There was a time when video files all conformed to some basic requirements and could be played without protest using any media software. As technologies change and licensing becomes more restrictive and specific, simply playing a video file has now become a challenge and thanks to the plethora of obscure proprietary formats now available, finding a media player that works for the majority has become more hassle than it’s worth. Thankfully the open source community have come up with a solution in the form of VLC, otherwise know as VideoLAN Client.

This cross platform player doesn't strike as particularly good-looking when put side by side with Windows Media Player or Winamp, but you'll appreciate its far superior usability within moments. Its power can be demonstrated with any video files you happen to be downloading, which can be played in whatever form they exist, be it an actual video format or an unclassified temporary one. As you preview a video, it will skip the parts that have yet to be downloaded and let you see the rest – Media Player in comparison, can't preview files in this way.

Apart from playing incomplete videos, because lets face it not many people want to do that anyway, VLC has support for a huge range of video formats. If it doesn't recognize the file type it will try playing it anyway often successfully or if it's an encrypted file it will display the scrambled video in its raw form. The interface is stripped down to the bare bones, with the apparent objective of making it as unobtrusive as possible. With superb hotkey support, you can do practically everything you want without touching your mouse.

Put simply, VLC is a video player that doesn't stray in to other areas. There is only one alternative skin available, but all it will take is one look and you'll quickly be switching back to the default.

This free player should appeal to true cinephiles who want as little distraction as possible from their viewing experience. Being open source it's free to use and thanks to a small file size and a friendly installation process, we would recommend it to absolutely everyone as their "backup" or "catch-all" video player.

Download VLC Media Player 0.9.4 in Softonic

Choosing a multimedia player used to be a real no-brainer. However, during recent times the raft of new features and updates added to classic media players like Winamp, Windows Media Player, and even iTunes have left the apps increasingly bloated. Far from being the slick, well-oiled machines they once were, these programs have been stuffed with so much that they are in danger of ending up like a sluggish, overweight athlete still holding on to past glories.

For those looking for a fresh alternative to these ballooning apps, The KM Player could be your ticket. The application has a small desktop footprint and its minimalist interface, somewhat akin to the original Winamp 5, means that access and playback are quick and hassle-free. Like Winamp, the interface is fully skinable, and there are some nice aesthetic touches, such as the changing of colour on the player with every new track. There are all sorts of options to help you pimp your player, such as visualizations, plug-ins and playback options, but the beauty of KM Player is that these are turned on at your request rather than being forced upon you at the outset.

The application handles both audio and video, and supports a wide range of different formats, meaning that once installed, you should never need to touch another player. Video playback is particularly impressive thanks to the range of processing tools available that allow you to sharpen, change picture properties, apply filters and even make video captures from within the program.

Download KMPlayer 2.9.3.1432 R2 Beta in Softonic

You probably have a favorite video player by now, but that doesn't mean you can't test new apps and change your mind.

GOM Player is one of those players that goes unnoticed but proves to be an excellent tool when you take the time to give it a try. This compact, easy-to-use video player lets you enjoy video files and movies in a wide variety of formats. What's more, you won't have problems with codecs because GOM Player already includes them – and if not, it automatically searches for the appropriate codec online.

The program shows off a sleek interface with support for skins and has other powerful features: support for subtitles, favorites manager, support for playlists, use mouse and keyboard shortcuts for many functions and more. What it misses, for example, is the ability to take screenshots or even more important, to resume playback right where you left it (something I personally use a lot).

GOM Player offers to install the Google Toolbar during its installation process but you may as well decline the offer. As for the rest, it's a great video player that's well worth a try… even if you already have a favorite player.

GOM Player is a visually appealing video player with very interesting features and which, above all, solves any problem you may have with codecs.

Download GOM Player 2.1.9.3754 in Softonic

With Windows Media Player (WMP) 11 Microsoft aims to counter iTunes’ dominance. The interface has been beefed-up, usability has been enhanced and Microsoft has worked at turning its flagship media application into a full multimedia center, linked to online stores and compatible with mobile devices. We take a look at its new features.

The first thing that will strike you when you start up WMP 11, is the complete revamp of the interface. No more deep blue, the whole application is now dark and shiny and you can customize it by selecting a hue of your choice. The left side is a drop down pane for your library, the centre displays your lists and the right side is used to create playlists which you can rip, burn or sync with a mobile device.

