10 Alternatives to VLC Media Player for Mac and Windows

"Alternative to VLC - I've used and loved VLC for years but lately it's been choking and dying for no discernible reason and attempts to troubleshoot have failed. Sadly I have to move on to some VLC alternatives. Are there any other media players better than VLC or comparable alternatives to VLC media player?"

As one of the most popular media players in the world, VLC media player gains great reputation for its excellent service in movie playback. However, with the the arising of Blu-ray and copyright protection policies, VLC media player currently couldn't remain to be the first choice for home movie enjoyment. Many people are trying to find a VLC player alternative, or even some player that's better than VLC media player.

This post would share with you different VLC alternatives. It should be noted that some of these VLC alternatives may require you to install 3rd-party add-ons. You need to determine whether or not you would like to switch your VLC to them.

Part 1: 5 Alternatives to VLC Media Player for Windows

Most Windows users would adopt Windows Media Player to play movies. While VLC media player may become the first choice of 3rd-party media player options. Getting an alternative to VLC media player for Windows computer could be a very simple work, since there are a lot of options online. The below media player options are 5 best alternatives to VLC player for Windows.

1. Leawo Free Blu-ray Player

Leawo Free Blu-ray Player is an all-inclusive movie player freeware that could play back all kinds of movies, like Blu-ray, DVD, 4K movies, 1080P videos, ISO image file and even movie audios. As a region free Blu-ray player software program, it could help you easily play back the latest released Blu-ray discs without quality loss. It's also a free DVD player to play DVD discs/folders, an ISO player to directly play back ISO files, a free video player to play up to 1080P HD videos and a free audio player to play even DTS-5.1 audio in lossless quality.

2. RealPlayer

RealPlayer is a popular media player over the Internet. It supports various popular formats including WMV, WMA FLV, AVI, MP3, MP4, 3GP and more. In addition to this, it can convert your video files into different formats and download streaming content online, What's more, you can share your clips with friends on Facebook. But if you want to get more features, you should pay $49.99 to get the RealPlayer Plus 16.

3. KMPlayer

KMPlayer would be a good VLC alternative when you are looking for a bit more enhanced software for your PC. One of the major reasons that made KM Player popular is its support for a wide range of formats, such as MKV, OGG, 3GP and FLV etc. And, in general, those who have tried KMPlayer have somewhat been forced to stick onto the player, as KM Player offers a lot, for both common and advanced movie freaks. KMPlayer supports 3D Movies, though it does not consume that much system resources and you can even turn non-3D movies into 3D ones, if you have a 3D glass with you.

4. SMPlayer

This VLC alternative is free and powerful enough to handle almost all of your videos, regardless of format. It comes with all the codecs it needs bundled in. It has a built-in ability to remember where you left off in a movie, and what settings you were using, so you can pick right up where you left off. SMPlayer is built on MPlayer, so if you've used it before, you'll be familiar with SMPlayer. You can download subtitles for your film, and you can search for and watch YouTube videos on SMPlayer, too. There are cool filters you can test out, and you can change the playback speed in case you're out of time but you want to finish the movie.

5. Media Player Classic

Media Player Classic is designed to be a compact, no-frills sort of program, yet it does pretty much everything you'd expect from a media player. It works straight from installation without requiring any additional codec packs, except maybe for the most obscure formats. It's extremely lightweight and uses very few resources while playing. It supports VCD, SVCD and DVD playback, and with the support of DirectShow, it could play media files in a vast array of video format families including: AVI, MPEG, MKV, MP4, MOV, FLV, RM, WMV, MP3, AAC, FLAC, and a whole lot more.

Part 2: 5 Alternatives to VLC Media Player for Mac

For Mac users, the default QuickTime player could be a wonderful VLC alternative Mac. However, we all know that the QuickTime player supports only a few video formats. If you download a MKV movie to your Mac computer and then try to play MKV movie on QuickTime player, you will be failed. If you need a Mac VLC alternative, the below media players would be good choices.

1. Leawo Free Blu-ray Player for Mac

Similar to its Windows version, Leawo Free Blu-ray Player for Mac offers multiple media playback solutions for totally free. It could work as region-free Blu-ray player (4K Blu-ray disc supported), free HD video player (up to 4K), free DVD player, free music player, and free ISO file player. You could select subtitles and audio tracks from source media files, or even add external subtitles. The support of audio decoding systems like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc. delivers cinema like movie experience at home with your Mac computer.

2. MPlayerX

MPlayerX is another open-source Mac video player that is quite similar to VLC. It'll play a wide range of video and audio files (again without the need for any additional codecs or software) and has a few other hidden features, such as multi-touch and Apple Remote support. The interface is based on that of QuickTime's with the same minimal approach and one feature I love about MPlayerX is the bookmark feature which remembers where you played up to last time – something which I think every video player should have.

3. Movist

Movist is a free, simple yet powerful player for Mac. It supports QuickTime, FFmpeg as well as subtitles. It is easy to use and available to adjust aspect ratios and configure keyboard shortcuts. It could even encode Quicktime and FFmpeg on the fly.

4. Miro

Miro is an open-source media player with a built-in torrent client and an interface that has taken a few leaves out of the iTunes book. Although it won't play media files different to any other media player, it has a built-in video converter with tons of presets (including for the iPhone and iPad). You can also share your media files over your local network with anyone who also has Miro installed and there's an iPad version in the works, which promises the ability to stream and transfer videos and music to it.

5. QuickTime

As the default media player of Mac computer, QuickTime is without doubt a wonderful alternative to VLC media player for Mac users to play movies. You don't need to install 3rd-party media players. However, if you want to play movies in different formats like WMV and MKV, you'd better install a QuickTime player plugin like Perian. Otherwise QuickTime player may fail to recognize WMV/MKV videos.

Part 3: The Best Alternative to VLC - Leawo Free Blu-ray Player

If you're looking for a media player that's better than VLC media player, you get Leawo Free Blu-ray Player. As an all-inclusive media player, Leawo Free Blu-ray Player is the best alternative to VLC media player, performing even better than VLC.

Leawo Free Blu-ray Player 

☉ 100% free movie player to play Ultra HD 4K, 1080P Full HD and 720P video without quality loss.

☉ Free 4K Blu-ray disc player to play 4K Blu-ray disc, regardless of disc protection and region code.

☉ Support multiple audio decoding systems like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc.

☉ Adjust subtitles, video and audio during media playback for better movie experience.

Why Leawo Free Blu-ray Player is the Best VLC Alternative?

Leawo Free Blu-ray Player Video Demo: