Top 5 media players available in 2013

Author: Brook Perry

Do you use your media players often for playing video of the latest movies? What if your movie or an audio file gets interrupted because of a poor media player? How will you feel if you download a movie link or an album with latest tracks but your media player doesn’t support the format of the downloaded file? All media files whether it’s audio or video, includes a wide array of extensions and in particular, special effects are supported only by those media players that have the similar compatibility.

In this article, you will get to know about the top 5 popular media players available for downloads in 2013.

1. VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player, a free and open source multimedia player, is a popular option amongst users who have access to various audio as well as video formats. Standing out from the list of ordinary players, the software is able to play files, webcams, discs, devices and streams. Efficiently running on all major operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, UNIX, and others, the program supports numerous AV formats. It is the ideal software for beginners as it is well-known for its simple user interface (UI). In addition to this, the player is also capable of playing files that are recorded in BluRay and HD.

Popular formats supported by VLC

  • WMV
  • MKV
  • MP4
  • MPEG
  • AVI
  • MOV
  • XVID
  • DIVX
  • FLV
  • WAV and much more

2. Windows Media Player 12

Specially made for media lovers, the Windows Media Player caters all your entertainment needs in single software. Playing Flip Video and unprotected songs from your iTunes library, the program now gives you more comfort while making a choice for audios and videos. You can now easily organize, update, shop and even sync all your media content with Windows Media Player 12. The manufacturers have streamlined the playback modes by only displaying the controls you need and removing the rest. A new taskbar thumbnail has been recently added with playback controls, which makes your digital media experience best ever. Windows Media Player 12 possesses a built-in support to sync music, videos, and images by using which you can enjoy your library anywhere and everywhere.

Popular formats supported by Windows Media Player 12

  • WAV
  • WMA
  • MP3, MPEG, MPG and MP2
  • VOB
  • WAX
  • WMA
  • AVI
  • JPEG
  • PNG
  • D2V
  • MOV and many others

3. QuickTime Player

QuickTime Player, a program by Apple Inc, not only entertains by playing QuickTime movies (.mov) but also supports many other formats. Supporting Mac as well as PCs, the player allows you enjoy watching trailers of HD movies, videos on Internet, and personal media clips installed on your system. Bringing your digital media brilliantly to everyone’s life, the program works efficiently on H.264 technology that provides crystal clear HD video experience by using less bandwidth and storage. It can also stream data from a webpage and automatically reconnect during disconnected situations.

Major features of QuickTime Player

  • Have 3GPP and 3GPP2 files support
  • Capable of playing MPEG-4 video, AAC audio, H.274, & Instant-Online media
  • Easy to use and operate
  • Well-supported Web streaming media support
  • Can save movie favorites
  • Have multi-channel audio playback
  • Live resize

4. Media Monkey

MediaMonkey, software by Ventis Media Inc, is not only a digital media player but also works as a media library application. The media player updates itself regularly through downloads and additional plug-ins that are easily available from the website. Competing with other popular media players, the program is capable of running in compliance with various videos and other digital media formats.

The program is available as a freeware program but on the purchase of ‘Gold’ licensed version, you can easily unblock various skins, use extension scripts and also run third party plug-ins. Coming with automatic volume adjustments, the player allows you to work freely without taking the pain of adjusting MP3 Gain and Replay Gain in the mid of heavy working schedules. MediaMonkey 4.1 is the latest version of this software and has the property for scanning your hard disk for adding new media files to the playlists regularly.

Formats MediaMonkey 4.1 can play

  • MP3
  • AAC
  • OGG
  • WMA
  • FLAC
  • MPC
  • APE
  • WAV

5. Winamp

Offered as a freeware or shareware, Winamp, a product by Nullsoft, is now a subsidiary of AOL. First released in the year 1997, the program has gained popularity round the globe for its attractive skins, MP3 file sharing services, extensive plug-ins and strong visualizations of graphical sound bars. The software has the potential of fetching data of full Unicode and Unicode metadata files while scanning your system, once installed.

With an improved and user-friendly interface, Winamp offers you a SDK or software development kit to create various types of plug-ins to customize it according to your needs and preferences. With over 3000 available skins, the program supports below mentioned AV formats:

  • IDI
  • MOD
  • MPEG-1 audio layers 1 and 2
  • AAC
  • M4A
  • FLAC
  • WAV
  • OGG Vorbis
  • Windows Media Audio

Apart from these, Amarok, Media Player classic, Napster, Audacious, Rythmbox, Adobe Flash Player, Totem, Xine and PotPlayer are some of the other media players that are widely used by music lovers. If you’re looking for a brilliant experience while watching your favorite movie or listening to your favorite songs collection, then you can opt for any one of them as they will surely offer you the same experience. Enjoy!

About the Author: Hi! I am Brook M. Perry, a prolific blog writer and keen author of articles related to android tablet support and solution for issues related to computers and mobile devices. Being associated with the reputed best pc tuneup service provider Qresolve, I have resolved thousands of tech issues for our customers from worldwide. Computer online tech support My areas of interest are PC security, endpoint security system, router support etc. You can follow me for my useful online pc support articles on Ezine and other article-oriented websites.