Compared to version 10, we feel that Microsoft actually made an effort to simplify the whole interface and give you more ways to browse through your media list, whether by using the drop down menu or the quick rollout line on the top left. The “play” and “previous” and next” buttons are now nested at the bottom of the interface and have a jazzy glow whenever you roll over them. Microsoft has finally succeeded in integrating a good search function into its WMP interface. As you type the name of an artist or title the application will bring up the results in the main window.

WMP 11 makes all your media more accessible. Double click the Media Library button to browse from your music to pictures, movie files and recorded TV. The thumbnail view is a great way to quickly scan through pictures and videos and to include the album image to audio tracks. By clicking the “Media information changes” option under the Library button you can also scan your PC to automatically find new media files. Creating a playlist is a case of drag and drop and oddly enough you can integrate audio, video and pictures. Burning and ripping is also very simple, yet disappointingly converting is limited to WMA, WAV or MP3.

The sync process is promising yet remains a bit unstable. While it’s very easy to create a list and sync media, WMP can occasionally crash or fail to load your mobile device, even if you press the refresh button. When we tested it with a Pocket PC, we had to restart WMP 11 so that it would recognize it and let us sync our music. As soon as the device became accessible though, it also became visible on the left sided menu, making it very easy to browse through it for music or pictures.

The Media Guide is Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s Media Store. The first page it leads you to is Windows Media , an attempt at music and entertainment news linking to albums on sale. The page works like an inbuilt browser window and loads up fairly quickly. Even though you will not get access to the Apple Media Store, you can still buy music via other known sites such as Napster, MTV’s Urge (the default store) or eMusic. Whilst on the subject of online features, note that WMP 11 doesn’t let you save and update podcast feeds, something that iTunes does very well.

WMP 11 is a huge improvement from version 10. The whole interface is snazzier and makes browsing through your media simpler. Microsoft has also made creating playlists, syncing, burning or ripping just a case of drag-and-drop. WMP lets you check out music on dozens of online stores and is loaded with small features to customize your interface and change how you interact with your media. While the syncing process still remains a bit unstable and we lament the lack of podcast feed support, WMP 11 is a solid competitor to Apple’s iTunes.

Download Windows Media Player 11 in Softonic

Sometimes your video player can't play all the files that you want it to. Only the most versatile players like VLC Player can help in such circumstances but Total Video Player is a welcome addition to that family.

Total Video Player is a player for audio and video that reads all major formats including 3GP, MP4, FLV and DVD. The interface is very straightforward featuring a file menu, scroll bar, library files and shortcuts that integrate simply with the file being played. It truly is a universal player and there's little you will be able to throw at it, either audio or video, that it won't be able to handle.

For some reason however, the developers have not included the ability to view subtitles or change the audio track. You can only select one audio track which is a bit annoying and it's clear that from the perspective of audio in general, it's very limited. There are few controls over equalization options other than a simple volume control.

Total Video Player can play just about anything. If only it could handle subtitles and audio better, it would be a much better product.

Download Total Video Player 1.20 in Softonic

In an age of multiple media players all with different codecs and formats, it's nice to know there's at least one out there that can play just about anything.

Haihaisoft Universal Player supports almost all popular digital media formats and can also play digital media files protected by DRM-X. Amongst the players it can emulate are Windows Media Player, Real Player, Adobe Flash Player, Apple QuickTime Player, PowerDVD and Flash Video (FLV) Player. Whatsmore though, this player embeds itself into Internet Explorer meaning that whenever you are presented with a format compatible with any of these file types, you can watch it instantly. The number of formats it can play is mind-boggling, including those protected by DRM such as WMV(Windows Media Video), WMA(Windows Media Audio), ASF, WMS, DVD, VCD, SVCD, MOV, RM, RMVB, AVI, MPEG, WMV, 3GP, FLV, SWF, MP3, AMR, M4A, ACC, OGG, MIDI, GIF and JPEG file format. Best of all, the program is constantly updated with the latest codecs so you don't need to worry about it suddenly not being able to play files.

A completely free player that supports just about any format imaginable and embeds itself into IE perfectly.

Download Haihaisoft Universal Player 1.0.7.1 in Softonic

Sometimes I prefer watching movies and TV series on the computer rather than doing it on the couch. The image quality in my PC monitor is better and I can handle more formats than just DVD.

