There are a plethora of Mac video players on the app market. From my perspective, the best video player for Mac should support a vast assortment of formats, crisp visual display, and user-friendly operating features. In this huge and intensely competitive market, we can't figure out which free Mac video player is the best choice at once. If you have the same doubts, then you come to the right place. In this article, I'd like to show you the best media player for Mac that can give you excellent visual enjoyment.

4 Tips on Choosing the Best Media Player for Mac

The best video player for Mac is supposed to:

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1. Be free of ads, viruses, malware, and spyware.
2. Born with a slick and directive interface, making the app simple to navigate.
3. Come with strong coding skills and support wide-ranging video & audio format, so you can play any media file including 4K/5K video without losing quality.
4. Have compact and basic video playback functions, like play/pause, time display, volume control, etc.

Well, I’ve listed and tested a bunch of Mac video players and screened out the top 10 best free video player for Mac with the above reference in mind.

Top 10 Best Video Player for Mac 2021

Video player software isn’t rare, but top free video player for Mac users is not easy to come by. Hence we picked out the 10 best video players for Mac and give you some detailed information below.

#1. Cisdem Video Player for Mac

Compatibility: macOS 10.10 or later

Cisdem Video Player is an incredible program playing a vast assortment of media file formats. It’s fully compatible with all popular video formats (e.g. WMV, AVI, MOV, MP4, M4V, FLV, MKV, RMVB, MPEG, etc.), as well as audio files (e.g. MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV, M4A, etc.). The software supports all those codecs ensuring the playback of high-quality video files a breeze.

This best video player Mac takes care of your local media files and the music/videos downloaded from YouTube, Vimeo, or others. You can automatically or manually add subtitles in .ass and .srt formats. It offers smoother playback while other media players show a video jitter, choppy, or stalling.

Cisdem best Mac video player contains a built-in video converter, allowing you to media files to MP4, M4V, MOV, MP3, M4A, iPhone, iPad, Samsung, and so on. It's totally free to play video & audio files but to unlock the conversion function, you need to upgrade to the pro version.

Pros:

• Equipped with a concise and decent interface
• Play video/audio files in more than 100 formats
• Play 1080P, 4K, 5K, and even 8K videos
• Load subtitles in any language, or import subtitles, as you want
• Choose the audio soundtracks and stereo
• Capture snapshots of each frame
• Turn volume up or down
• Take less occupancy on CPU memory of your Mac

FAQ: What're the differences between Cisdem Video Player and Cisdem Video Converter?

Both programs support playing and converting features. But as their names indicate, the former is mainly used to play videos, while the latter is a professional video converter & downloader.

#2. VLC Media Player for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.7.5 or newer

VLC Media Player, an uncluttered, open-source and cross-platform program, supports DivX and MPEG streaming. It can play DVDs, CDs, VCDs, network streaming protocols, and various types of video files. The best video player Mac offers playlist for viewing multiple videos one after the other.

Meanwhile, VLC empowers you to open Zip media files without unpacking them. And you can simply tweak the playback controls and audio volume (up to 200%). But it’s a little delayed while playing, 'Each time I click on run video network it plays other audio and DVDs, etc. and after a million times it finally plays the YouTube video.'

Pros:

1. Help you enjoy Windows Media, MP3, QuickTime, and OGG files.
2. Record the movies/music you are playing with VLC
3. Adjust playback speed (slower, normal, and faster)
4. Support external subtitles and Closed Captions

Cons:

1. Outdated user interface
2. Delay a little while playing the media files

#3. MPlayerX for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.7 or above

MPlayerX is one of the fastest choices to play MPEG (damaged MPEG files included), MP4, AVI, ASF, WMV, MOV, WAV, OGG/OGM, CD audio, etc. Plus, this best media player for Mac supports multi-touch, gesture, auto-encode subtitles, and online YouTube/Vimeo playback. But don't confuse MPlayerX and MPlayer OSX Extended. They are two completely different programs.

Pros:

1. Stand-alone video player for Mac
2. Support various output formats and devices
3. Auto convert subtitles for media files

Cons:

1. Injects pop-up ads or advertising banners which may bring a virus
2. Take up too much CPU
3. Encounter problem when open the software and ask you to eject the disk image

#4. QuickTime Player for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or above

QuickTime Player, bundled with the Mac operating system, is Apple's flagship software. It ensures you to view Internet video, HD movie trailers, and personal media. This best media player for Mac is slick and easy to use. You can quickly export your videos to 4k, 1080p, 720p, 480p (based on original resolution) or extract them as M4A audio. It also functions as a screen recorder. You can record your playing movie, track, or anything on your current desktop.

