VLC vs. MPV vs. Elmedia, Which one is the best?

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Oct 9, 2024
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When you’re trying to choose a media player, it can be difficult to figure out which one is best for your needs. In this article, we’ve compared popular media players: VLC and MPV. We’ve looked at how easy each player is to set up, what formats each supports, compatible platforms, video playback quality, and more. Having considered all these aspects and identified some shortcomings, we would like to offer you a robust alternative – Elmedia Player. Keep reading and find out the differences between these three media players.

Advantages and features of Elmedia media player

Elmedia is one of the best media players for Mac. It’s totally free to download and use, though there’s also a Pro version available. With its intuitive interface, the app is easy to use, even for beginners, and plays most file formats, from MP4 and MP3 files to MOV, MKV, AVI, and more. With Elmedia, you can stream video in 4K from your computer to your smart TV or DLNA-enabled device, with support for Chromecast, AirPlay, and Roku. Or you can use the app as a streaming video player for videos from platforms like YouTube and Vimeo.

Other features include support for internal and external subs, customizable playback options, playlist creation and editing, and a variety of ways to add files to the player, including drag and drop. Elmedia runs natively on M1 and M2 Macs, though there’s no version for Windows.

Compare Elmedia vs MPV vs VLC

MPV

MPV is a free, cross-platform, open-source media player. One of the best things about this app is that it supports a wide range of file formats and codecs, so you should be able to play almost any file using the player in up to 8K resolution. Because MPV is in active development, new features are constantly being added, and you can even request a feature if there’s something you’d like that’s missing.

MPV’s minimalist interface is clean and easy to navigate, with a small on-screen controller to easily manage playback, and you can also play videos from streaming services using the app. For more advanced users, powerful scripting ensures the player can do almost anything, and it’s embeddable into other apps too.

MPV

VLC

VLC Media Player is a free, open-source, cross-platform media player that plays almost all video and audio formats without the need for any additional codecs. Easy to set up and use, this free player is packed with advanced settings, and you can use keyboard shortcuts for most actions. Features include DVD and Blu-ray playback, deinterlacing for better video quality, support for resolutions up to 8K, customizable playback options, and more. You can even stream music and video to your smart TV or other devices.

In addition to this, VLC supports lots of extensions and plug-ins, though it’s worth noting here that the interface isn’t the most personalizable and only comes in basic black or white options. VLC is extremely lightweight, so it will run on almost any Mac or Windows computer.

VLC Media Player

Compare MPV vs. VLC vs. Elmedia

Below, we’ll compare MPV vs. VLC vs. Elmedia across several different categories, to help you find the best player for your needs.

Quality

More of us than ever before want to play back UHD files, so let’s look at what quality each of these three players supports. With Elmedia, you can stream content to your smart TV in 4K (depending on the file’s original quality) and play videos on your Mac in 4K UHD. VLC Media Player features hardware acceleration to support up to 8K quality; however, some users have noted that they’re unable to playback 8K videos using the player. Finally, MPV supports playback in up to 4K and is unable to handle 8K videos.

Out of the three players, we’d rate Elmedia the best for quality. Though it doesn’t support 8K, it provides reliable 4K streaming and playback of all your favorite videos.

Installation

If you’re new to media players, you want to choose a player that will be easy to install, so we’ll take a peek at how easy each of these three players is to install. The installation process for Elmedia Player is the simplest of the three: Just download the free player from the official website, install it as you would any other app on your computer, following the simple on-screen instructions, then launch the app to get started. It’s quick and easy to add files for playback, too, as you can simply drag and drop them onto the player.

When it comes to installing VLC, it’s again a fairly simple process of downloading the player from the official site, then following on-screen prompts to install it. Though there are some options for customizing what file types you’d like the player to play by default, which could be confusing for beginners.

Installing MPV is again a simple process — download the app from the official site, install it by following the instructions on your Mac’s screen, then launch it and simply drag and drop media files onto the player to get started.