Of course, I need a good video player in order to enjoy my favorite movies at their most, and my choice is no other than BSPlayer. This great video player features anything you need to watch movies or any other kind of video on your PC. It supports all popular video formats (and audio as well, in case you were wondering) and though its basic interface is not really the nicest one I've seen, you can easily customize it with skins.

BSPlayer supports video subtitles, takes screenshots of movie currently playing, lets you create bookmarks and chapters to move along videos more easily and has also support for plug-ins. I especially liked the way you can control playback, either by using keyboard shortcuts or simply your mouse: one click to stop the video, two clicks to go full screen, mouse wheel to raise or low the volume…

The only thing I didn't like was the fact that, being a free version, you're obliged to install an adware element on your PC that displays ads from time to time while you're browsing the way. It's a safe app that doesn't compromise your privacy, but still it's not my cup of tea. I guess it's just the price you have to pay for having such a great video player for free.

BSPlayer lets you enjoy your favorite movies on the PC with a wide range of features (subtitles, screenshots, bookmarks and more) provided you're willing to accept some ads on your desktop.

Download BS.Player Free 2.31.974 in Softonic

Far from being just office workhorses, computers are also thought of as complete entertainment systems that you can use to chat with friends, play videogames or watch movies. Regarding this last option, there's a wide range of DVD players out there, but we'll focus our attention on one of them: Power DVD.

The program's installation process is very quick. It includes Google Toolbar as an add-on but you can decline its installation if you're not interested. Once launched, you gain access to its main interface which, to be honest, is not especially nice: a close-up of a girl wearing weird sunglasses is not the kind of thing you expect to see on the screen when opening a DVD player. It would look much better with some abstract design or just the program logo instead. Anyway, configuration settings allow you to customize this interface with skins but there are no skins included. At least you can change the color scheme by clicking on the display.

Power DVD is generally very easy to use. All the buttons on the player panel have tooltips to give you hints about their usage. Also, most of their functions can be performed with the mouse or the keyboard (using the hotkey displayed in the tooltip). When playing a movie in full screen mode, the panel hides automatically and shows only if you move the mouse. Still, you can access all the program's functions through a comprehensive context menu by right-clicking anywhere on the image.

As for the playing functions, the movie flows very smoothly even when you move the window around or play it in full screen mode. Sound can be configured in different ways, depending on your hardware means (from headphones to an 8-speaker surround system) in order to obtain the best possible sound quality. During our tests, we also found some interesting tools: one offers the possibility to change playing speed and therefore obtain slow or fast motion images; another one lets you take snapshots of your favourite scenes in the movie, according to the settings in Configuration – Player – Advanced - Snapshot; and finally a tool called "Say it again" with which you can repeat certain dialogues over and over again. This may be useful for foreign language students or movie fans who like to learn certain script lines by heart.

Power DVD is then a perfect solution for your all DVD playing needs. It may seem quite simple at first sight but after all, you don't need much more apart from "play" and "pause" to happily watch a movie on your PC. And in case you want to know more about the program and their developers, have a look at our interview with Dr. Jau Huang, Cyberlink's founder.

Download PowerDVD 8.0.1730 in Softonic

Compressed video is a great way to download and share movies, but it does have a downside in that you normally need to wait for the whole thing to unpack in WinRAR before you can see it. This nifty little tool solves that problem, by allowing you to watch parts of a video before it has fully unpacked.

The program includes a surprising amount of functions, based around Media Player Classic. You get options for resizing the viewer, adjusting the video settings, and altering the playback speed. There's even a tool for handling subtitles, allowing you to speed them up or slow them down to fit the video. Although the quality of playback can be a little jerky, it provides a great way to make sure that your compressed video files are in tact, and that you're actually unpacking the right movie.

Download Dziobas Rar Player 0.006.4 in Softonic

Since bursting onto the internet in 2000, BSPlayer has been downloaded over 60 million times according to its developers. The aim of the player is to "enable users to focus on watching the movie instead of dealing with poor computer capabilities or running around looking for a proper settings and codecs." For those that have had problems with mainstream media players on offer, BSPlayer may prove a useful alternative.

It supports all kinds of media including avi, mpeg, asf, wmv, mp3, etc but also specializes in DivX playback. Many users report that DivX files that wouldn’t work on other players, did in BS Player. One of the major drawbacks with many media players is resource hogging but BSPlayer consumes no more than many audio players and start-up is pleasantly fast. Because it does not use much of the processing power, its more suited to those users with slower machines that are not looking for too many fancy features.

