5 Best Open Source Video Players for Linux

Over the years Linux operating systems got quite famous in the community of personal computer users. As Linux introduced operating systems with more user-friendly interfaces, people other than coders and developers are now more likely to use Linux operating systems. 

Entertainment is a big part of everyone’s life. And personal computer users spend most of their time watching movies and listening to some music. That is why developers who make personal computers always provide the support system to run some of the best media players or open-source video player.  

As many of the users around the world are now using Linux as their primary operating system for their personal computers, therefore, today I will be listing down some of the best open-source video players that you can use for your Linux Distro. 

Best Video Players for Linux

When it comes to video players for personal computers there are many options available on the internet from which a user can choose. But you don’t want to just download a random video player and start using it. 

A proper video player must meet all the basic requirements of a viewer like it must support high sound quality, must support high video quality and must have some customization options. That is why if you want the best video player for your Linux personal computer then choose from the list below to get the best.

1. VLC Media Player:   

Whether be it for windows or for Linux, VLC media player has a different fan base in all kinds of the operating systems. And that is why it comes to the top of every list when comes to the best open source video player. 

Launched in 2001 under the VideoLAN project, VLC supports all types of video and audio files from the quality of 360p to UltraHD and comes with a wide range of audio customization range. 

The version of VLC used in Linux is no different. It supports everything that a VLC should support and gives the user a full-hand experience. The features of VLC media player is not limited to just playing music and videos, here you can download subtitles for your video content, can take screenshots, you can trim and crop audio and video files according to your need. 

Pros:

  • Takes regular updates. 
  • No need for any kind of additional codecs.
  • Supports wise varieties of files.
  • Supports Bluray’s contents.  

Cons:

  • Personalization features are absent. 
  • No additional libraries.
  • Lags at some points. 

2. SM Player:

Another top-class video player on the list is SM Player. It can be considered as one of the best open-source video players for Linux desktop. This Linux video player supports all types of audio and video files. 

SM video player got fame due to its highly interactive and user-friendly interface. Utilizing its MPV engine the player can support various kinds of languages and provides best-in-class performance. 

This video player has a built-in codec. This codec allows the user to play YouTube videos directly from the video player. The memory of this Linux video player stores all your preferred settings and you can also resume any video right from the point where you have stopped it earlier. 

Apart from all these, there are a lot more customizations and features available. 

Pros: 

  • Supports all the major types of audio and video formats. 
  • Interactive and user-friendly interface
  • Uses MPV Engine. 
  • Remembers every user actions 
  • Best-in-class playback quality. 

Cons:

  • Bundled with OpenCandy. 
  • No option for the library for supported file formats. 

3. MPV Player:

Now if you are talking about the best video players for Linux operating systems then you just can’t avoid MPV Player. This video player is developed completely based on MPlayer and MPlayer 2. 

MPV Player comes with a built-in codec that allows the user to play and watch any video of any format. It also provides the option for video scaling and media encoding. 

Pros:

  • No additional codecs are required. 
  • Integrated support with streaming devices. 
  • Livestream cache feature

Cons:

  • Limited user options 
  • No right-click menu. 

4. Kodi Media Player:

Another best-in-class and top-notch cross-platform video player that offers a lot of features are Kodi Media Player. This open-source media player got its fame because of the features it provides. 

There are some features in Kodi that a normal video player fails to produce. Some of the exceptional features include screensavers, plugins to stream online videos and audios offer themes and visualization options. 

Apart from all this Kodi also offers to support high definition video formats like MIDI, HVC, HVAC, MPEG and many more. 

Pros:

  • Supports a wide range of video formats
  • Feature-packed 
  • Ideal for Linux

Cons:

  • Extensions like Exodus can make the software illegal
  • Not that user-friendly

5. M Player:

Developed and released under GNU or General Public License, M player is an open-source Linux video player that is completely based on C programming language. 

Apart from a very fast performance that video players offer a package of powerful features like Framebutter, DirectX, and many more.  The M Player comes with a command-line interface and supports a lot of video formats. 

Pros:

  • All types of codecs are already in-built. 
  • Superfast performance
  • Ability to work through various frontends

Cons:

  • Do not have any built-in GUI. 

In the End 

Well, all I can say is that your work is already done. All you have to do now is to choose from the above list. Every Linux media player listed above is best-in-class in terms of performance and user interface. 

I hope that this blog has really helped those readers who were looking for the best video player for their Linux Operating systems.