For me MPV is the best.
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
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 So my experience is likely outdated.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.
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.
I use VLC. I have no real reason for choosing it other than knowing it since I was a kid, and it doing the job I need perfectly fine so far
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.
mpv for about 6 years now. Like VLC it plays pretty much anything I need to, but it feels snappier
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
deleted by creator
Why not both?
edit: wtf are these replies :D
edit2: also to clarify my original comment was meant as both are good. For example you can’t easily install MPV on Bazzite and VLC does as good of a job. I do tend to use MPV over VLC but I don’t ever crave the other one as I have at least one of those available. I did run into few videos that I had issues running with MPV and vice-versa but those are rare and specific cases. Always the other player did the job so I also can’t say that both are perfect.
This mindset contributes to bloat, unless it is needed. Or install the alternative when really needed.
a separate video player is bloat. just use a browser.
deleted by creator
Vim is bloat. Just read the source in vi.
ED! ED! ED IS THE STANDARD!!!
please, tell me your definition of bloat
more than one program
IMO bloat is something that is on your PC which YOU did not install and you actively want to get rid off. Also something that you don’t use and is just running in the background using resources. Otherwise it’s not bloat, it just takes some space on the drive and has no other negative effect on anything. It just sits there waiting to be used. You could at that point argue that your old photo album is bloat because you’re not actively looking at the pictures.
oh you’re the thread starter! ahem…
i find the first reply to yours absolutely insane and completely off-base. so i continued in the same vein. turns out the guy was being completely serious.
All good. I wasn’t meaning to reply to you before but to the guy you’ve originally replied to :)
No thanks. I use a fast video player to play a video, instead loading up a browser all the time. Using a separate video player is not bloat. Using two separate video player for the same task is bloat, when it is not needed. Don’t compare browsers to video players.
all major browsers have built-in fully functioning video players, ergo they are video players. and most people have a browser running anyway so startup is likely faster than a standalone application. using a separate video player is bloat. same with music players, and text editors, and pdf viewers.
the browser is truly the new emacs.
Using a full blown browser to do everything is bloat. I keep using optimized tools for specific tasks. You completely changed the topic. It was about using two programs for the same task. Video players are optimized to play videos. I try to avoid using bloated browsers that does everything, but nothing well (besides browsing web) and fill the RAM for no reason.
- Bloat Browser = bloat
- Optimized video player to play videos = not bloat
- Two optimized video player to play videos when not really needed = bloat
Hope that is clear now. I tried to make it simple and understandable as possible. The guy asked why not install both video players and I gave him a reason not to do. There was no browser in the discussion until you brought it up.
using a full-blown operating system to do everything is bloat when the browser can already do it all. just kernel and browser should be enough.
I don’t know if you are trolling, but that is a nonsense reply. The original question was why not install MPV and VLC at the same time. I don’t use a browser for everything, because its bloat. I use dedicated applications that does one job, and does it well. You can keep using your browser for everything, but that is not what this post topic is about.
just use a browser.
For offline videos?
just drag and drop
This seems simultaneously overkill and extremely minimalist at the same time.
Firefox can open videos, but if I try to skip ahead on a HEVC encode I only get audio and there’s performance issues in general. Also no way to change audio tracks and no subtitles.
Video is bloat
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.Just be aware, mpv still doesn’t properly do replaygain.
Count me in on the minimalist interface preference gang. I’ve been using it for probably more than a decade. Less nowadays that I watch content on my TV through my media center server, but on the off occurrence that I need to watch a file on my computer, mpv is my boo.
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.