BSPlayer also comes bundled with BSMediaLibrary which can manage all your multimedia content and enables you to create your own playlists. It also has a multitude of skins available for download, many designed by other devoted users.

The major drawback with BSPlayer is the concealed menu which appears and disappears when you wave the mouse over it. This becomes increasingly annoying if you are listening to something whilst using another application. However, loading subtitles is easy and dragging and dropping files into the screen to open files means you can avoid the annoying menu. You also have a small graphic equaliser and can load the player with other codecs that you might need.

Overall, definitely worth trying for anyone who has had problems with DivX files or are tired of bulky mainstream offerings.

Download BSPlayer Pro 2.28 build 964 in Softonic

One of the most frustrating things about video playback is when you don't have the right codecs installed.

SMPlayer attempts to do away with this problem completely by attempting to play videos regardless of the codecs they need. It does this by using the MPlayer engine which the developers claim can play almost all video formats. In reality, this is not always the case. What you may find is that if you're trying to play a WMV file protected by DRM for example, you will see snippets of the film but not the whole thing. However, the player has many other great features that make it an interesting proposition. One of the most useful is the way it remembers most of the settings of files that you play a bit like a DVD Player. If you turn off a film because you're a bit tired, when you open it later, it will start from exactly the same point where you left it with all the original settings including subtitles and audio. One other area where the player excels is in subtitling. SMPlayer allows you to choose subtitles in a variety of formats allowing you to choose the font, size, and even colors.

There are many other great aspects to SMPlayer - audio track switching, mouse scrolling and multiple speed playback - that on top of it's codec free playback, make it an excellent choice.

Download SMPlayer 0.6.1 in Softonic

There comes a time when we all get tired of heavy and bloated media players such as Windows Media Player and even iTunes.

Sometimes you just want to insert a track or play and mp3 and not be bothered bu codec warnings, updates or RAM shortages. That's why Complete Media Player has been designed and while hardly the most sophisticated media player on the market, it's refreshingly easy to use and light in operation. Complete Media Player is a highly simple player which not only plays music, but also allows you to watch videos and compile playlists. However, what is annoying is that there's no codec pack - you have to install each one separately depending on what you are watching. In a way, this is good because having too many codecs can slow a player down but ultimately, it's very tedious to insert a new DivX file and find out that you are lacking a specific codec. The play controls are very basic - there is shuffle, repeat and start, stop fast forward and rewind functions. And you can also watch your videos in full screen mode either by right clicking or using the basic file menu at the top.

I would only recommend this player if you have a particularly slow machine or need something that is extremely light on ram and only intend to play one specific type of film.

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Download Complete Media Player 1.0 in Softonic

CrystalPlayer is the most advanced video player for Windows 98, ME, 2000 & XP.

CrystalPlayer features original video kernel allowing high-quality playback from any kind of video source, e.g. video files (.AVI, .MPEG, etc.), from internet or network. It does not use built-in WindowsMedia environment, so there are no limitations, as with most other players. CrystalPlayer Professional offers uncomparable control to improve the quality of the videos you're watching. Check Video filters, Video Postprocessing, multisampling and supersampling features of Professional version.

Download Crystal Player Professional 1.98 in Softonic

Media Player Classic is an extremely light-weight media player for Windows. It looks just like the good-old Media Player v6.4, but has lots of nice extra features. MPC has, for instance, a built in DVD player with real-time zoom, support for AVI subtitles, QuickTime and RealVideo support (requires QT and/or Real player), and lots more. Definitely a great replacement for the huge and clumsy Microsoft Media Players.

Download Media Player Classic 6.4.9.0 (2K/XP) in Softonic

It's considered to be a must have free video player. It can play any type of video including 192 video codec and 85 audio coded - like VLC player, but with a nicer interface. It is also supposed to optimize CPU usage and use as few resources as possible. The package contains optimized builds for Pentiums, Athalons and Dual Core processors. You just select the one suitable for you during the installation process.

The package installs both MPlayer and the front-end SMPlayer, which is the same program but with a nicer looking interface. A number of useful features are included: the subtitles option for example, allows you to load subtitle files and link them to a video. You also have many options to deinterlace, denoise and apply filters to improve the video rendering.

I've noticed minor usability issues: when you stop the video for example, the pointer in the status bar should restart from the beginning, whereas with this player it just stays at the point of the film you stopped it, making no difference with the pause function. Also the program doesn't remember the volume of the sound when you close and re-open the application.

