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WMA Player: How to Choose the Best One 2022-2023

Olga Weis Olga Weis Nov 24, 2022
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Try the Best WMA Player for Mac

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WMA is not a natively supported format on macOS. A WMA player for Mac is required to open these files. And on Windows, you may want to try alternatives to the default media player. This article contains information about some popular media players for Windows and macOS, including their features and advantages. With this info, it will be easy to choose a third-party app for all your WMA needs.

Best WMA Player for Mac — Elmedia

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
Download website version

Elmedia Player is a WMA player for macOS that can also open many other media formats, including WAV, FLAC, WMV, AVI, and FLV. Elmedia Player opens and exports .m3u playlists, and has a 10-band equalizer. There is an audio visualization option with several different modes. Playback can be slowed down or sped up.

Elmedia Player can make full use of AirPlay and DLNA devices, streaming to a wide variety of WiFi dongles and Smart TVs with high sound quality. This makes it one of the best music players for Mac. It’s also compatible with AC3/DTS, for those hi-def audio setups. With its large set of lossless codecs, Elmedia Player can definitely be called a Mac FLAC player. The basic version of Elmedia Player is free, and it’s worth trying.

Elmedia Player

How to Play WMA in Elmedia Player

1
Download and install the player.

Download Elmedia Player to your Mac.
2

Open the app and add your music to the playlist:

  • Drag it to the player window.
  • Or right-click the file in Finder and then "Open With".
  • Or use the File > Open function in Elmedia.
Play video in Elmedia Player.
3
That’s it! Enjoy watching MP4 on Mac with ease.

Supported audio formats: MP3, OGG, WAV, FLAC, M4A, AAC, WMA, MKA, AIFF, APE, and others.

Supported OS: macOS

Price: free version available, PRO with added features costs $19.95

Mac App Store Rating: 4.5 out of 5

icon pros Pros:

  • Compatible with lots of hardware
  • Lossless and hi-def support
  • Lots of control over audio
  • Playlist management
  • Has a free version.

icon cons Cons:

  • Important features locked behind PRO.

Alternative WMA Players for Mac

VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player is available on Mac and Windows for free and it can open almost any audio format, including WMA. Despite being totally free and open-source, VLC includes a large amount of sound settings, including an equalizer, pitch adjustment, compressor, and spatializer. An audio visualizer is included. Playlists can be imported and exported. VLC can play tracks from the hard drive, streams, radio channels, or remote files over FTP. DLNA, AirPlay, and Chromecast devices are supported via the Playback > Renderer option.

Play WMA with VLC Media Player.

Supported audio formats: MP3, AAC, Vorbis, AC3, WMA, FLAC, ALAC, etc.

Supported OS: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android

Price: free

Trustpilot Rating: 2.2 out of 5

icon pros Pros:

  • Highly configurable audio
  • Fully free, open software.

icon cons Cons:

  • Settings and menus can be confusing
  • Updates are slow.

5KPlayer

5KPlayer by Digiarty is a WMA player Mac and Windows app. It’s able to stream over DLNA and AirPlay. There’s also an equalizer with presets. Playlists can be opened and created in the internal 5KPlayer library, but not exported. This player combines many different pieces of software in one shell. For instance, 5KPlayer includes a converter and a simple video editor. Sadly, the interface is not very convenient. It’s also a bit pushy with the requests to register, which, when combined with the fact that the app is free, create a cause for suspicion.

Use 5KPlayer to play WMA files.

Supported audio formats: MP3, WMA, FLAC, AAC, AC3, OGG.

Supported OS: macOS, Windows

Price: freeware

Trustpilot Rating: 3.7 out of 5

icon pros Pros:

  • Free to use
  • Has some unique features.

icon cons Cons:

  • Suspicious
  • Awkward interface.

Vidmore Player

Vidmore Player’s features are centered around DVDs. It can load Blu-rays and open .iso files directly, without mounting. This is useful if you have a collection of ripped music CDs, since you won’t have to convert them or divide them into separate music tracks. Vidmore is totally compatible with surround sound and technologies such as Dolby Digital. However, it doesn’t have a built-in equalizer, which is not great for a WMA player. In addition, the player is prohibitively expensive - the price of the lifetime license is $59.95 at the moment of writing.

Media player software for Blu-rays, DVDs, and 4K videos.

Supported audio formats: ISO, FLAC, OGG, MP3 WMA, MKA, AAC, AIFF, and others.

Supported OS: macOS, Windows

Price: $59.95

G2 Rating: 4.5 out of 5

icon pros Pros:

  • Loads ISO files
  • Compatible with DVD menus and special codecs.

icon cons Cons:

  • No equalizer
  • The price is extremely high compared to other players.

