Olga Weis
Nov 3, 2022
Being a rather popular format on Windows, WMV causes difficulties for QuickTime Player. To be able to seamlessly play this format, Mac users should search for third-party apps. In this article, we have gathered the list of the most popular WMV player Mac apps and will help you choose your perfect one.
Without a doubt, the best solution for watching WMV on Mac devices is Elmedia Player. Elmedia supports a wide range of media formats - files like AVI, FLV, SWF, MP3, DAT, FLAC, M4V, DivX, MKV, and of course, allows you to open WMV on Mac. It has plenty more features to offer, like preview thumbnails on the timeline and bookmark editing. You can search for subtitles and save them as separate files, sync up video and audio, and add external audio tracks.
For just $19.95, Elmedia Player PRO can do even more. Stream unlimited video, audio, and pictures from your Mac to bigger screens like Smart TVs via AirPlay 2, DLNA, Chromecast, or Chromecast Ultra and enter Picture-in-Picture mode. Elmedia Player PRO also allows for custom-tuning of video playback, lets you take screenshots, and gives you the ability to adjust the color and font of your subtitles.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS
Price: free to use, PRO upgrade priced at $19.95
App Store Rating: 4.8 out of 5
VLC Media Player has been around longer than most apps that play WMV files. This open-source and free WMV player for Mac has the ability to play 360-degree videos and media files in resolutions up to 8K, as well as compressed video.
VLC comes with an expansive set of features. You can change playback speed or audio quality and even add video effects. The app fully supports colored subtitles, additional subtitles, and audio tracks. However, one of the problems VLC has is that it’s hard to find a lot of these features in the less-than-intuitive menu, which can make it frustrating to use.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
Price: free, donation-based service
Trustpilot Rating: 2.2 out of 5
If you’re looking for a WMV player for Mac free of charge to manage your entire video collection, then 5KPlayer is one of the best ways to watch WMV files on Mac. You can add your entire video library to 5KPlayer, which allows you to find videos via this WMV player for Mac instead of looking for them on your hard drive. To back that up, you can also stream videos straight from YouTube, as well as use Apple’s AirPlay to display those videos over multiple devices. Open just about any format and customize it easily with the versatile audio and video playback management options.
Something to look out for, though, is that the free version of 5KPlayer is supported by ads, which can annoy you while you’re in the player’s menus. Thankfully, they don’t play while you’re watching a video, though.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS, Windows
Price: freeware
Trustpilot Rating: 3.7 out of 5
IINA is a macOS video player that will help you open WMV on Mac. This smartly-developed app provides users with intuitive menus and even supports gesture controls to make playing videos much easier. The features make it ideal for a Retina screen, and it’s a perfect fit for every user’s needs, whether they need a simple video player or a high-quality professional application that can handle every part of the playback process. IINA can take care of anything you put up to it.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS
Price: totally free
MacUpdate Rating: 4.4 out of 5
If you’re looking for a video player that can handle a variety of professional tasks, then Switch is what you’re looking for. Designed for media professionals, not only can you play videos, you can inspect, and adjust the video files but also the app allows single file transcoding and file conversion to ensure playback on any device. Change Windows Media content into MP4 files to make it compatible with any device out there.
This best WMV player for Mac solution was developed by Telestream, the developer of Flip4Mac, which was the only way of playing WMV files on Mac via QuickTime for a very long time. It comes with several different plans to use Switch the way you want to, starting at $19.95.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS, Windows
Price: free trial, 3 plans starting from $19.95
MacUpdate Rating: 1.6 out of 5
If you are searching for the WMV player for Mac at a reasonable price, take a closer look at OmniPlayer. The app can boast handling an impressive range of formats and supports streaming over AirPlay and DLNA. Another great advantage is its ability to play and create playlists. Besides that, OmniPlayer offers video playback from online streaming platforms like YouTube and Vimeo.
Additionally, this video player offers wide configuration options. You can easily tune your audio and video playback, adjust subtitles (colors and fonts), perform video color correction, and way more. Unfortunately, users can benefit from all features unless they upgrade to PRO version of the app.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS, Windows
Price: free to use, PRO upgrade priced at $8.99
App Store Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Cisdem is one more WMV player for Mac worth consideration. It is a rather minimalistic app that lacks settings compared to the rest of the players, however, despite this fact, it does a decent job and is quite powerful. Among its features, you can find playback speed settings, support for bookmarks, audio equalization, track synchronization, playlist creation, and way more.
Cisdem can perfectly handle video playback at high resolutions up to 5K which can be a great plus when talking about the advantages of the app. In addition, it is not only a video player but also a conversion tool. With its help, you can seamlessly convert almost any format to MP3, MP4, and other standard media codecs.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS, Windows
Price: $9.99
MacUpdate Rating: 3 out of 5
According to the reviews, MPlayerX can play media files in all current formats without the use of third-party tools. The interface of this WMV player for Mac reminds users of QuickTime Player, however, with minimal themes. Having an integrated interface the player guarantees comfortable work with both video and audio tracks. To control the main functions of the program, you can use the display elements of the interface or a set of shortcuts.
