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Being a nonnative format for macOS, MKV causes difficulties for users as the default media player QuickTime is unable to handle files of such format. In this article, we’ll guide you through the 11 most popular MKV players for Mac, and Elmedia Player is among the best ones.
Matroska Video files are multimedia container formats that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture, and subtitle tracks, all in one file - irrespective of the type of encoding needed for each. So that means you could have an MKV file that contains both H.264 video and AAC or MP3 for audio. Matroska Video extension is commonly used for HD movies and TV shows.
The great thing about this format is it was designed to be future-proof and that way its files wouldn’t become outdated. A few ways this was achieved include:
When searching for the best MKV player for Mac, there are different criteria you should take into consideration such as the ability to play different formats and not only MKV, support for playback control, the ability to handle high-quality videos, etc. Make sure you have investigated the issue thoroughly and without any rush. To help you, we have made this comparison table so you can have a better picture of what each MKV player for Mac has to offer.
Elmedia Player is a go-to choice when choosing an MKV player for Mac. Powerful, convenient, and reliable, it includes all the necessary features for both advanced users and newbies. Here you can find the ability to export/import bookmarks, video tuning, DLNA streaming, playlist creation, saving, automatic screenshot series, and way more. It is a constantly updating player that can be used on the latest version of macOS.
In terms of compatibility, Elmedia Player supports almost all formats including non-native/unplayable for macOS so you won’t encounter any playback issues. You are guaranteed smooth playback of your audio and video content no matter whether it is FLV, SWF, AVI, MOV, MP4, MP3, etc. In addition, this video player for Mac comes with support for external and internal subtitles, as well as an online search for subtitle tracks.
According to the MacSources’ review, Elmedia Player is a rather versatile and user-friendly app that guarantees smooth video and audio playback. As for the price, this MKV player Mac app is worth every dime user spends on it. However, there is some confusion when trying to download this video player as there are several versions of it in the App Store as well as there are several online ways to get it. For more information, visit MacSources.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS
Price: free to use, PRO upgrade priced at $19.95
Another decent variant to watch MKV on Mac is VLC. This video player started its history back in 1996 as a diploma project of a few students from École Centrale Paris in France and was called VideoLAN Client. With time, the popularity of this player got wider and wider and developers decided to make it an open-source project so that everyone can contribute to it.
Since that time, the app has recommended itself thanks to its high-security measures offering the most convenient use. VLC media player can boast support for almost all file formats and Matroska Video files is not an exception. The player offers a wide variety of enhanced features among which are the ability to create a custom playlist on the fly, configure the design of the interface, high-speed audio and video converter, etc.
Despite being a well-known and popular video player, VLC is far from being perfect and as the rest of MKV file player Mac apps got issues when playing videos. Among the issues, there are problems with audio syncing, video stuttering, etc. More reviews can be found on Trustpilot.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
Price: free and open-source
5KPlayer has a reputation as the free MKV video player. Having a user-friendly interface the app makes it possible to quickly get used to it and benefit from all the features like downloading videos right from the Internet, extracting the audio in lossless quality, and way more. 5KPlayer offers a wide set of different options to tune your perfect picture. In addition, the file format compatibility of this player is very huge.
However, there are several aspects users should take into consideration. According to the statements of some users they face the issue of their computer slowing down when using this MKV player Mac app. Besides that, the free mode is full of ads users can face up to when searching the library or adjusting settings. Another downside of this MKV video player is the difficulty in uninstalling it from your Mac. More reviews from the users can be found here.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS, Windows
Price: freeware
OmniPlayer is a media player for Mac with an average amount of video, audio, and playback control. It has a video equalizer with 3 effects - Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation - and streaming capabilities. OmniPlayer can also directly open URLs from streaming websites. On the other hand, many of its features are locked behind the Pro upgrade. The upgrade is cheap, but the player is really simple and can be compared to free and open-source apps.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS
Price: Free, $8.99 for Pro
Next on our list of the best MKV file player Mac solutions is MKPlayer. Like the rest of the third-party media players, it offers the standard set of features, however, there is something distinguished in it, namely user experience. You can simply install it from the App Store and adjust the audio and video settings according to your needs with just a couple of clicks.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS
Price: free, In-App Purchase.
