Best Alternative to VLC Media Player in 2017

VLC media player is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player that plays most multimedia files as well as discs, devices, and network streaming protocols. You may have been a VLC user for years. While, VLC will drive you crazy sometimes if you encountered some problems with VLC media player. See some typical VLC playback issues:

"Hi... When I try to play some mkv video with integrated subtitles with VLC... when I start that video in VLC it shows this message: Unidentified codec. VLC could not identify the audio or video code. Anyway, I'd like to hear if any of you out there could suggest some better alternatives for VLC."

"I'm getting sick and tired of VLC. The issues are too many to mention in detail, but generally: bugs (ballooning out of memory on fake/exotic movies, leftover windows, many others)... Are there any good alternatives?"

Searching online, you'll notice that many people are troubled when playing video files like MKV, AVI, MP4, H.265, etc with VLC.

Besides won't play some video file types, there are some other disadvantages of VLC Media Player:

- Installing VLC Media Player may void your warranty!
- Sometimes VLC crashes inexplicably without warning.
- It is unable to play broken files.
- A few codes and file types are not supported by VLC.

For this reason, a VLC alternative is needed. So, this article will bring you the best VLC alternatives for Mac and Windows to overcome the disadvantages of VLC.

2017 Best VLC Alternatives for Windows

5KPlayer

5KPlayer is a free yet professional all-in-one video/audio player for Windows 10/8/7 and also Mac OS. Built in hundreds of video audio codecs, it enables users to play all multimedia formats, HD videos, and DVDs/ISO file/DVD folder as well.

Features and functions of this good VLC alternative:
* Free play homemade and commercial DVD movies without any problems.
* Play 1080p or 1080i high-definition videos under 10% CPU cost.
* Play 4K 5K UHD videos without any glitches.
* Support for numerous popular video formats, like MKV, M2TS, MPEG1/2, WMV/ASF, AVI, MOV, RM/RMBV, OGV, FLV, MP4, H.264, M4V, WEBM.
* Listen radios from BBC, Heart, etc.
* Free download videos/music from YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, etc.
* Change your Mac and Windows as AirPlay sender and AirPlay receiver.

KMPlayer

KMPlayer is a free and versatile multimedia player for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7. It is also a strong rival of VLC, just like 5KPlayer. It allows users to play tons of files, such as AVI, WMV, FLV, and MKV.

Other features & functions:
* Support 3D format.
* Play Incomplete or locked files while downloading or sharing.

SMPlayer

SMPlayer is a multi-platform media player for both Windows and Linux. Thanks to built-in codes, users can play most known video and audio formats effortlessly, including MP4, AVI, MKV, MPEG, DIVX and more.

Other features & functions:
* It comes with a handy tool used to search for YouTube videos.
* Several skins are ready for users.
* It is available to select languages from 30+ languages.

2017 Best VLC Alternatives for Mac

MPlayerX media player

MPlayer is a professional movie player which allows users to watch VideoCD, SVCD, DVD, 3ivx, DivX3/4/5, WMV and even H.264 movies. Like other alternatives for VLC, it is also a free and open source media player.

Other features & functions:
* It has a wide range of supported output drivers.
* MPlayer is equipped with an onscreen display for status information, nice big antialiased shaded subtitles and visual feedback for keyboard controls.

QuickTime player

QuickTime is all too familiar to Apple users, because it is currently the default media player for Apple running OS. There's no doubt that this VLC alternative can be fully compatible with Mac OS. If you encounter some format incompatibility issues, a powerful video converter is the smart way to go.

Other features & functions:
* It is a cross-platform program for both Mac and PC.
* It is capable of watching videos from hard drive and internet.
* A handy slider enables you to set playback from 1/2x to 3x the normal speed.

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.
Other features & functions:
* Encodes Quicktime and FFmpeg on the fly.
* A drawback is that it doesn't support Apple remote.

Editor's Note:

If you are searching for an ultimate way to play any SD/HD, 1080p and even 4K videos on PC, iPhone, iPad, Android with the best quality without any crash, jerky, no audio issues, you can turn to Brorsoft Video Converter(or Mac). It is assured of a stable, easy-to-use yet fast video converting tool, which allows you not only to convert a wide range of UHD 4K, HD and SD videos regardless of formats, but also lets you convert those downloaded or homemade videos to any popular video and audio formats for play and share anywhere you like.

Main features & functions:
* Convert 250+ video and audio formats in SD/HD/4K
* 30X faster conversion speed and high output quality
* 150+ ready presets for iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab and other mobile devices
* Support batch conversion - convert multiple files at the same time
* Edit and touch up your video in clicks (e.g. trimming, cropping, inserting SRT/ASS/SSA subtitle, etc)
* Support H.265/HEVC Encode & Decode

(Note: Click here for OS X 10.5)

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