10 Best Alternatives For Windows Media Player
I used to use Windows media player back in the days when there wasn’t a proper option, maybe there was but I didn’t knew about it. It’s a good piece of software (WMP11 for example) but still, I have my alternatives. I don’t remember the last time using WMP – since VLC came.
If you want to use something else beside WMP, which is rather better and you can work more easily on, check out this list. I’ve compiled a list of 10 of the Best alternatives media players for windows that you can download and try to see which one suits you the best.
1- VLC Player
I would personally rate VLC Player to be the best of all the other media softwares. I don’t remember, facing a Codec problem while playing almost any kind of extension with it. It’s a highly recommended media player which plays lots of audio and video formats and be used for streaming protocols.
Download VLC Player for Windows
2- KMPlayer
KMPlayer is a well known video and audio player for Windows and is used by thousands of people because it can play a large number of formats such as VCD, DVD, AVI, MKV, Ogg, OGM, 3GP, MPEG-1/2/4, WMV, RealMedia, FLV and QuickTime etc, also giving to the ability to run subtitles with it. Another great thing about KMPlayer is that it can also capture audio and video screenshots.
Media player classic is another one of my favorites! It’s an all in one, very light Media player with the capabilities of playing lots of formats without the need of any special codec. It’s currently maintained by a programmer “Gabest” who decided to make it OpenSource.
4- ZoomPlayer
Zoom Player is another powerful alternative for windows media player. It’s customizable and supports a lot of Video, Audio formats. It also has the ability to view pictures and run Flash and HTML files.
5- GOM Player
GOM Player is also known as Gretech Online Movie Player. It’s a nice freeware media player for windows with a very useful function which enables it to play incomplete/damaged/broken AVI files with skipped frames. It supports a lot of Video / Audio formats and if there’s something that it can’t play, GOM Player will automatically find and take you to the Codec page where you can download and make everything normal again.
6- WinAmp
Winamp is a well known media player which was first launched in 1997. It has a lot of features which includes custom skins, Podcatcher & streaming media, Media player support, plugins and a lot more. And is still one of the favorite media players around.
7- BSPlayer
BSPlayer is another great alternative to windows media player. It features:
- Plays movies, DVDs, music, TV streams, web radio streams, Flash movies, podcasts and much more!
- Integrated Media Library with Thumbnail Movie Preview
- Automatic codec detection and management
- FREE, lightweight and easy to use!
Has the ability to playback almost any kind of multimedia files but again, it doesn’t come up fully charged and requires some Codecs (Like most of them) to play formats that are not supported by default.
8- RulesPlayer
RulesPlayer is a clean and simple media player for windows which supports a lot of formats including .flv (Flash) now. Supports a lot of native, XAnim, and Win32 DLL codecs which gives you the ability to play any media file that you want to. You can even watch video files while you are downloading them with RulesPlayer.
9- RealPlayer
RealPlayer is another well known media player that works real well. Features includes a Media Browser, Playlist editor, Theater Mode, Visualizations, Continuous Play, Stay on top while playing option, Favorites menu, Equalizer and Video controls, Media library and much more. But the thing that degrades RealPlayer is that all of this doesn’t come with their Free basic player. You either have to buy it to try their full version for 14 days only.
10- DivX for Windows
Last but not least, The Divx Player for windows. It’s a great alternative and can play virtually any video format with superior video and audio quality on your PC. It comes with built-in tools which can help you organize your media and much more. Basic features include:
- Smooth playback of DivX HD video (720p and 1080p)
- Plays all DivX video files and most other common media formats including QuickTime and Windows Media Video
- New playback performance improvements, especially for HD videos
- Enjoy 5.1 channel, room-rattling MP3 surround sound and manipulate and improve the quality of the audio in your videos with DFX Audio Enhancer®
- Watch DivX videos with .srt subtitles
- Create video playlists
- Pause and progressively play video downloads
- Burn videos to disc from within DivX Player for playback on millions of DivX Certified devices
- Activate and manage DivX Certified devices from within the DivX Player
I hope you have enjoyed the list and if you there are more, feel free to post them in your comments.
51 Comments
i prefer media player classic. always. the best player ever.
i love this site, i put this site in my blog
On my side I would like to recommend TVC video & music player (& converter) which you can download here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/121269167/Total_Video_converter_3.12_Full-reg.rar
Of course there is the crack included in the *rar file so try this an enjoy!
virus inside of rar the file.
Thanks Darkpuccino =)
Massive list.. I have used 4 of them and I love the winamp skin in this post
Apart from default player,I would prefer using KM player
you should enter your good website for this competition http://mintywhite.com/tech/announcements/best-windows-customization-website-competition-over-100-in-prizes/
I’ve been using VLC media player and it’s by far the best media player ever made. Not a single issue with it, and i use it for streaming with Sopcast.
