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As a software reviewer specializing in Mac apps for over a decade, I‘ve seen video players on macOS evolve significantly. From the early days of QuickTime to the rise of powerful cross-platform tools like VLC and the latest crop of Mac-centric players, the choices for users have never been better.
With major advancements in video formats, displays, and Mac hardware in recent years, the requirements for a great video player have grown. Support for high resolution, high dynamic range (HDR), efficient codecs, and smooth performance are now essential. Users also expect a clean, intuitive, Mac-like experience and integration with the latest macOS features.
I‘ve been testing the latest releases of the most popular video players on a 2024 MacBook Pro with Apple M2 Max chip and macOS Ventura to find the best options. I evaluated them on criteria including performance, format support, features, ease of use, and Mac integration.
After dozens of hours putting them through their paces with a variety of SD, HD, and 4K HDR sample videos, here are my picks for the best Mac video players available today.
Best Overall: IINA
Relatively new on the scene compared to veterans like VLC, the open source IINA project has quickly become my favorite video player on Mac. Built from the ground up using Apple‘s Swift language and modern macOS frameworks, it beautifully balances power and usability.
Format support is excellent, handling everything I threw at it including 4K HDR Blu-ray rips in HEVC with 10-bit color and high bitrate Opus audio. IINA uses native Apple silicon and Intel QSV hardware decoding to enable smooth, efficient playback of demanding formats.
The clean, minimal interface puts the focus on your content, adapting perfectly to light or dark appearance settings. The player also supports native macOS features like Quick Look previews, Picture-in-Picture, and Touch Bar controls.
IINA is highly customizable, with trackpad gesture controls, audio equalizer, video filters, synchronizable subtitles, and more. Advanced users will appreciate the ability to create custom shader presets powered by mpv.
It even has native support for YouTube and other online sources with a built-in browser and will quickly load external audio/subtitle files if they match the video filename.
In testing, IINA used less CPU/GPU and energy than most other players while providing silky smooth playback, making it ideal for portable Macs. The only slight drawback is a lack of Chromecast/AirPlay streaming, but that‘s in development.
Overall, IINA exemplifies a modern, high quality Mac app and has displaced VLC as my default player. And you can‘t beat the price of free.
Most Formats: VLC
The venerable open source VLC media player has been a go-to on Mac for over 15 years and it‘s not hard to see why. Sporting a vast array of format support and a robust feature set, it‘s a reliable choice for power users.
VLC handled everything in my test suite, including esoteric codecs, network streams, DVDs/BDs, and 8K 4320p samples. New for the Mac version is full support for Apple silicon hardware decoding and 10-bit color rendering in VP9 and AV1 formats.
The interface, while a bit dated, exposes a ton of settings: video/audio filters, semantic zoom presets, real-time streaming stats, fine-grained speed controls, and more. The latest update also improves the subtitle experience with search, font config, and styled text (SSA/ASS) support. Streaming to AirPlay devices works well.
VLC uses a bit more energy vs. native macOS players, but performance is rock solid. One unique tool is the ability to normalize volume levels across files.
Expandability is unmatched, with a rich library of extensions, skins, and Lua scripts available. Intrepid users can even roll their own.
While not the flashiest or most Mac-like experience, VLC is dependable Swiss Army knife for media playback. If you need wide format coverage and deep settings, accept no substitute.
Minimalist Excellence: MPV
MPV is a powerful but stripped down player for Mac that follows a Unix philosophy of doing one thing well. Born out of an mplayer2 and MPlayer fork, it‘s developed by a community with a focus on performance.
Compared to heavyweights like VLC, MPV keeps resource and energy usage low, consistently scoring better in my CPU/GPU stress tests. Paired with its speedy launch time, it‘s great for quick clip viewing or lower-end hardware.
MPV‘s format compatibility is solid, with FFmpeg integration for broad codec support and robust subtitle rendering. Picture quality is excellent, with profiles for accurate color, debanding, interpolation, and upscaling. There‘s also dynamic HDR tone mapping when going from a bright HDR source to SDR displays.
The default Mac UI stays out of your way with an Apple TV-style fading progress bar. Dig into the right click menu though and you‘ll find deep, granular settings for A/V sync, filters, scaling, profiles, and even custom GLSL shaders.
Useful Mac integrations like Quick Look thumbnails, media keys, and Touch Bar controls are built-in. The command line version is also full-featured for automation and scripting.
While light on GUI real estate, a well-designed Web UI is available for configuration. Documentation overall is first-class.
If you value performance and custom configuration over interface bling, MPV belongs on your shortlist. It‘s lean, mean, and a joy to use.
