For me MPV is the best.
Despite MPV being simpler VLC usually has less problems to play something than MPV. I don’t really like VLC’s interface, but I DO like how powerful it is without having to read any manuals.
Fun fact: VLC still supports Android 4.2 (Nov, 2012) which i use to play local media on my old tablet(4.4) through f-droid. Works well with old formats.
On PC, I use MPV because I’ve gotten used to its command line and shortcuts.
VLC for everyone that doesn’t use terminal. MPV for me
VLC is bloated garbage that takes ~5x more space because of the added crap that’s better done by avidemux. Even mpv + avidemux smaller than VLC. MPVs config file seems more reliable than VLC menus that are frustrating AF to navigate (especially when they don’t work).
VLC is great and I had been using it for years. However, MPV is simple, yet powerful and is naturally part of my Linux distribution due to being a dependency of other stuff I use. That said, MPV has been my go-to mediaplayer for years now.
While VLC is great, I have had cases where it failed me regarding hardware accelerated decoding.
mpvhas never let me down with this.vlc for watching.
mpv for listening.mpv, very easy to configure and use
i use mpc-be on m$win because of occasional glitch with mpv though, might be my system’s issue
I use the SMPlayer, it does the same as the VLC, but it’s way faster and easier to handle.
I like the simplicity of MPV and use it whenever I can. However, it does not work as a DLNA client, at least not natively. I keep VLC nearby for such cases.
In the 15 years I have used vlc there has only been one file it couldn’t play and so I have had no need to try another player.
Its not about only playing a video, its about more things too, like, colours, decoding etc
Ever since VLC came on the scene it has been my go-to. Just a really functional player that plays almost anything I throw at it, and I like the UI well enough. For now I have no reason to use anything else. I’m not hating on other players, but VLC works for me.
Every time I find a new file format I just huck it at VLC to see what it’ll do. Most times nothing, but some interesting results have been observed.
VLC has been disintegrating on Wayland, mpv became the default
Good to see I’m not the only one having issues. VLC videos start mute and the volume can’t be turned up, so it’s basically unusable. Switched to mpv a couple months ago when I started having issues and last week I made it the default
mpv. I like the minimalist UI. I have it configured to show no titlebar, just the video, and open by default in the corner of my screen at up to half the width of my display. It’s easy to customize with keyboard shortcuts, and by default it has sensible shortcuts for nearly everything. It’s easy to make videos with hardcoded letterboxing fit my full screen. It handles HDR and even Dolby videos (use gpu-next if you aren’t already). I can set default brightness/contrast/gamma settings, and then adjust them during playback if necessary with a single keystroke. I can adjust playback speed with a single keystroke. I can fix the aspect ratio of warped videos, again with a single keystroke.
As for VLC, well, it’s fine, really, and I’m not in the best position to say since it’s been a very long time since I used it regularly. So my experience is likely outdated. But back then, I found the UI a bit much, putting playlists front-and-center when I really just wanted to play individual files 99.99% of the time. It had too much going on besides the video. The GUI is great for discoverability but the more time I spend using something, the more I appreciate command-line usage and simple text-based config files.
VLC is my go-to recommendation for beginners, because everything is in the GUI, but mpv suits me better.
Functionally, both are similar. A few times over the years, one has adopted a critical feature a little bit before the other, like hardware acceleration for some specific codec, but for most videos they both do the job just fine.
I don’t remember VLC’s playlist showing up at all unless you open multiple files at once
Perhaps this is specific to the Mac port.
I just installed the Mac version again to test it, and the first thing that appears is the playlist window with an icon telling me to “drop media here”.
Opening a file also shows the playlist window, which then expands to show the video instead. When you close the video, you’re left with the playlist, which now contains that file.
You can toggle it with the playlist button even if there’s no videos in the list at all
I know it’s available, but it doesn’t pop up on its own unless you’re loading multiple files.
VLC seems to be the gold standard. If you want to play something, it will. That should be more than enough for common users.
VLC can play anything because of its reliance on the amazing ffmpeg. MPV also uses ffmpeg, as does any video tool worth it’s salt.