However, it supports limited video formats. For more formats available like FLV, you have to install external plug-in Perian.

Pros:

1. No additional installation required
2. Provide you with advanced H.264 video compression technology to help deliver perfect HD video with less storage space.
3. Record your Mac screen

Cons:

1. A bit slow to launch
2. Can’t work with common subtitle files
3. Can’t open MKV, WMV, WMA, AVI, FLV, etc.

#5. Elmedia Player for Mac

Compatibility: OS X 10.9.0 or later

A multifunctional free media player for Mac, Elmedia Player supports a wide range of common and not so common audio & video formats, including FLV, SWF, WMV, AVI, MOV, MP4, MP3, DAT, FLAC, M4V, MPG, MKV, and more. It can play virtually all media files on your Mac. Although it has some other special features, such as downloading online videos from YouTube and adjusting audio settings, they are not free and need to be upgraded.

Pros:

1. Play online videos without ads
2. Support embedded and external subtitles
3. Save and load playlist
4. Reset audio delay

Cons:

1. Consume major CPU
2. Might lose video quality when swiping back and forth
3. Only pro version allows to take screenshots

#6. 5KPlayer for Mac

Compatibility: OS X 10.8.0 or higher

5KPlayer is a mixture of free AirPlay media streamer, online video downloader, music player and movie player for Mac. All HD, 4K, 5K videos including MKV, MTS, AVCHD are supported. With AirPlay streaming tech, you can as AirPlay sender/receiver: stream video music from iPhone, iPad to PC or from PC to Apple TV. Although the best Mac video player lets you download videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc., the download process will be bit slower.

Pros:

1. Embedded copious codecs for playing different audio, video, and DVD.
2. No need to install additional codec or pack.
3. Import subtitle and switch soundtrack
4. Manage YouTube downloaded videos, DLNA server, and playlist in library

Cons:

1. Install Bonjour voluntarily without any hint when you need to make AirPlay work
2. The media player will get stuck when playing high resolution & long videos

#7. Realplayer for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.9 or later

Realplayer can play all formats of videos. This best video player Mac is a universal media player that automatically recognizes the file format of the video or audio file you want to play. So you can count on it to reliably play the most popular audio and video file formats including AVI, MP4, MP3, WMA, WAV, FLV, MPEG, and more. It requires a fairly powerful machine for some functions. Several applications need to be installed in advance to launch the application properly.

Pros:

1. Offer several visualization ways for listening and locates your media files automatically.
2. Include handy downloading and conversion features that may benefit some users.

#8. DivX Player for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.5.0 or above

DivX Player delivers high-quality video playback for AVI, DIVX, MKV, MP4, and more. It is the best video player Mac to watch DivX, MKV, and HEVC up to 4K films. You can use its built-in TransferWizard to burn videos to DVD/USB/computer. It also comes with DivX Codec Pack and a free 15-day trial of DivX Plus Converter for those who plan to convert.

Pros:

1. Support playing HD 720P/1080P, UHD 4K video movies
2. Open video directly with URL
3. Import video files into library

Cons:

1. Large installation file and install other software without permission
2. Poor compatibility with the latest system
3. Lack some key features, e.g. rewind and forward

#9. Movist Video Player for Mac

Compatibility: OS X 10.10.0 or late

Movist, based on QuickTime and FFmpeg, is another best media player for Mac. It has the ability to encode/decode a multitude of formats and add subtitles. You can do some general and advanced settings for better and convenient video playback. However, the new versions like 2.4.2, 2.4.3 are not free now, which charge $4.99 or $7.99 (Movist Pro). To get Movist free video player for Mac, you should install the old version like 0.6.8 or before.

Pros:

1. Simple to operate
2. Support playlist
3. Many customizable options

#10. NicePlayer for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.5 or above

NicePlayer is the best Video Player for Mac with a multi-engine player designed for playing movies nicely. This program features full-screen or borderless floating windows, useful controls for scrubbing or queuing movies, and on-the-fly playlist creation.

Pros:

1. Lightweight and compatible with most formats
2. Can adjust the aspect ratio
3. Make a suitable presentation with the aid of toolbar (Half Size, Double Size, Fill Screen, Fill Width, etc.)