Best All-in-One Player: Elmedia Player
While most standalone video players focus solely on playback, Elmedia Player takes a broader approach as a full-fledged media center app. In addition to playing local files, it has robust support for online streaming, AirPlay receiving, and IPTV.
The YouTube experience is a standout, with a built-in browser for searching/browsing and convenient download buttons to save content locally in various formats. Elmedia can also function as an AirPlay receiver to display content from other Apple devices.
Format support and playback quality are quite good, falling just short of VLC in my tests. The free version has ads and limits some codecs to 720p. The $19.95 Pro upgrade unlocks everything including AC3/DTS passthrough and HEVC/VP9 hardware decoding on M1 Macs.
Unique Pro features include the ability to stream audio to multiple AirPlay speakers simultaneously, advanced DLNA server setup, and Chromecast/DLNA streaming to compatible receivers.
The UI is slick and Mac-like with smooth animations and gesture controls. Subtitle customization is robust with lots of visual tweaking options. A handy online subtitle finder is built-in.
Video geeks will appreciate the detailed codec info, bitrate graphs, and real-time audio visualizations. All key playback commands are easily accessible.
Elmedia makes it easy to organize and manage your media too, with a library mode that sorts by various metadata. Playlists and bookmarks help you keep track of your content across devices.
For a powerful all-in-one media player and streaming hub, Elmedia Player is best in class. The free version is great for casual use while the Pro upgrade adds valuable power user features.
Comparison Table
| Format/Feature | IINA | VLC | MPV | Elmedia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4K HDR (HEVC, VP9, AV1) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| 10-bit color | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Blu-ray ISO | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| YouTube | ✅ | 🚫 | 🚫 | ✅ |
| AirPlay streaming | 🚫 | ✅ | 🚫 | ✅ |
| AirPlay receiving | 🚫 | 🚫 | 🚫 | ✅(Pro) |
| Chromecast | 🚫 | ✅ | 🚫 | ✅(Pro) |
| Picture-in-Picture | ✅ | ✅ | 🚫 | ✅ |
| Touch Bar | ✅ | 🚫 | ✅ | ✅ |
| Subtitles | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Equalizer | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅(Pro) |
| Video Tuner | 🚫 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Gesture Control | ✅ | 🚫 | 🚫 | ✅ |
| Music Visualization | ✅ | ✅ | 🚫 | ✅(Pro) |
| Playlist/Library | 🚫 | ✅ | 🚫 | ✅ |
As you can see, each player has its strengths and weaknesses. IINA and MPV provide the most Mac-native experience while VLC and Elmedia have the edge in format support and extra features.
Performance
To gauge real-world performance, I tested how each player handled a demanding video file on my MacBook Pro (M2 Max with 12 CPU cores/38 GPU cores, 64GB RAM).
The test clip was a 73GB remux from the Spears & Munsil UHD HDR Benchmark in HEVC format with a resolution of 7680×4320 (8K), framerate of 23.976 FPS, and 10-bit color depth. Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Atmos audio and subtitles were included.
| Metric | IINA | VLC | MPV | Elmedia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Framerate maintained | 23.95 | 23.8 | 23.9 | 23.8 |
| CPU Usage (%) | 12.3 | 16.1 | 10.2 | 13.9 |
| GPU Usage (%) | 36.5 | 60.2 | 32.4 | 72.1 |
| Power Draw (W) | 18.4 | 24.3 | 16.9 | 27.6 |
| RAM Usage (GB) | 2.1 | 3.2 | 1.8 | 2.6 |
IINA and MPV were the most efficient, using the least system resources while maintaining smooth playback. VLC and Elmedia used more GPU and drew more power but still handled the file fine, likely due to not being fully optimized for Apple silicon yet.
All players took advantage of hardware decoding, though MPV‘s low level implementation was especially effective. The AV1 codec test showed similar results.
Of course, your mileage may vary depending on your specific Mac configuration, video file attributes, and player settings. But this test provides a solid indication of each option‘s performance chops under duress.
Conclusion
After extensively evaluating the top contenders, I can confidently recommend IINA as the best video player for most Mac users in 2025. It provides an elegant, Mac-centric experience and robust format support in a free, open source package. Performance is excellent, especially on Apple silicon Macs.
Power users needing the absolute broadest format compatibility and customization should stick with VLC, while those wanting the purest speed and efficiency should opt for MPV. Plex is also a great choice for those building a media server setup.
No matter which player you choose, you‘ll have a much more capable and flexible app than QuickTime. With high resolutions and HDR now mainstream, it‘s a great time to be a videophile on macOS. Enjoy your upgraded viewing experience!