MPlayer supports 192 video codec and also video streaming, QuickTime and RealAudio files making it the perfect choice if you don't want to mess around with a different player for each video format.

Download MPlayer 1.2 in Softonic

Portable VLC media player is the popular VLC media player packaged as a portable app, so you can take your audio and video files along with everything you need to play them on the go. It reads all types of formats like MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, XviD, WMV, DVDs, VCDs and streaming.

Download Portable VLC Media Player 0.8.6i in Softonic

Hyplay is a free AVI movie player created for a unique user experience. Hyplay is a free AVI movie player also compatible with a lot of other movies formats (divx, mov, rm, wmv, asf, etc.). With Hyplay, we want you to forget your computer, to be only immersed in the world of your movie. This AVI movie player is focused on user experience while playing movie files.

Main features of Hyplay :

• Is compatible with many video formats
• Contains no spyware or adware
• Unique user experience and interface design
• Includes two skins : Trash skin and Smooth Skin
• Includes an intro plug-in

Download Hyplay Free AVI Player 1.2.0326.1 in Softonic

The new QuickTime 7 Player not only delivers startling quality, but it's easier to use than ever. It requires no set up for content that streams over the network. Instead, QuickTime 7 Player automatically determines your system's connection speed and chooses the highest quality stream for the amount of bandwidth you have available. And if you ever lose a connection while watching streaming video, QuickTime 7 Player automatically reconnects. Now, that's convenience.

Do you think great video deserves great audio? We do, too. And QuickTime 7 Player delivers truly outstanding multi-channel audio. In fact, it provides you with up to 24 channels of audio, turning your home office into a home theater. Pop in a movie or video game that features surround sound and prepare to be amazed at the heightened audio experience you'll enjoy on your computer equipped with surround-sound speakers. A really good sport, QuickTime 7 Player supports a wide-range of industry-standard audio formats, including AIFF, WAV, MOV, MP4 (AAC only) and AAC/ADTS.

Download QuickTime 7.5 (Standalone player) in Softonic

BlazeVideo HDTV Player is a full-featured and easy to use BlazeVideo HDTV Player software, combining HDTV playback, FM receiving, video record and DVD playback functions. You can take advantage of your PC monitor's high resolution, watch, record, playback high definition HDTV program or teletext broadcast program.

BlazeVideo HDTV Player also acts as your multi-media center, with superior video and audio quality, it supports DVD, VCD, SVCD, MP3, MPEG and Pictures playback. The more advanced features, such as video/audio record, video capture, bookmark preview, picture slideshow, screen control, special audio effect, optional skin, bring you an infinite wonderful multi-media world. BlazeVideo HDTV Player has wide compatibility, supporting most popular TV Card with BDA interface on market.

Features:

• Playing HDTV program
• Playing teletext broadcasting
• Playing FM radio with Visualization effect
• Realtime record favorite HDTV program
• Schedule record favorite HDTV program
• EPG guide, live update program list and program guide
• Auto & manually scan all available channels
• Display subtitle, support multiple language & audio channels
• Schedule watch HDTV program at specified time
• TimeShifting, pause watching HDTV program
• Capture HDTV program video as still image
• Freely manage favorite channels
• Multi-channel preview to quickly access favorite programs
• Playing DVD/SVCD/VCD/CD disc
• Record DVD video & audio
• DVD bookmark preview to quickly access favorite title/chapter
• Playing most popular media files
• Playing picture as slide show with background music
• Playing external video devices
• Advanced power saving scheme for notebook PC

Download BlazeVideo HDTV Player 2.0 in Softonic

FantasyDVD is an exquisite and powerful software DVD player, with the same features and controls of the living- room DVD player. Supports over 70 video and audio media files including TS, TP, TRP, MPEG2 HDTV, WMV HDTV and MKV, MKA, and MKS. Its advanced video and audio technologies deliver a very high quality viewing and listening experience.

FantasyDVD has a perfect DVD navigation system, rich audio and video effects, is stable and easy use, and can meet all the demands of DVD playing. Supports 2 - 7.1 channel audio output, dolby ProLogic, Dolby ProLogicII and SRS TruSurround XT audio output mode. Supports Low frequency effect(LFE), High frequency effect(HFE), 10 Band Equalizer, Echo\Delay etc.s expansion function.

Download FantasyDVD Player Professional 9.38.828 in Softonic