This player is definitely not the worst option for watching HD videos on a Mac as well as playing WMV files as its price is the lowest from the list of current players and it can be easily downloaded from the Mac App Store.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS
Price: $1.99
App Store Rating: 3.6 out of 5
Another way to be able to open WMV on Mac is to use conversion software and convert .wmv files into the format that is supported by QuickTime. Well, it can’t be called manna from heavenб however, for the fans of QuickTime it can be a great option, in case they don’t want to use another WMV player for Mac. Additionally, conversion tools can help if you have to deal with outdated file types.
UniConverter is a functional and fast converter equipped with editing options, including video montage. Here you can merge and trim video, apply effects, text, and work with audio. This video conversion tool allows you to record videos, download movies from the Internet, extract sound from clips and cut DVDs. There is a built-in media server for broadcasting recordings online.
With UniConverter you can solve the issue of how to open WMV on Mac as the app allows you to convert files to any of 150+ formats and has ready-made presets for mobile devices, including iPad. Besides that, you can convert a whole group of files to a new extension at once.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS, Windows
Price: free trial, $49.99/year
App Store Rating: 4.5 out of 5
It’s clear that there are a bunch of capable Macintosh WMV player solutions but we want to narrow that down even further with a quick list of features. Look out for these when trying to find the best WMV player for Mac.
A good WMV player should:
We've curated the best WMV players for Mac in one easy-to-remember chart. Find the right one for you here!
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Top Features
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VideoDuke
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Elmedia Player
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VLC Media Player
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5KPlayer
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IINA Player
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Switch Player
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Complete support for several video formats
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Complete support for several video formats
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yes (AVI, FLV, SWF, MP4, WMV, MOV, DAT, M4V, MPG, DivX, MKV, etc.)
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yes (MKV, MP4, VOB, WMV, MPG AVI, etc.)
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yes (MKV, M2TS, MP4, AVI, WMV, FLV, etc.)
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yes (AVI, MP4, FLV, SWF, WMV, MKV, M4V, etc.)
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yes (MKV, AVI, FLV, AVCHD, WMV, etc.)
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|
Supports several popular audio formats
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Supports several popular audio formats
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yes (MP3, WMA, AC2, MKA, OGG, FLAC, AAC, etc.)
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yes (AAC, AC-3, FLAC, MP3, ALAC, etc.)
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yes (MP3, AAC, AC3, WMA, FLAC, ALAC, etc.)
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yes (AAC,FLAC, MP3, WAV, WMA, etc.)
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yes (MP3, OGG, ACC, WMA, AIFF, etc.)
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|
Allows local WMV streaming to TV
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Allows local WMV streaming to TV
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yes (PRO)
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yes
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yes
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no
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no
|
|
Integrated Video Tuner
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Integrated Video Tuner
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yes (PRO)
|
yes
|
yes
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no
|
no
|
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Allows video conversion from one format to another
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Allows video conversion from one format to another
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no
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yes
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no
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no
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yes (PRO)
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Simple video enhancement features: rotate, mirror image, flip, etc.
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Simple video enhancement features: rotate, mirror image, flip, etc.
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yes
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yes
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yes
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yes
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no
|
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Built-in audio equalizer
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Built-in audio equalizer
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yes
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yes
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no
|
yes
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no
|
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Integrated subtitle support
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Integrated subtitle support
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yes
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yes
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yes
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yes
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yes (PRO)
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Allows subtitle playback acceleration/deceleration (Subtitle sync)
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Allows subtitle playback acceleration/deceleration (Subtitle sync)
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yes
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yes
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no
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yes
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yes (PRO)
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Supports online searching for subtitles
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Supports online searching for subtitles
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yes
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add-on
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no
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yes
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no
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Hardware Acceleration enabled
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Hardware Acceleration enabled
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yes
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yes
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yes
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yes
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yes
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Enables screen recording
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Enables screen recording
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no
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yes
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no
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no
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no
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Built-in Browser extension plays media from websites directly
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Built-in Browser extension plays media from websites directly
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no
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yes
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no
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yes
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no
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No-cost version
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Free Option
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yes
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yes
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yes
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yes
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yes
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WMV, or Windows Media Video, is a compressed video file format. It was developed by Microsoft and used in several different third-party apps as well as enables easy sharing over the Internet and Email. It allows compression of large video files while allowing for high-quality playback to be achieved, which makes it incredibly popular in use with online radio stations that deliver a continuous flow of data. Its similarity to ASF means that it can be packaged with that file as well as AVI, making it optimal for streaming.
Frequently Asked Questions:
