It’s time to share our top video players for Windows 10 in 2024. There are a growing number of video players to choose from and each year each of them adds new features that can make them vastly superior to their previous incarnations.
Firstly, I’m not going to include any media management software or any software that focuses on streaming video to your home entertainment software ie. Kodi/XBMC. This list is focused solely on video players for Windows 10. Yes, they will work on some older versions of Windows, but that is not the focus of this article.
Top Video Players for Windows 10 in 2024:
5. Gom Player (Free)
Gom Player is a simple and lightweight bit of software that does as advertised. It has the bare minimum of controls on its interface which makes it great for beginners. A load of built-in codecs means that it’ll play just about anything you throw at it. For those that want more from it – it is skinnable so you can change the them to your liking. There’s also a mobile app Gom Remote that allows you to control the desktop app from across the room. There are some great feature under the hood for customization and playback but the options menu isn’t as well organized as it should be.
Just a word of warning – avoid the Express Install option as, in our case at least, it tried to install some unwanted programs. You know the one’s I mean – that change your search engine and homepage. It’s easily avoided if you’re not interested in it.
4. Potplayer (Free)
Daum Potplayer has always been a favorite of mine. In fact, in the past, I’ve ranked it as my favorite video software. Potplayer is a great piece of software. It is based on the popular KMPlayer and can run pretty much anything your throw at it. One of its best features is support for both 3D and 360 degree videos – allowing you to use one video player for your full collection of home and bought movies. Potplayer also allows you to download and sync subtitles right from the software.
3. Splash 2.0 (Trial/Paid)
Another return from a previous list – Splash 2.0 is a great movie player that is stands out especially when it comes to playing animated films. Splash 2.0 is the upgraded version of Splash Pro Ex which is one of my favorite desktop video players. They have customized the user interface to make it cleaner and more appealing while maintaining the fantastic picture quality from the previous version. This software advertises smooth motion, crisp details and vivid colors – and I can confirm that it has one of the cleanest and clearest pictures I’ve seen.
Splash 2.0’s main feature is the ability to throw in extra frames from the movie to make a 24 FPS movie look like it’s 48 FPS or higher. You can find an example of the differences between FPS here. This makes the the movement in movies a lot clearer. This works great for animated movies but can ruin other movies that require some motion blur. If you’ve seen The Hobbit and felt something was a bit off, you may know what I mean. Be warned, Splash 2.0 does require a bit of CPU for these video enhancing features.
2. VLC (Free)
Everyone should know VLC by now. If you have a media file that you can’t play, ask around and someone will scream VLC at you. VLC hasn’t changed too much over the years and for good reason. It has gotten things right from the start and there hasn’t been much need for improvement since. It has every codec you could possibly need built in and does a great job with audio playback as well. Under the hood, you have options for just about everything – audio effects, video effects, track synchronization. The on-screen user interface is even completely customizable. In my opinion, everyone should have a copy of VLC on their PC for that day, that always comes, when you find a video/audio file that just won’t play on anything else…
VLC is donationware, so please consider donating if you enjoy the software.
1. MPC-HC (Free)
MPC-HC, the lightweight, open-source beast of a video player. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is the best free video player of 2024. Media Player Classic Home Cinema is fast and efficient. It may not have all the bells and whistles of the other players but it gets the job done. If I’m browsing through hundreds of video files from my phone, I don’t want to wait those few extra seconds that other players take to load. When it comes to speed, MPC-HC is unmatched. It’s a very flexible bit of software and is complete customizable but for the everyday person, you can simply install it and start watching. And if you’re unplugged, I’ve also found MPC-HC to last longer on battery life than all my other video players.
