Best Video Player for Mac compatible with Catalina

JustPlay is a video player that proves you don’t need to have a complicated, overdone interface to get the job done. JustPlay is an all-in-one Mac video player that can handle MP4, MOV, AVI, SWF, MKV, FLAC, FLV, and DAT files, among others. This video player also has a small storage footprint and doesn’t require a computer with high-level specs in order to run well. JustPlay supports OS X 10.9 and later.

JustPlay Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• 4K, 8K and HD playback
• Deinterlace option to cope with any visual imperfections
• Touch Bar support
• Advanced playback options

Cons:

• Only available for purchase, no free version
• Can only be purchased from the Mac App Store

Cisdem VideoPlayer is a good choice for playing large video files on your Mac, such as Full HD 1080p movies. Many consider Cisdem a more powerful alternative to VLC and 5KPlayer (below). This app offers reliably smooth playback where some video players may have trouble keeping up with larger video files. Cisdem VideoPlayer’s interface is fairly intuitive and it fully supports all popular SD & HD video formats (e.g. MOV, WMV, AVI, MP4, M4V, FLV, MKV, RMVB, MPEG, as well as 5K and Full HD 1080P videos), and audio files (MP3, OGG, WMA, WAV, M4A, etc.).

Cisdem video player Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• Supports over 50 media formats with no codec packs required
• 4K/5K/1080p HD videos supported
• No waiting for videos to buffer, and no pop-up ads
• Subtitles generally load automatically to video files

Cons:

• Some issues occur when using a dual-core laptop
• Occasional delays when using with MP4 videos

MPlayerX is a simple, easy to use video player that was developed specifically for Mac users. It won’t take up much space on your hard drive and it’s capable of supporting almost all media file formats. MPlayerX also works with Apple Remote, has a full screen mode, and lets you change the size of subtitles for all of you foreign film fanatics.

MPlayerX Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• Capable of playing an impressive variety of video and audio formats
• Simple user interface, easy to learn for beginners
• Very subtitle-friendly

Cons:

• Playlists are not easy to make use of
• Has a higher incidence of crashes than most other video players

Plex is a bit more complicated than some of the previous video players we’ve mentioned in this article. Perhaps one of its most useful features is that it has the power to save all of your media files on its server, and allows you to play them on your Smart TV or any TV that supports devices such as Roku, Chromecast, or Amazon Fire. It also stores your files in a library and automatically downloads DVD artwork and organizes those files for you.

Plex is a powerful application whose aim is to consolidate all of your media needs into one single platform. Its user interface is a bit complicated, but Plex allows its user to fully customize his or her media library and stream them from any “smart” device in their home, wirelessly. Plex will probably put you on a learning curve, but once you’ve gotten over that, you’re in for a treat.

Plex media server Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• Works on a variety of operating systems: Mac OS X, Windows, Linux
• With Plex Companion, you can view content from your Mac on your smart TV, and other smart-devices in your home, wirelessly
• Plex allows you to sync content from the Plex Media Server to the cloud

Cons:

• Issues are often encountered relating to user accounts
• Interface is not especially user friendly, and sometimes confusing

RealPlayer is a well-known video player that has the capability to play almost all media formats. It is a powerful program, with many features that will likely go unused by an average user, and thus, it can seem a bit redundant at times. Generally, RealPlayer requires that your computer has some pretty top-notch specs, and if you don’t have these specs, you might need to download some additional applications before you can download RealPlayer itself.

RealPlayer Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• This player offers a cloud service to store your media, but it comes at a price, depending on how much storage you require
• Allows the user to send videos, photos, etc, to friends via social media and email
• The RealPlayer app can be used on a wide variety of devices, such as Xbox One, Kindle Fire, Roku, etc.

Cons:

• Library often takes a long time to load
• Tends to slow down anything else happening on a device when it’s running

• It should run all known video and audio formats: WMV, AVI, MOV, MP4, MP3, DAT, FLAC, FLV, SWF, MP3, M4V, MPG, and MKV
• The video player you choose should be compatible with the latest version of Mac OS and support videos of the highest quality (4K and 8K)
• Look for an app that boasts a Mac-friendly user interface
• Try to find a player with features to create and manage playlists and user-friendly controls for more convenient movie watching
• Be wary of lots of ads and pop-ups when you go to download a new player - this is not a good sign when searching for a video player for Mac

Have MacBook Pro/Air? This lightweight player will run as smooth as possible. Once you ask yourself what video player is the best for your MacBook Pro/Air, consider the key factor to be the CPU load and how smooth it may work on the device. We recommend using Elmedia among all the above-mentioned ones or a native QuickTime Player. You can find all the other factors and criteria for choosing the best app above in the article.