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Music · 10 alternatives

Instead of MPV, try one of these 10.

Every alternative is lined up against MPV on what people actually switch for: price, open source, self-hosting, offline use and platforms. MPV sits in the first row, so you can see what you give up.

Show onlySorted by likes · 10 of 10
Alternative
Price
Open source
Self-host
Offline
Platforms
Website
MPV
Minimal, scriptable player prized for rock-solid playback.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Win · Mac · Linux · Android
Visit
VLC Media Player#1
Plays nearly any audio or video file on every platform.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Win · Mac · Linux · Android · iOS
Visit
MPC-HC#2
Featherweight Windows player that sips CPU and memory.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Win
Visit
PotPlayer#3
Feature-heavy Windows media player with strong video support.
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Win
Visit
KMPlayer#4
Veteran player spanning desktop and mobile with 4K support.
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Win · Android · iOS
Visit
SMPlayer#5
MPlayer front-end that remembers settings per file.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Win · Mac · Linux
Visit
MPlayer#6
Venerable command-line player that still opens nearly everything.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Win · Mac · Linux
Visit
MX Player#7
Mobile-first player with gesture controls and subtitle smarts.
PriceFreemium
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Android
Visit
IINA#8
Polished macOS player built on mpv with gesture controls.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Mac
Visit
Infuse#9
Apple-native video player that also streams from media servers.
PriceFreemium
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Mac · iOS
Visit
Celluloid#10
Lightweight GTK front-end for mpv on Linux.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflineYes
Platforms
Linux
Visit

Price colours on the Visit buttons: FreeFreemiumPaid

How to read this. The first row is MPV itself, for comparison. “Yes” means fully supported by the maker. “Partial” means it works with caveats. Likes reflect community popularity; vendors can’t pay for them or for placement. How we compare.

MPV alternatives at a glance

MPV is a free music app. We compared 10 alternatives: 6 are open source, 8 are completely free, 0 can be self-hosted and 10 work fully offline. The most popular is VLC Media Player, with 8k likes.

Most liked overallVLC Media Player

Plays nearly any audio or video file on every platform.

Free · Open source · Works offline
Best free optionMPC-HC

Featherweight Windows player that sips CPU and memory.

Free · Open source · Works offline
Best open-source optionSMPlayer

MPlayer front-end that remembers settings per file.

Free · Open source · Works offline
Best for offline usePotPlayer

Feature-heavy Windows media player with strong video support.

Free · Works offline

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