IINA is considered the most well-designed MKV viewer Mac solution that fully integrates with the macOS environment. Every feature you can find on a MacBook is supported by this app, including Retina, Touch Bar, Gestures, Picture-in-Picture, and Dark Mode. As for the file format compatibility, well, this player can handle almost all formats, including the ability to play MKV on Mac. Another great thing about IINA is that it offers plug-in support, so the users can enhance the app according to their wishes.
Compared to the rest of MKV player for Mac alternatives, namely VLC, it is worth noting, that IINA is easier to use, though, in terms of functionality, it can compete with the most well-known players. Additionally, this MKV file player gains lots of positive reviews and ratings on different platforms and you can check one of them here.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS
Price: totally free
For the fans of QuickTime we found a more enhanced version called Movist. This .mkv player Mac app features a user-friendly interface, the one that QuickTime admirers got used to, however, the developers of this video player went further and brought a unique high-quality capture function. With Movist you can not only easily play Matroska Video file format but also almost all possible video formats available on the market. The app offers impressive playback navigation options and the built-in ability to create screenshots.
When comparing Movist Pro with the rest of MKV video players, it definitely stands among the others, as the player offers a wide work with subtitles. You can not only work with multiple subtitles, listen to subtitles set the default ones but also disable, enable, select the language, and way more.
Among the rest of advantages of Movist Pro, we can also highlight the controller overlay feature. With its help, you can adjust almost everything while watching MKV movies and not only. For more information about all the features available in Movist Pro, we recommend reading Setapp article.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS
Price: free, PRO version costs $4.99
Next on our list of the top paid MKV players is Mac Blu-ray Player. According to the developers, the app is very easy to use and supports all the most common media files. Mac Blu-ray Player is capable of handling both Blu-ray and DVD formats and plays HD content from both your hard drive and Blu-ray devices (internal or USB). The simple and intuitive interface will allow you to get real pleasure from watching your favorite movies.
However, when talking about the price of this video player, Mac Blu-ray Player is more expensive compared to the rest of the apps. Originally, this player was mostly designed to handle Blu-ray format and we should admit it does its job perfectly, still, it doesn’t make much sense to overpay for an app if you need to play MKV on Mac only. In case you need both, try cheaper yet more powerful alternatives, for instance, Elmedia Player.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS, Windows (for PRO version only)
Price: free, Pro version costs $79.95
Plex can be your answer if you are looking for a service that can easily open MKV files on Mac. Frankly speaking, it is not a video player that users got used to. It is more like a streaming service where you can upload your own content instead of taking it from the platform. Plex offers a free version of the app with limited features and a subscription package called Plex Pass that offers more enhanced settings and features. So if you have a huge collection of MKV movies - consider getting a Plex Pass.
Besides that, the service can boast a huge list of supported media files, and devices as well as synchronization with cloud storage.
According to the reviews at PCMag, Plex is an all-in-one solution for convenient and easy video playback. However, if to take a look at Trustpilot, users have a more negative experience from using it than positive.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
Price: free, $4.99 monthly for Plex Pass
Powerful management, support for an impressive set of formats, classic design, and Apple Remote support make MPlayerX truly one of the most popular MKV Mac apps. MPlayerX can seamlessly deal with the files stored on your Mac computer as well as play media files from the Internet that are accessed using the HTTP protocol.
However, there are several downsides worth noting. The last update of this MKV video player was back in 2016 since then there have been no changes. Additionally, in 2020 MPlayerX was claimed to be malware according to some sites. Still, there is no one hundred percent proof for this statement it is better to be careful and try one of the more reliable MKV player Mac apps.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS
Price: $1.99
Last but not least MKV file player Mac solution is DivX. The app features a user-friendly interface so it won’t take a lot of time to figure out how it works. Among its wide range of features worth noting are support for most popular video formats, the ability to compress files without affecting the quality of both picture and sound, as well as support for DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD.
Despite being safe and easy to use, this Mac MKV player had some issues with the installation process, as while installing the app to a computer you also get unwanted software. However, there is no need to panic as long as you are downloading this MKV player from the official site. You can even find the article concerning this issue on the official site of the developers where they explain everything and assure users about the safety of the app.
DivX is proudly considered among the best MKV player for Mac apps for a reason. According to the review article, the app can seamlessly play not only MKV file but also any other audio and video formats and is trusted by millions of users.