Video streaming

All three players support video streaming, but which is the best option if you want to stream video from popular platforms such as YouTube or Dailymotion? Elmedia Player is the easiest player to use when it comes to streaming online video. Just open the player and select File > Open Online Video from the menu. In a separate browser tab, navigate to the video you want to stream and copy its URL. Then just paste the URL into the player and click Open to commence playback.

VLC also makes streaming easy as you can simply copy and paste the video’s URL into the player to get started streaming. MPV is the most complicated of the three options when it comes to video streaming.

Unfortunately, in order to stream using this player, you’ll need to create an executable script, which can be a bit complicated for beginners, although you should be able to find an online tutorial to guide you through the process. For this reason, we wouldn’t recommend MPV to anybody looking to stream online video regularly — Elmedia is our app of choice here.

Formats

There’s no point downloading a media player if it can’t support playback of the formats you’re looking for. Luckily all three of these players support a wide range of audio and video formats. Elmedia Player supports most popular formats without the need for extra codecs, including MP4, MP3, MKV, AVI, M4a, WMV, and more.

VLC also supports almost any format you can think of, with no additional codecs required for playback. Finally, you can play almost any format using MPV, though the information provided as to supported formats is a little vaguer. If you plan on playing unusual file types regularly, Elmedia is our recommended player as it supports almost any format, with VLC a good second choice.

Platforms

It’s vital to check that the player you intend to use works on your platform of choice. VLC is the only cross-platform media player here, with versions available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. If you want a media player that can work across your Windows PC and Mac computer, VLC is the obvious choice.

If you’re looking for a Mac-only player, Elmedia is the best option, as it is designed to run natively on macOS, including M1 and M2 Macs and MacBooks, with no version for Windows.

MPV is another Mac-only choice, and because it’s an open-source program, it is still classed as under development, making it easy to request additional features and functionality should you find something you need is missing. However, this may also mean you occasionally encounter bugs and other issues.

Which one should you use?

So which media player is the best? We’ve compared VLC vs. MPV vs. Elmedia and chosen a clear winner. Elmedia is our player of choice, for several reasons. The app is easy to use and intuitive. The installation process is simple, even for beginners, it supports almost any format you can think of, and you can quickly and easily stream online videos by copying and pasting the URL. In addition, it supports 4K streaming and playback, and you can cast to external devices via Chromecast, AirPlay, Roku, or DLNA. For these reasons, we’d recommend Elmedia to both beginners and advanced users alike

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, we’d say that Elmedia is a better option for Mac users as it’s easy to use, simple to set up, supports almost any format around, and makes streaming and casting video a breeze. Whether you’re an advanced user or new to media players, Elmedia is an excellent choice, and you won’t need any additional codecs or script to use any of the app’s features.

If you can’t decide between MPV player vs. VLC, it may come down to which platform your computer uses. MPV is Mac-only software, whereas VLC can be used on Windows, Mac, or Linux devices. In addition to this, VLC supports almost any format (whereas information on MPV’s supported formats is scarce, despite promising wide support), and streaming online video via VLC is simple, while you’ll need to use an executable script to stream via MPV.

Finally, if customization is important to you, MPV’s minimalist interface and customization options should appeal to those who prefer a decluttered app. In contrast, VLC is more dated and doesn’t offer many options for personalization — just a choice of black or white interface.

If you’re a Mac user, then you’ll likely find the minimalist interface clean, easy to navigate, and reassuringly familiar. It’s free to use and open-source, which means it is constantly being updated, with new features added regularly. Because it is under development, you can easily request if you’d like a new feature added, though there are no guarantees.

MPV supports a wide range of formats and codecs, and for advanced users, it’s embeddable and uses powerful scripting, so you can do almost anything with it. However, it’s not necessarily the app we would recommend for beginners, and if you’re comparing MPV media player vs. VLC, the latter is more beginner-friendly.