Cons:

1. Can’t handle AVI, MKV or MPG videos.
2. No support for subtitles and changing audio sources, etc.
3. Unable to play the videos by dragging it to the software
4. Not convenient to switch to another video

What is Media Player (Software)？

We often need the best media player for Mac, but before installing new software it is good to get some knowledge about it.

According to the explanation from Wikipedia, a media player (software) is a handy program that can help you play videos, music, movies, and other multimedia files on the computer. All media players display standard media control icons: play, pause, fast-forward, back forward, and stop buttons.

How to Use the Best Video Player for Mac?

All video players mentioned above are easy to use. Let's take Cisdem Video Player as an example:

Step 1. Download and install the best free video player for Mac, then launch it.

Step 2. Drag and drop the video file you wish to watch to the interface of the software.

Step 3. Click button to start video play on Mac.

How to Change the Default Video Player on Mac?

QuickTime Player is the default Mac media player. You can change it into the best video player for Mac you think.

Step 1. Locate the media file you wish to play.

Step 2. Right-click on it, a drop-down menu will appear.

Step 3. Choose “Open With” > “Other”, which brings up a dialog for selecting the application to open your media file.

Step 4. Choose your best media player Mac, check the box- “Always Open With”, and click on “Open”.

Conclusion

I deem that you already have the best media player for Mac in your mind, just download it on Mac and have a try if it is right the thing as you expected. Here I advise those who still feel a little confused to choose from, I push Cisdem Video Player for Mac in front of you. it gets more and more reputation and becomes a stable status among the market. 4K video, 5K/1080p HD videos, all of popular SD & HD standard video formats which other free video player tools unable to support, or add subtitle files, Cisdem Video Player for Mac can all fix it. What’s the best I enjoy, it offers crisp and clear visual image, I feel the video playing quite high quality.

AVI format is very different from formats like MP4 and this is the reason that not every video player can play this. However, it is one of the most popular video formats, so the question is how to play AVI files on Mac? Well, to answer this question, here is a list of a few of the AVI compatible video players.

VLC media player

The very first AVI player option that we want to talk about is the VLC media player. It is a very popular player is known for its amazing features. It is a cross multimedia player and the best AVI player for Mac. Not just that, but you can play DVDs too with the help of this app. While watching the video on the VLC media player, you can set the playback speed, can take a screenshot and can convert the video file in the desired format. The best part about this one is that it is completely free and has no ads or spyware.

Elmedia player

The next one in this list is the ELmedia player. This tool supports almost all the formats in which you can watch various videos, such as, AVI, WMV, MP4, MP3 and many others. There are a lot of features of this app that you could not find anywhere else. You can adjust playback, can set the video in the loop and can even bookmark your favourite part of the video. The creation of a playlist, be it audio or video is very easy with this application and this makes it the best AVI player.

Best Avi Player For Mac

MPlayerX

MPlayerX is also one of the best free AVI players, especially for Mac. The best part about this player is that it runs the video in the AVI format very smoothly. You just need to add the target video into the app and it will start playing. It has got FFmpeg and Mplayer and it is because of these two things that this application is compatible with every type of media player. With this media player, you can also search for videos and then play them directly.

Best Avi Player For Macbook

5k player

Best Avi Player For Mac Free Download

This is also an amazing video player, but you must not have heard about it, as it is new. It is very clear from the name of the player itself that it supports videos with high quality, including formats like MP4, MPEG, and other such formats. Apart from all these features, this player allows you to download videos from different sites too. You can use use the AirPlay feature to stream media files between iPhone and Mac computers while using a 5k player. With the help of this video player, you can go to the web, select your favorite video and then can play it from there directly. It also comes with a built-in radio.

Cisdem Videoplayer

Best Avi App For Mac

Cisedm video player is also very helpful in playing AVI format videos on Mac devices. It can play videos in different formats on different devices without compromising the quality of it. The formats it is compatible with are MP4, MP3, MOV, and many others. The best thing about this one is that it comes without any ads or malware, so you can enjoy it free of cost and even without ads. When you are using this app, you can set the playback accordingly, can play and pause your videos and can take screenshots too.

Best Free Avi Player For Mac

These were all the multimedia players that are recommended by us to you for playing any AVI format video. If you want to know more things related to it, you can visit the site. Meanwhile, you can read and choose a player for yourself from the above options.