Pros:
Cons:
Supported OS: macOS, Windows
Price: free, Pro version $19.99
With a great variety of media players it is sometimes difficult to set your mind on the one and only. That is why when choosing a perfect Mac MKV player, take the following criterion into consideration:
There are various options for running MKVs on Mac, unfortunately, it can’t be done natively on Mac. Below we will consider Elmedia Player as one of the options to play MKV files.
Choose one of these methods to open the file:
Just like any other video format, this format has both advantages and disadvantages. Most of the listed cons are relative. For instance, the last one can be avoided when you use Elmedia Player because it’s a multi-feature Mac MKV player.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Supports all video and audio codec combinations including H.265 (MKV HEVC movies). | Has a larger file size than most other formats can offer. |
| Uses both LAN and standard Internet protocol for streaming. | Additional file editing tools may be required. |
| Allows you to add metadata without rewriting the whole file. You can also include your own self-documentation. | Not all players can open MKV files. |
| It’s nonproprietary (open source and totally free) | |
| Offers accessible, comprehensive, and clear documentation |
|
Features
|
VideoDuke
|
Elmedia Player
|
VLC
|
5KPlayer
|
MKPlayer
|
IINA
|
Movist
|
Mac Blu-ray Player
|
Plex
|
MPlayerX
|
DivX
|
|
Plays MKV on Mac and other popular video formats
|
Plays MKV on Mac and other popular video formats
|
yes (AVI, FLV, SWF, MP4, WMV, MOV, DAT, M4V, MPG, DivX, MKV etc.)
|
yes (MKV, MP4, VOB, WMV, MPG, AVI etc.)
|
yes (MKV, M2TS, MP4, AVI, WMV, FLV etc.)
|
yes (MKV, MP4, VOB, WMV, MPG, AVI etc.)
|
yes (AVI, MP4, FLV, SWF, WMV, MKV, M4V etc.)
|
yes (WMV, AVI, MOV, MP4, M4V, FLV, MKV, MPEG, RMVB etc.)
|
yes (WMV, MKV, MPEG, DV, Xvid, DivX, RV, Cinepak etc.)
|
yes (AVI, MOV, MP4, MKV, MPEG, WMV etc.)
|
yes (MKV, MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, FLV, ASF, RMVB etc.)
|
yes (AVI, MKV, HEVC)
|
|
Supports several popular audio formats
|
Supports several popular audio formats
|
yes (MP3, WMA, AC2, MKA, OGG, FLAC, AAC etc.)
|
yes (AAC, AC-3, FLAC, MP3, ALAC etc.)
|
yes (MP3, AAC, AC3, WMA, FLAC, ALAC etc.)
|
yes (AAC, AC-3, FLAC, MP3, ALAC etc.)
|
yes (AAC, FLAC, MP3, WAV, WMA etc.)
|
yes (AAC, MP3, FLAC, WMA, ALAC etc.)
|
yes (AAC3, AC3, ALAC, APE, M4A, MP3, WMA, OGG, DTS etc.)
|
yes (AAC, ALAC, FLAC, MP3, M4A, WAV etc.)
|
yes (MP3, WAV, WMA, FLAC, APE etc.)
|
yes (AC3, DTS)
|
|
Enables local file streaming to other devices (TV, streaming device, etc.)
|
Enables local file streaming to other devices (TV, streaming device, etc.)
|
yes (PRO)
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
no
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Featured audio equalizer
|
Featured audio equalizer
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Supports subtitle feature
|
Supports subtitle feature
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Enables subtitle synchronization
|
Enables subtitle synchronization
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
|
Free option
|
Free option
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
yes
|
If you want to open MKV files on Mac freely, then you need to have a decent player that is MKV compatible. We recommend Elmedia Player, as it has proven to be the most convenient player with lots of handy features. And what is your favorite MKV player Mac app? Leave a comment below.
Frequently Asked Questions:
If you're looking for how to play MKV files on Mac, you can try Elmedia Player, as the app doesn't require any additional codecs or plugins to be able to handle this format. Follow this guide to be able to play MKV files on Mac:
Depends on the needs of the user. We have gathered our top choices. However, many men, many minds. All these MKV player Mac apps have their advantages and disadvantages and there is no clear answer to what is the best player for MKV files, However, we would recommend Elmedia Player as the most decent and reliable to our mind.
Unfortunately, no. QuickTime player is unable to play MKV files, as the component that helped it to play them is not maintained anymore. However, don’t be upset, as you can try any of the MKV player Mac apps described in our article and choose the one most appealing to you.
