Forget looking at long lists to find the best free video player 2017 or the best media players… There are so many choices and each person will have their personal preference. It all comes down to what you require in a video player. Windows 10 ships with the Films & TV app which is sufficient for simple video viewing but fails miserably when it comes to watching x265 HEVC files. Windows Media Player which ships with previous versions of Windows fails at this as well.
The go-to media player for most people would be VLC Player which has proven itself time and time again when it comes to opening pretty much any file you throw at it. Over time, especially with recent versions, its appearance has improved as well – making it one of the best free video players for 2017. There are plenty of customizations and skins available for those that enjoy tinkering as well.
Although I always have VLC installed on every PC (and android device) I own – there’s always another media player which has been my go-to for all films. Sometimes, at least in this case, less is more:
What is the Best Free Video Player 2017?
MPC-HC (Media Player Classic – Home Cinema)
This lightweight bit of software is my choice for best free video player 2017 is MPC-HC and is the fastest and most efficient media player I use. Yes, it does take it’s name from the original media player software but the similarities end there. This powerful bit of software loads fast and gets its job done. Although it has many options under the hood for techies, it’s ready to run for everyone else from the moment you hit install. It’s not designed to manage your media collection but rather to play any video you throw at it without taxing your PC’s resources. It comes bundled with every codec you could possibly need to run every movie in your collection. But what makes me keep using this software is that it has managed to find the perfect balance between being too simple and too complex.