Cheers from Chile
i recommend VLC play and Realplayer.
I’ve been using Winamp for years, I’m a big fan of the skins. Media Player Classic is perfect for a netbook, as it’s very lightweight.
Win amp for the win! I also use windows media i think it’s a great music player
thanks anewmorning
where is jet audio ???
The KM Player is the best player.
u should be try AIMP2…that best to….
Yeah… AMIP2 is VERY GOOD MUSIC PLAYER…
http://www.aimp.ru
I’m using K-LITE MEGA CODEC – I think the best one is MEDIA PLAYER CLASSIC
http://www.codecguide.com
What is the best media player?
I mainly use Linux, but I do have Windows XP on my computer too, so I usually choose programs that run equally well on both operating systems.
So in this instance, I use, and highly recommend VLC. Basically, it seems to be the most flexible and compatible media player around, both with audio and video.
There’s one point I would like to make though: I do prefer to use Songbird to organise my music collection, but VLC is excellent as my default player for ALL media types.
Very nice n useful list compiled… Though VLC & Real player hav been my fav ones, bt thnx for listing other options as well!!! links 2 download deze are also f gr8 help…
KMPlayer!
You must be genius to find how to switch GUI language! Can someone tell me what then part of body was used when someone decided to hide option to switch interface language?
I use VLC instead of WMP because it is much smaller and better than WMP.
Nice list, but i think media player 10 has the best picture ever the colours are brighter than any of the players above,yes i know its much more easy to use vlc or media player classic without any problems. But if you compare a video on vlc and media player 10, media player is better quality.. Does anybody knows how can i get the quality of media player to my classic media player or vlc or any other player??
I like this post. VLC Media Player is the best!
- Thanx gor the list.
I use Gom Player and Xion Audio Player – due to the lowest CPU
consumption (On Vista).
- BS Player Player Pro – is also nice (on XP)
HaiHaisoft’s Universal Player is very nice. I’ve been using for a while now and haven’t found a video format yet that it will not play.
what’s the video in kmplayer? where is that FROM?!?!?!
Looks like it’s a music video.. You can read the title, name on the screenshot.
I can’t see it… the only 3 titles on there are of unrelated songs…. what is the name of the video?
Thanks!
From what i can tell, it’s Yngwie Malsteen – Deja Vu.
The best is AIMP2, it’s really awesome and light weight, unobtrusive, radio recorder incorporated, and a long list of useful features.
I’m not tired to recommend it!
VLC is simple but powerful
Where’d you get the gray skin for KMPlayer? Cheers!
Ah, never mind, I found it:
‘Pure 3 White’
http://www.kmplayer.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=147
i cant download any skins from that website!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
most of these players are god-awful in terms of aesthetics. vlc is great but has no menu in full screen, same with a lot of the others. kmplayer (and all other mplayer based programs) is excellent for the same reasons as vlc. i was suprised to see bs player on here, as i had a pro version and hated it. winamp and songbird (sadly not on here) are my personal favorites because of vast plugin and skin options
there is another alternative called mplayer. fast, easy to use, built in codecs.
mpf.dzm.hu/download.php
You should be thankful to Free Software, the best among the best media players is the GNU free software i.e., VLC (formerly Video Lan Client, now Golden Eye). FOSS will dominate the industry very soon.
i prefer mpc star tiger player
I love kmplayer, once you have figured out how you want it running it’s great. But it has a problem running when I have object dock running. I have to change the renderer and it reduces the quality of the blacks onscreen. Tried VLC but everytime I use it it resizes videos whether I want it to or not.
VLC media player is the best
cool Divx advertising bro
WMP CLASSIC WITH K-LITE CODEC PACK CAN PLAY CD . DVD .ANY TYPE OF VIDEO & AUDEO YOU CAN IMAGINE . I THINK IT IS THE BEST
i use gome player media player classic and vlc some times i tunes and km player
to me.. i using 2 softwares, one specially for Audio and one for Video… so far..
the best Video Player Is GOM Player, but it has many problems with subtitles…
so i convert to Zoom Player, nice,light,easy….
and the best ever made Audio Player, of course no doubt
JetAudio 6.0/7.0 VX Version…
tried KMPlayer, but its many unorganized settings make it complex to suit u,
I love GOM because just 3-4 click and everything comfortable to me…
Zoomplayer the same with KMPlayer, but it’s far better…
Light Alloy v.4.0 is another powerful player
for windows 7 best player will be splayer it can play almost all file flv qt rmvb mkv to name a few