For years, VLC has been my gold standard for media players. It’ll happily open every weird file format I throw at it, and it doesn’t cost a dime. It has only crashed two or three times in the decades I’ve been using it.
More recently, I ran into a problem when I tried to play a high-bitrate 4K HDR file on a mid-range laptop. I had a weird issue with dropped frames, stuttering, and colors that looked washed out no matter which setting I tried in the Preferences menu. When I swapped VLC for mpv, the same file played on the same hardware without a single complaint.
It is faster and looks better
Mpv is a free and open-source player that is derived from MPlayer and mplayer2. It has been in active development since 2012 and takes a fundamentally different approach to the user interface. VLC tries to be everything to everyone (and largely succeeds), whereas mpv focuses on being as minimalist as possible.
Some of the performance jump comes from having less software between the file and the screen. VLC carries a massive amount of legacy overhead, but mpv is noticeably smaller. It uses GPU rendering through OpenGL, Vulkan, or Direct3D. Using the gpu-next output driver allows it to handle modern workloads without anything else in the way.
You can notice a difference in image quality the moment you upscale a video. Rather than a default bilinear stretch, mpv uses scaling algorithms like Spline36 or ewa_lanczossharp. Furthermore, its HDR tone mapping prevents SDR displays from looking grey and flat—the exact issue that I’ve run into with VLC repeatedly.
When hardware decoding is enabled, mpv puts significantly less strain on the CPU during high-bitrate 4K playback. And it can handle playback in almost any format. Because it uses FFmpeg for decoding, its format support is effectively identical to VLC’s. Whether you are dealing with HEVC, VP9, AV1, or some ancient DivX file you have sitting on a hard drive from 2005, mpv can handle it.
QuizThe history of media players
Trivia challenge
From Windows Media Player to VLC — how well do you know the software that changed how we listen and watch?
HistorySoftwarePioneersFeaturesFormats
In what year was Windows Media Player first introduced by Microsoft?
Correct! Windows Media Player debuted in 1991, originally known simply as Media Player and bundled with Windows 3.0. It was a basic tool at the time, capable of playing MIDI and AVI files, and it laid the groundwork for the more powerful versions that followed.
Not quite. Windows Media Player actually launched in 1991 as part of Windows 3.0, though it was a much simpler tool back then. It wouldn’t gain its iconic name and expanded feature set until later versions in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
VLC media player was originally developed by students at which institution?
Correct! VLC was born at École Centrale Paris in 1996 as a student project aimed at streaming video across the campus network. The project was eventually taken over by the VideoLAN organization and released as open-source software in 2001.
Not quite. VLC was developed by students at École Centrale Paris in France, starting around 1996. It began as a campus network streaming project before being released to the public as open-source software under the VideoLAN organization in 2001.
Which media player, launched in 1997, became famous for its distinctive winamp skin customization and ‘llama-whipping’ intro sound?
Correct! Winamp, created by Justin Frankel and released in 1997, became a cultural phenomenon thanks to its highly customizable skins and the famous ‘It really whips the llama’s ass!’ audio clip. At its peak, it had tens of millions of users and defined the MP3 player era.
Not quite. The answer is Winamp, developed by Justin Frankel and released in 1997. Winamp was iconic for its wild skin customization options and its hilarious startup sound clip, making it a beloved fixture of the late 1990s and early 2000s internet culture.
Which company developed RealPlayer, one of the earliest mainstream streaming media players?
Correct! RealPlayer was developed by RealNetworks, founded by Rob Glaser in 1994. It was one of the first applications capable of streaming audio and video over the internet, making it a pioneering force in online media — even if its aggressive software bundling made it widely disliked.
Not quite. RealPlayer was the creation of RealNetworks, a company founded by Rob Glaser in 1994. Despite being a genuine innovator in internet streaming, RealNetworks became notorious for bundling unwanted software with RealPlayer installations, souring many users on the product.
What cone-shaped icon became the universally recognized logo for VLC media player?
Correct! VLC’s logo is the iconic orange traffic cone, which was chosen because the original developers used to collect traffic cones from around their campus. The cone has become one of the most recognizable icons in open-source software history.
Not quite. VLC’s famous logo is an orange traffic cone, reportedly inspired by the habit of VideoLAN’s student developers collecting traffic cones from around the École Centrale Paris campus. It’s now one of the most recognizable icons in the world of open-source software.
Which media player was built into early versions of macOS and became Apple’s primary video and audio player before being replaced by the Music and TV apps?
Correct! iTunes, launched in 2001, served as Apple’s all-in-one media player for music, videos, podcasts, and more for nearly two decades. Apple eventually split it into separate apps — Music, TV, and Podcasts — with the release of macOS Catalina in 2019.
Not quite. The answer is iTunes, which Apple launched in 2001 and used as its central media hub for almost 20 years. In 2019, macOS Catalina broke iTunes apart into dedicated apps for Music, TV, and Podcasts, ending its long reign as Apple’s media centerpiece.
Which audio format, popularized in the late 1990s, was central to the rise of media players like Winamp and prompted a revolution in digital music consumption?
Correct! The MP3 format, developed by the Fraunhofer Society and standardized in 1993, became the engine behind the digital music revolution. Its efficient compression allowed thousands of songs to be stored on a hard drive, making players like Winamp massively popular throughout the late 1990s.
Not quite. MP3 was the format that ignited the digital music revolution. Developed by the Fraunhofer Society and standardized in 1993, MP3’s efficient compression made it possible to store huge music libraries on modest hard drives, fueling the explosive popularity of media players like Winamp.
Which media player, released by Microsoft in 2006 as part of Windows Vista, was eventually discontinued and removed from Windows 11?
Correct! Windows Media Center was a feature-rich entertainment hub introduced with Windows XP Media Center Edition and refined in Vista, allowing users to manage TV, music, photos, and videos in a living-room-friendly interface. Microsoft discontinued it and did not include it in Windows 10 or 11.
Not quite. The answer is Windows Media Center, Microsoft’s ambitious living-room entertainment platform that debuted with Windows XP Media Center Edition. It was quietly killed off when Windows 10 launched in 2015 and has not returned in Windows 11, leaving fans of the platform without an official replacement.
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mpv shines if you like a no-frills approach
There is almost no interface
The most noticeable difference is the interface—or lack thereof. There is almost no UI; a small on-screen controller appears when you move your mouse and vanishes when you stop. You won’t find a traditional settings dialog here. Instead, configuration lives in plain text files: mpv.conf for behavior and input.conf for controls.
You should try it if you frequently watch 4K or HDR content, care about high-end scaling and subtitle rendering, or are comfortable editing a text file to change settings.
On the other hand, you should probably stay with VLC if you rely on a graphical settings panel or need to play DVDs and Blu-rays with full menu navigation—VLC is still superior for physical discs. If you are setting up a laptop for someone that isn’t tech-savvy or who rely on VLC’s built-in streaming and transcoding tools, mpv will feel like more trouble than it’s worth.
The most practical answer for most people is to keep both, which is what I’ve done. Use mpv as your default for files to get the best possible picture, and keep VLC around for discs and odd jobs.
Configuration and control will take more work
The minimalism of mpv isn’t without its drawbacks. The most jarring change is that the settings are a text file. There is no preferences window, and there likely never will be one.
Typically, you can find those by entering %APPDATA%\mpv into a File Explorer address bar or the run bar. If nothing is there, you’ll need to manually create a file. You can reference mpv’s templates on GitHub to get an idea of what settings are available.
You’ll also have to learn a few keyboard shortcuts, as there is no media library or complex playlist interface to click through. If you need your files organized with cover art and metadata, you should probably try out a different app.
You’ll have to change the file associations manually
On Windows, the installation can be slightly cumbersome because it doesn’t set up file associations by default. If you use the prebuilt shinchiro builds, you must run the mpv-install.bat script to add the “Open with mpv” right-click entry.
I’ll be keeping both on my PC
VLC isn’t a bad player; it has earned its reputation over two decades. However, it carries a ton of stuff that I don’t really use, and that weight sometimes shows. mpv took about 15 minutes to set up, but now my HDR files aren’t horribly washed out.
And after a while, I actually came to really appreciate the super minimalist user interface. I found the lack of buttons jarring initially, but now when I accidentally open up a different media player (or any streaming service), I find the interface too busy.
