Comparison of video player software
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of media player programs. Please see the individual products articles for further information. External links lead to extensions that add a feature to a player.
General
Basic general information about the players: creator/company, license/price etc.
| Creator | First public release date | Stable version | Cost | License | Proprietary format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| amaroK | Mark Kretschmann | June 2003 | 1.1.1 | Free | GPL | None |
| foobar2000 | Peter Pawlowski | December 2002 | 0.8.3 | Free | Proprietary | .fpl (playlists) |
| iTunes | Apple Computer | January 2001 | 4.7 | Free | Proprietary | .m4p |
| jetAudio | jetAudio Inc. | ? | 6.0.6 | Free (basic version) / USD29 (Plus version) | Proprietary | None |
| JuK | Scott Wheeler | February 2003 | 2.1 | Free | GPL | None |
| Media Player Classic | Gabest | May 2003 | 6.4.8.2 | Free | GPL | None |
| MPlayer | MPlayer | September 2000 | 1.0pre6 | Free | GPL | None |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | Musicmatch | May 1998 | 9.0 | Free basic version | Proprietary | None |
| Nero Media Player | Ahead Software | January 2000? | x.x.x | Purchase. Trial version mp3 encoder only works for a short time. | Proprietary | None |
| QuickTime | Apple Computer | December 1991 | 6.5.2 | Free basic version | Proprietary | .qt, .mov |
| Quintessential Player | Paul Quinn | ? | 4.51 | Free | Proprietary | None |
| RealPlayer | RealNetworks | 1995 | 10 | Free basic version | Proprietary | .ram, .ra |
| Sonique | Media Science | November 1998 | 1.96 | Free | Proprietary | None |
| VLC | VideoLAN | February 2000 | 0.8.1 | Free | GPL | None |
| Winamp | Nullsoft | June 1997 | 5.08 | Free basic version | Proprietary | .nsv |
| WMP | Microsoft | November 1992 | 10 | Free | Proprietary | .wma, .wmv |
| xine | xine | August 2000 | 1.0 | Free | GPL | None |
| XMMS | XMMS | November 1997 | 1.2.10 | Free | GPL | None |
| Zinf | Zinf | April 2002 (before : FreeAmp) | 2.2.5 | Free | GPL | None |
| Creator | First public release date | Stable version | Cost | License | Proprietary format |
Operating system support
The Operating systems the players can run on without emulation.
| Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | Unix | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| amaroK | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| foobar2000 | Yes | No | No | No |
| iTunes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| jetAudio | Yes | No | No | No |
| JuK | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Media Player Classic | Yes | No | No | No |
| MPlayer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | No | No | No |
| QuickTime | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Quintessential Player | Yes | No | No | No |
| RealPlayer | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Sonique | Yes | No | No | No |
| VLC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Winamp | Yes | No | No | No |
| WMP | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| xine | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| XMMS | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zinf | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | Unix |
Features
Information on what features each of the players support.
| Audio playback | Video playback | Outbound streaming | Skinnable | Media Database | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| amaroK | Yes | Basic support with NMM | No | Context Browser uses CSS | Yes |
| foobar2000 | Yes | No | No (Plugin Available) | Shares Windows' themes; only alternative UIs | Yes |
| iTunes | Yes | No (Plugin Available) | Yes | No | Yes |
| jetAudio | Yes | Yes | Yes (with jetCast) | Yes | Yes |
| JuK | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Media Player Classic | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| MPlayer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Musicmatch Jukebox | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| QuickTime | Yes | Yes | No [1] | Only by the Media Creator | ? |
| Quintessential Player | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| RealPlayer | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Sonique | Yes | No (Plugin Available) | No | Yes | ? |
| VLC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Winamp | Yes | Yes | No (Plugin Available) | Yes | Yes |
| WMP | Yes | Yes | No (Separate tool available: [2]) | Yes | Yes |
| xine | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| XMMS | Yes | No (Plugin Available) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Zinf | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Audio playback | Video playback | Outbound streaming | Skinnable | Media Database |