Multimedia Player | ||||||||||||||||
| Media Player Classic Home Cinema | ||||||||||||||||
| MediaPortal | ||||||||||||||||
| MPlayer | ||||||||||||||||
| mpv | ||||||||||||||||
| PotPlayer | ||||||||||||||||
| QuickTime Player | ||||||||||||||||
| RealPlayer | ||||||||||||||||
| GNOME Videos | ||||||||||||||||
| VLC | ||||||||||||||||
| Winamp | ||||||||||||||||
| Windows Media Player | ||||||||||||||||
| Kodi | ||||||||||||||||
| xine | ||||||||||||||||
| Video player | HTTP | HTTPS | HLS | DASH | HDS | Smooth | FTP | SFTP | RTSP | MMS | RTMP | Podcast | RDT/RealRTSP | RTP | DAAP | DLNA |
Playlist format ability
Information about which playlist formats the players understand.| Video player | asx/wax/wvx | m3u/m3u8 | pls | xspf | ram/rmm | sdp | rpl | xpl | bdmv | wmx |
| ALLPlayer | ||||||||||
| Apprentice Video | ||||||||||
| FFplay | ||||||||||
| GOM Player | ||||||||||
| iTunes | ||||||||||
| jetAudio | ||||||||||
| JRiver Media Center | ||||||||||
| K-Multimedia Player | ||||||||||
| Mac Blu-ray Player | ||||||||||
| Media Player Classic Home Cinema | ||||||||||
| MediaPortal | ||||||||||
| MPlayer | ||||||||||
| mpv | ||||||||||
| PotPlayer | ||||||||||
| QuickTime Player | ||||||||||
| RealPlayer | ||||||||||
| GNOME Videos | ||||||||||
| VLC | ||||||||||
| Winamp | ||||||||||
| Windows Media Player | ||||||||||
| Kodi | ||||||||||
| xine | ||||||||||
| Video player | asx/wax/wvx | m3u/m3u8 | pls | xspf | ram/rmm | sdp | rpl | xpl | bdmv | wmx |
Electronic program guide format ability
Information about which Electronic program guide format the players viewable.| Video player | PSI EIT | PSIP | XMLTV |
| ALLPlayer | |||
| Apprentice Video | |||
| FFplay | |||
| GOM Player | |||
| iTunes | |||
| jetAudio | |||
| JRiver Media Center | |||
| K-Multimedia Player | |||
| Mac Blu-ray Player | |||
| Media Player Classic Home Cinema | |||
| MediaPortal | |||
| MPlayer | |||
| mpv | |||
| PotPlayer | |||
| QuickTime Player | |||
| RealPlayer | |||
| GNOME Videos | |||
| VLC | |||
| Winamp | |||
| Windows Media Player | |||
| Kodi | |||
| xine | |||
| Video player | PSI EIT | PSIP | XMLTV |
Subtitle ability
Information about what subtitle formats the players understand. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or filters that provide such abilities.Metadata ability
Information about what metadata, or tagging, formats the players understand. Most other containers have their own metadata format and the players usually use them. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins that provide such abilities.| Video player | ID3v1 | ID3v2 | APEv2 tag | Vorbis comment | AMF | ASF metadata | MOV metadata | Cue sheet | CD-Text |
| ALLPlayer | |||||||||
| Apprentice Video | |||||||||
| FFplay | |||||||||
| GOM Player | |||||||||
| iTunes | |||||||||
| jetAudio | |||||||||
| JRiver Media Center | |||||||||
| K-Multimedia Player | |||||||||
| Mac Blu-ray Player | |||||||||
| Media Player Classic Home Cinema | |||||||||
| MediaPortal | |||||||||
| MPlayer | |||||||||
| PotPlayer | |||||||||
| QuickTime Player | |||||||||
| RealPlayer | - | ||||||||
| GNOME Videos | |||||||||
| VLC | |||||||||
| Winamp | |||||||||
| Windows Media Player | |||||||||
| Kodi | |||||||||
| xine | |||||||||
| Video player | ID3v1 | ID3v2 | APEv2 tag | Vorbis comment | AMF | ASF metadata | MOV metadata | Cue sheet | CD-Text |
Optical media ability
Information about what kinds of optical discs the players can play. Footnotes lead to information about abilities of future versions of the players or plugins that provide such abilities.Playback of Super Audio CD is not possible for any media player, because no suitable hardware exists.
All media players capable of audio CD playback will also play the Redbook core of any HDCD disc, providing no sound-quality benefits over standard audio CDs.
Related lists on other projects
- :m:Open Source Toolset - short sections on Audio editing and Video editing
- - short lists of Ogg audio and video editors
- - tools for manipulating audio and video