You don’t need to pay for a great media experience. These free players handle everything you throw at them.

VLC — The Universal Player

VLC plays everything. Every video and audio format, DVDs, network streams, and even damaged files. It’s been the gold standard for nearly two decades for a reason.

IINA — The Beautiful Mac Player

IINA wraps the powerful mpv engine in a gorgeous native macOS interface. Touch Bar support, picture-in-picture, dark mode, and system media key integration. It looks like a first-party Apple app.

Spotify — Music Streaming

Spotify’s free tier offers on-demand listening on desktop and tablet. Cross-device handoff, algorithmic playlists, and an unmatched catalog. The ads are the price, and they’re fair.

Jellyfin — Self-Hosted Media Server

Jellyfin organizes your personal media collection with artwork and metadata in a Netflix-style interface — all running on your hardware with zero telemetry. Hardware transcoding included for free.

Quick Comparison

AppBest ForPlatforms
VLCPlaying any file formatAll
IINAmacOS-native experienceMac
SpotifyMusic discoveryAll
JellyfinSelf-hosted media serverAll