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Try the VLC Alternative for Mac

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VLC Alternative Mac Player: Elmedia

VLC has a long history and has become the most popular media player. However, it has encountered many issues over the last few years such as bugs, glitches, etc. forcing its users to look for VLC alternative players.

For a Universal Mac Media Player such as Elmedia, these problems are long gone. If you are interested in knowing more, read our comparison and decide for yourself.

Top choice
Elmedia: universal video player
4.5 Rank based on 1531+ users, Reviews(793)
 
Direct Download
Lets find best VLC Alternative Mac Player.

Choosing your perfect alternative to VLC can become a disaster, as you should go through dozens of apps. Keep in mind the following criteria while searching for a decent media player: support for lots of formats, including .wmv, .mpeg, .mp4, etc., no additional codecs settings or downloading, compatibility with your OS, support for subtitles, AirPlay, etc. If you don’t want to waste your time investigating, read our article. We’ve done this routine for you.

Why You Need a VLC Alternative?

VLC Media Player is one of the most popular media players for all platforms. It is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. Despite being free, there are a number of features such as an ad-free interface, support for various media formats, AirPlay, converting any file format, downloading YouTube videos, recording video and audio files, and even creating bookmarks that make it a favorite choice for both casual and experienced users.


Transfer the file to the player and it will immediately play.


However, there are those who are not satisfied with VLC. Some users find that it crashes without warning, some are frustrated that it does not support all file types, and others complain about the outdated interface. Definitely, there can be a lot of reasons why people look for VLC alternative apps, ranging from personal dislike to technical characteristics, but to sum up, we can state the main reasons in the following list:

  • • Broken files cannot be played in VLC.
  • • Has some issues while playing some MP4 files.
  • • Requires codec settings for a few formats.
  • • Crashes without warning.
  • • Can damage the speakers.

Definitely, the developers of the VLC player offer us new updates making the app better and more perfect. However, if it doesn’t make a cut, you can find a list of VLC alternative Mac apps below.

There’s No Better VLC Alternative Than Elmedia Player

Elmedia: universal video player
4.5 Rank based on 1531 + users Reviews(793)
Requirements: macOS 10.12+
Version: v8.12(3287), Released 8 Jan, 2023 Release notes
Category: Video
Direct Download

As soon as you get to know Elmedia Player you will not miss the VLC player as this Mac alternative has improved functionality, stability, and design. The app is aimed to provide a complete experience without using additional codecs or settings. Besides that, you can extend the functionality of this VLC alternative at a very low and reasonable price and benefit from the enhanced features offered by the app.


Best Universal Mac Media Player.

User Interface

It won’t be difficult for you to deal with the Elmedia Player’s interface, as it is designed with its users in mind. In general, the interface is not overloaded with buttons and offers convenient video playback both in full and not full-screen modes.

On the contrary, VLC has a slightly complicated interface where the most common functions are hidden away from the user. In other words, VLC Media Player alternative apps can offer better UI.

Format Compatibility

Both apps can boast about handling a great variety of formats. Nevertheless, while using VLC player you will need to perform some codec settings that can be rather inconvenient and difficult for newbies as instead of watching the content they need to figure out how to configure the app. That’s why most VLC users go for the Mac VLC alternative.

Stream from Mac to TV

VLC streaming interface is quite confusing, requiring a lot of time to get to use it, figuring out how it works, and not getting lost in poorly-explained options. However, the app does allow a great deal of customization for your streams. Still, if you want everything to work in a quick and easy way, go for Elmedia Player. This VLC alternative for Mac сan seamlessly cast from Mac to Chromecast, DLNA, and AirPlay devices.


Stream video to your TV in a couple of clicks.

Performance

Hardware acceleration can be found both in Elmedia Player and in VLC Media Player without much difference. However, when it comes to Elmedia, the app supports more GPU hardware than VLC Media Player. Besides that, when playing HD and UHD clips there one can find the more apparent difference. Still, if VLC hardware acceleration doesn’t work on your platform, then it is definitely the sign for you to look for you should look for a VLC Media Player alternative.

Screenshot Functionality

Just like VLC, Elmedia Player supports screenshot functionality. However, the latest offers a more advanced way of taking screenshots (format options for the resulting images). Still, both apps support taking screenshots at regular intervals.

Subtitle Support

Both players can work with .srt, .ass, and .smil files as well as support basic functionality for external and embedded subtitle tracks. However, Elmedia Player supports a built-in automatic subtitle search missing in VLC. In addition, you can set the default language which will be selected from search results.


