Media player (application software)

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This article is about software media players in general. For other uses, see Media player.

Media player is a term typically used to describe computer software for playing back multimedia files. Most software media players support an array of media formats, including both audio and video files.

Some media players focus only on audio or video and are known as audio players and video players respectively. The producers of these players usually focus on providing a better user experience as they are specifically tailored toward the media type.

Microsoft Windows comes with pre-loaded Windows Media Player. The latest is Windows Media Player 11, which is bundled with Windows Vista, and available as a download for Windows XP SP2. Mac OS X comes pre-loaded with Quicktime Player for playing Quicktime movies and iTunes for playing a variety of media formats. Winamp only runs on Windows but supports Apple iPods and other portables like Creative's Zen while also supporting audio and video playback. Linux distributions come pre-loaded with various media players including VLC, MPlayer, xine, and Totem.

[edit] Software

Main article: Comparison of media players

List of some Media Players.

Software Media Players
Name	Audio	Video	Operating System	License
AlbumPlayer	Yes	No	Windows	own
Amarok	Yes	No	Linux/UNIX (KDE), Windows (testing, QT/KDE dependent)	GPL
aTunes	Yes	No	Windows, Linux, Solaris	GPL
Bearshare	Yes	No	Windows	own
broadPlayer	Yes	Yes	Web based - works in modern browsers	own
BS.Player	Yes	Yes	Windows	own
Chroma	No	Yes	Mac	own
cmus	Yes	No	POSIX-compatible	GPL
Foobar2000	Yes	No	Windows	own
GOM player	Yes	Yes	Windows	own
Kantaris	Yes	Yes	Windows	GPL / LGPL
KMPlayer	Yes	Yes	Linux, Mac, Windows	GPL
iMesh	Yes	Yes	Mac, Windows	own
iTunes	Yes	Yes	Mac, Windows	own
J. River Media Center	Yes	Yes	Windows	own
MediaMonkey	Yes	No	Windows	own
Media Player Classic	Yes	Yes	Windows	GPL
MPlayer	Yes	Yes	POSIX-compatible, Mac OS X, Windows, AmigaOS, MorphOS	GPL
MusicMatch Jukebox	Yes	No	Windows	own
Napster	Yes	No	Windows	own
Narrowstep Player	Yes	Yes	All	own
Oregan Media Browser	Yes	Yes	All	own
PowerDVD	No	Yes	Windows	own (CyberLink)
QuickTime	Yes	Yes	Mac OS X, Windows	own (Apple)
RealPlayer	Yes	Yes	Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Symbian OS	own
Ruckus Player	Yes	Yes	Windows	own
SongBird	Yes	No	Windows, Mac, Linux	own
Spider Player	Yes	No	Windows	own
The KMPlayer	Yes	Yes	Windows	own
ViewOn.tv Media Player	Yes	Yes	Windows	own
VLC Media Player	Yes	Yes	Linux/Unix, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, BSD	GPL
Winamp	Yes	Yes	Windows^[1]	own
Windows Media Player	Yes	Yes	Windows, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile	own
WinDVD	No	Yes	Windows	own (InterVideo)
XBMC (XBox Media Center)	Yes	Yes	Xbox game-console, Windows (partial port to Win32)	GPL / LGPL
xine	Yes	Yes	Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, IRIX, Mac OS X	GPL
XMMS	Yes	No	POSIX-compatible	GPL
XMPlay	Yes	No	Windows	own
Yahoo! Music Jukebox	Yes	No	Windows	own
Zinf	Yes	No	Linux, Windows	GPL
Zoom Player	Yes	Yes	Windows	own

Many media players use libraries. The library is designed to help you organize, or catalog, your music into categories such as genre, year, rating or other. Good examples of media players that include media libraries are Winamp, Windows Media Player, iTunes, RealPlayer, and Amarok.

Notes: