Watching videos and listening to music is one of the most common things that we do on a computer system. Many Windows or macOS users when using Linux they search for options to play media files in Linux.
Most of the Linux distributions with a desktop environment come with a basic media player so here we are listing the 9 best video players for Linux that can be used as the alternative to the default media player.
VLC media player
VLC is a free, open-source, and cross-platform media player. It is one of the most popular media players that supports various videos and audio formats it is capable of streaming media from a URL.
Initially, the VLC media player was released in 2001 under the VideoLAN project.
The key features of VLC media player are –
- Built-in codecs
- No spyware, No ads, No user tracking
- Customization options
- Cross-platform
- Can play almost every video file format supported
- Fast hardware decoding
- Extensions available for added functionalities
- Play from a URL
MPV media player
MPV is a free, open-source, and cross-platform media player which can play any type of media. It has a modern, clean and minimal user interface. It supports a wide variety of media file formats, audio and video codecs, and subtitle types.
MPV comes with powerful scripting capabilities that can make the player do almost anything. You can find user scripts on its GitHub page.
The key features of MPV media player are –
- Minimal user interface
- Comes with powerful scripting capabilities
- Video codecs built-in
- High-quality video output
- Cross-platform
- Uses GPU video decoding
- YouTube Videos supported via CLI
SMPlayer
SMPPlayer is a free and cross-platform media player with built-in codecs that can play virtually all video and audio formats. It uses MPlayer in the backend and adds some interesting features like the possibility to play youtube videos or download subtitles.
SMPlayer remembers all your settings so when you restart the player it resumed at the same point where you left it.
The key features of SMPlayer are –
- Can play all video and audio formats
- Built-in codecs
- Cross-platform
- Play ad-free YouTube video
- It can easily search and download subtitles
- UI is customizable
- Based on MPlayer
- Available in multiple languages
MPlayer
MPlayer is a free and open-source media player which is available for different platforms including Linux, macOS, Windows, AmigaOS, etc. It can play almost all types of video and audio formats.
Mplayer supports a wide range of output drivers and works with X11, Xv, DGA, OpenGL, SVGAlib, fbdev, DirectFB, SDL, etc. Several other media players such as SMPlayer, GNOME Player, Deepin player, etc are based on Mplayer
The key features of MPlayer include –
- Able to play all types of audio and video files
- Supports a number of output drivers
- It is based on open-source FFmpeg
- Can save all streamed content to a file
- VDPAU hardware acceleration for H.265/HEVC
- TV and DVB support
- Improved graphical user interface
Kodi media player
Kodi which was formally known as XBMC is a free and open-source media player developed by the XBMC Foundation. You can play local audio video files as well as from the internet. The modified version of Kodi along with JeOS used as a software framework in a variety of devices including smart TV, setup boxes, digital signage, etc. You can enhance the functionality by using available addons.
The key features of Kodi media player are –
- Supports a variety of audio and video formats
- Live TV with EPG and PVR/DVR frontend
- You can enjoy additional features using addons and plugins
- You can customize the player using skins and themes
- Cross-platform
GNOME Videos
GNOME Videos which was earlier known as Totem is a free and open-source media player that comes default in the GNOME desktop environment. It uses Clutter and GTK+ toolkits and GStreamer library as playback.
It can play almost all the audio and video files format and the playlist is easily manageable using drag and drop features.
The features of GNOME Videos are –
- Simple video player that comes default in the GNOME desktop
- Plugins supported
- Clean, clutter-free user interface
- Hardware acceleration
- Floating mode
- Adaptive user interface
- MPRIS support
Celluloid
Celluloid is a simple media player which was earlier known as GNOME MPV is a GTK+ frontend of MPV player. It aims at simplicity while maintaining a high level of configurability.
The key features of Celluloid are –
- Highly configurable
- Drag and drop playlist
- MPIRS2 support
- Wayland support
Deepin Movies
Deepin Movies is a media player that provides an intuitive easy to use operation interface and complete shortcuts. That means you can perform play operation using keyboard only. It can play most of the audio and video formats with support to play media from URL. It comes default in the Deepin desktop environment.
The key features of Deepin Movies are –
- Easy to use interface
- Support a variety of audio and video formats
- Can play media from URL
- Come default in Deepin desktop environment
Dragon player
Dragon player is a simple media player that can play most of the audio and video file formats. It is the default media player for the KDE desktop environment. It makes use of phonon a multimedia API that itself connects to several multimedia frameworks.
The key features of Dragon player are –
- Easy to use interface
- Supports resuming videos
- Support for subtitles
- Video display settings (brightness, contrast)
- It is independent of any multimedia framework or hardware abstraction layer because it uses SOLID and Phonon multimedia APIs
- It can play CD/DVDs
Conclusion
So here we have listed a few mostly used good media players you can use them to play any kind of audio or video files. Now if you have a query then write us in the comments below.