You can customize subtitles by yourself as you like.

Comparison Table

For brevity’s sake, we’ve condensed all our technical info into this table. Use the data below to make your final decision.

Top Features Elmedia VLC
OS macOS 13.0 Ventura, 12.0 Monterey, 11.0 Big Sur, 10.15 Catalina, 10.14 Mojave, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X 10.11 El Capitan, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, and earlier. macOS 10.15 Catalina, 10.14 Mojave, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X 10.11 El Capitan, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, and earlier.
Interface Refined and convenient. Bulky, hard to use.
Graphics Hardware-accelerated, with constant updates to improve performance. Hardware-accelerated, may perform poorly with HD videos.
UHD/HD experience Compatible with H.264/H.265, 4K, 4K HDR, 8K. Compatible with H.264/H.265, 4K, 4K HDR, 8K, sometimes 4K/8K playback is choppy.
Subtitles Highly automated, with language options, online and local search. Can be added and switched manually.
Settings Alter playback, visuals, many other facets. Plentiful but confusing.

Serious Downsides of VLC Media Player

Potential Speaker Damage

There’s a solid reason to look for a VLC alternative Mac player. Running VLC at maximum volume (above 100%) may cause damage to some speakers. This is especially bad in laptops, where such damage may void their warranty. The volume slider may be reconfigured to cap out at 100%, but it would be much better and safer to have it set that way by default.

Crashes and Freezes

Much like any open-source project, VLC isn’t perfect. This isn’t frequent at all, but you will definitely encounter bugs and glitches. Sometimes it happens with a single format, sometimes you can’t open any files at all. Expect the worst after major system updates.

More VLC Alternatives for Mac

MPlayerX

MPlayerX starts our list of Mac VLC alternative solutions. It is an omnivorous player that is capable of playing a wide variety of media file formats, including those problematic for macOS (OGG, MKV, WMV, FLAC).


MPlayerX is a free and open-source media player software application.


Features:

  • • Allows adjusting the picture by 7 parameters.
  • • Presence of a 10-band graphic equalizer.
  • • Index recalculation function.
  • • Support for subtitle font, color, alignment, method of loading.

Movist

Movist is an easy-to-use and powerful VLC Media Player alternative that supports many useful functions for watching movies. Besides that, the app can boast about an interesting "set as desktop" playback method.


The player works quickly and with minimal loss of quality.


Feature:

  • • H.264 video decoding.
  • • High-quality subtitles (subtitles can not only be read but also listened to).
  • • Full-screen mode.
  • • Support for 10-bit colors.

QuickTime Player

QuickTime is the default app for playing video files on macOS. But it features more than you can expect. In fact, this is a whole media combine, very easy to learn, and is a good VLC alternative for Mac.


The player is available on all devices on Mac OS.


Features:

  • • Support for videos and images of any format.
  • • Reverse video playback.
  • • QuickTime allows you to rewind a video in several ways.
  • • Allows you to pin the QuickTime Player window on top.

DivX

DivX is another alternative to VLC player that is designed to play as well as convert videos in various formats. The player is capable of displaying subtitles, allows you to select audio tracks, and allows you to burn video to disc.


An application with a user-friendly interface and many features.


Features:

  • • Support for 8 audio tracks and 2 subtitles in one video.
  • • Video parameters editing feature.
  • • No additional codecs required to play videos.

In our article, we have overviewed several VLC alternative players. All of them have their weak and strong sides and can be a cup of tea for any user. As for our top choice, we would consider Elmedia as it is a rather convenient, easy-to-use player with lots of enhanced features at a reasonable price. You are welcome to share your opinion about VLC alternatives and which one your favorite is.

Frequently Asked Questions:

There are various alternatives to VLC. The list of best media players for Mac is huge: Elmedia Player, GOM Player, KMPlayer, DivX, MPlayerX, Movist, QuickTime, etc. The whole concept of each app is the same, still, they differ in the offered set of features.
For some users, there is no better alternative to VLC rather than DivX. It all depends on personal taste, some users even say that DivX is one of the best QuickTime alternative for Mac. However, DivX can boast about supporting more formats than VLC.
Well, truly speaking, in some cases VLC is a bit better than GOM Player, however, concerning the question how to Chromecast from Mac - GOM leads this poll.
Elmedia: universal video player
Requirements: macOS 10.12+ , 89.21MB of free space
Version 8.12(3287) (8 Jan, 2023) Release notes
Category: Video
Direct Download