Cisdem Video Player

Cisdem Player for Windows and Mac is simple and does the bare minimum that’s needed from a media player. It has a built-in playlist with shuffle and repeat functions, fast forward/rewind, volume controls, and that’s about it. It does not include an equalizer. On the other hand, the cost for this WMA player is pretty low at $9.99.

Follow and find how to open WMA in Cisdem Video Player.

Supported audio formats: WAV, OGG, FLAC, MKA, and others.

Supported OS: macOS, Windows

Price: $9.99

Mac App Store Rating: 4.4 out of 5

icon pros Pros:

  • Cheap.

icon cons Cons:

  • Lacking even when compared to free players
  • No equalizer.

List of Best WMA Players for Windows

KMPlayer

KMPlayer is a video and audio WMA player for Windows and mobile platforms. It integrates streaming services. In addition to many audio formats, including WMA, it can open mounted DVDs and Blu-ray discs. KMPlayer comes with an equalizer and playback speed controls. It also includes a normalization filter, but we don't recommend normalizing high-fidelity audio, since that tends to degrade the quality. KMPlayer is free, but it's filled to the brim with ads. Which are, by the way, listed as a positive feature on their homepage.

Follow and find how to load WMA with KMPlayer.

Supported audio formats: WMA, MP3, FLAC, WAV, etc.

Supported OS: Windows, iOS, Android

Price: free, but with ads

icon pros Pros:

  • Includes an equalizer
  • Opens CDs and DVDs.

icon cons Cons:

  • Ads everywhere
  • The UI is cluttered with streaming services.

Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player mainly plays Microsoft proprietary formats. In that regard, it’s way more restricted than third-party players. For instance, it can’t play MKV or OGG, which aren’t all that rare.

Despite the claims, you can’t simply change WMA to MP3 with Windows Media Player. Any MP3 conversion is only possible from a CD, and burning files to a CD is not worth it when compared to any other solution.

Follow and find how to load WMA in Windows Media Player.

Supported audio formats: WAV, FLAC, CDA, M4A, AAC, MP3, MID.

Supported OS: Windows 11

Price: free, built into the system

icon pros Pros:

  • Simple to use
  • Free.

icon cons Cons:

  • Limited to Microsoft formats.

MusicBee

MusicBee is a Windows-exclusive WMA player with an open developer API. It has dozens of add-ons available, including UI skins, visualizer modules, and various functional plugins. The player allows users to choose between a 10-band and a 15-band equalizer, and has other audio tools, such as logarithmic scaling and surround sound upmixing. This community-built app is totally free, and it’s very advanced, even when compared with some paid ones.

Follow and find how to open WMA using MusicBee.

Supported audio formats: MP3, AAC, M4A, ALAC, FLAC, WMA, WAV, Opus, APE, others.

Supported OS: Windows 10, 11

Price: free

TechRadar Rating: 5 out of 5

icon pros Pros:

  • Full of useful audio features
  • Completely free.

icon cons Cons:

  • Plugin search is too simple, no filtering or sorting
  • Windows only.

Convert WMA to MP3 on Mac

If you don’t want to look for a WMA player for Mac, there’s a temporary solution. Try using an online converter service - most of these are free. Convertio is one of these websites. Make sure to choose a format that can be opened by the default player, such as MP3. This is not a viable solution if you have many audio files, since converting each one by hand is a bit slow and tedious.

Follow and find how to convert WMA with Convertio.

Most mainline players are already compatible with WMA, so there’s no real need to look for a specific category. We recommend trying general-purpose apps like Elmedia Player. Sometimes, even slight differences in interface design can make or break the player. Try choosing your WMA player based on how convenient and simple it is to use.

Frequently Asked Questions:

MP3 is compatible with more software. WMA is not significantly different in quality from MP3. The only reason to keep WMA files is for archival purposes since conversion could affect the original sound in some way.
Try VLC. It’s also an M4A player, it’s basically universal. No ads, too.
Try the best audio player for Mac, Elmedia Player! It loads .wma files without the need for external codecs, out of the box.
Both paid and free music players like VLC support WMA.
Not every MP3 player can decode WMA. For example, QuickTime can play the former, but not the latter. But most players these days are universal.
You can do it with the default Windows Media Player. The file should already be associated with the app, just double-click it in Explorer.
Elmedia: universal video player
Requirements: macOS 10.12+ , 89.21MB of free space
Version 8.12(3287) (8 Jan, 2023) Release notes
Category: Video
Get free version