PotPlayer (Video Player with Most Features for Windows)
PotPlayer is a freeware video player for Windows.
Download from its official website: [https://potplayer.daum.net/].
PotPlayer has more features than any other free video player I know of. It has so many features you can even get lost in the menus. Due to its developer being Korean, some of its interface may be mistranslated or lacking English translations, but most of it is translated and should work fine.
MPC-BE (Best Libre Video Player for Windows)
MPC-BE is an active fork of MPC-HC, which is an abandoned fork of the original MPC.
Download from its official website: [https://sourceforge.net/projects/mpcbe/].
MPC-BE is libreware available only for Windows.
MPC-BE can play all common audio and video formats (AVI, MP3, WebM, MKV, WMV, MOV, FLV, WAV, MP3, FLAC, OGG, WMA, AIFF, MIDI), can play the next video in a folder, supports videos with multiple languages (audio stream switching), embedded and external subtitles, and has several advanced features in its intuitive user interface. All of these are things PotPlayer can also do.
Two advantages that MPC-BE has over PotPlayer is that it has a menubar and that it's open source. The menubar means that its GUI is more organized, so if you don't need advanced features found only in PotPlayer, MPC-BE should be a better option for you.
![A window titled [virtualcuriosities.com] Video by khanhhoangminh .mp4 - MPC-BE x64 1.8.3. Its menubar: File, View, Play, Navigate, Favorites, Help. The main pane has a video of four puppies in a box. There is a progress bar under the main pane. In it, the title of the video is written. A bar under the progress bar has several buttons, including pause, stop, go to previous, go to next, an unknown right arrow icon, and eject. Two text buttons, AUD and SUB. On the right side of the bottom bar the text GPU can be read, a speakers icon, and a volume bar. The statusbar reads "Playing" on the left side and has the timestamp 00:00 / 00:10 on the right right.](https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/mpc-be-20250410.webp)
SMPlayer (Best Cross-platform Video Player)
SMPlayer is a free and open source cross-platform video player for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It's a frontend for MPlayer, so it shares the same roots as other video players like MPV and Celluloid.
Download from its official website: [smplayer.info].
Although it may look and feel a bit awkward at first glance, SMPlayer provides a lot of customizability that you can use to make it suit your preferences. Your can customize the icons, the theme, what clicking on the main pane does, what the scroll wheel does, all keyboard shortcuts, etc. In terms of media support, functionality, and usability, it's comparable to MPC-BE. I'm sure that to some people SMPlayer is even better than MPC-BE. One feature that SMPlayer has that neither MPC nor PotPlayer have have is its ability to cast to Smart TV's using Chromecast.
![A window titled "[virtualcuriosities.com] Video by LUIS GALLARDO.mp4 - SMPlayer." Its menubar: Open, Play, Video, Audio, Subtitles, Browse, View, Options, Help. A toolbar of colorful icons. In its main pane, a bunny. Below, a progress bar with pause, stop, go back, and go forward buttons; a button to expand the window, and a speakers icon with a slider. The black statusbar displays the timestamp 00:00:03 / 00:00:20.](https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/smplayer-20250420.webp)
VLC (Alternative Video Player for Windows)
VLC is a free and open source cross-platform video player for Windows, macOS Linux, Android, and iOS.
Download from its official website: [https://www.videolan.org/].
Like MPC-BE and SMPlayer, VLC can also play all common audio and video formats. What makes VLC worse than MPC-BE and SMPlayer is that its user interface is worse. Several advanced features that VLC does have can't be found through its menubar, hurting their discoverability. For example, PotPlayer, MPC-BE, SMPlayer, and VLC can loop a section of a video, but in other software this feature is found on the menubar, while in VLC it's hidden in a secret toolbar that only appears after you click on a button.
In spite of this, VLC is still good enough that it should be listed among the best. For example, it does have the ability to cast using Chromecast. Additionally, because video players often process files differently, sometimes a file that doesn't open in a video player, crashes in a video player, or that a given video player may have trouble seeking through, may work perfectly in a different video player, and VLC would be a great video player to have around in these cases.
![A window titled "[virtualcuriosities.com] Video by Shah Jahan.mp4 - VLC media player". Its menubar: Media, Playback, Audio, Video, Subtitle, Tools, View, Help. The main pane displays a flock of birds on the beach. Under it, a progress bar. A text on its left side reads 00:17, on its right 01:15. At the bottom several buttons: pause, a left arrow, a square icon button, a right arrow, an expanding rectangle button, an icon that appears to be an equalizer, an icon that is three bars with a right arrow, two arrows looping, two arrows crossed. At the bottom right, a speakers icon next to a volume slider.](https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/vlc-20250410-1024x664.webp)