What's the media player which can plays most multimedia files? If it means one that's open-source freeware, quick and easy to install, plays more files than the others, can be totally customized and configured to suit, simple, fast and powerful media player, the answer is VLC Media Player.

VLC Media Player 2.0.4 is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

Features:

  • Simple, fast and powerful media player.
  • Plays everything: Files, Discs, Webcams, Devices and Streams.
  • Plays most codecs with no codec packs needed: MPEG-2, DivX, H.264, MKV, WebM, WMV, MP3...
  • Runs on all platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Unix...
  • Completely Free, 0 spyware, 0 ads and no user tracking.
  • Can do media conversion and streaming.
Input formats:
MPEG (ES,PS,TS,PVA,MP3), ID3 tags, AVI, ASF / WMV / WMA, MP4 / MOV / 3GP, OGG / OGM / Annodex, Matroska (MKV), WAV (incuding DTS), Raw Audio: DTS, AAC, AC3/A52, Raw DV, FLAC, FLV (Flash)

Input media:
UDP/RTP Unicast, UDP/RTP Multicast, HTTP / FTP, MMS, File, DVD 1, VCD, SVCD 2, Audio CD (without DTS), MPEG encoder 3, Video acquisition

Video:
VideoLAN VLC Media Player 2.0.4 for WindowsDecoders: 
MPEG-1/2, DIVX (1/2/3), MPEG-4, DivX 5, XviD, 3ivX D4, H.264, Sorenson 1/3 (Quicktime), DV, Cinepak, Theora (alpha 3), H.263 / H.263i, MJPEG (A/B), WMV 1/2, WMV 3 / WMV-9 / VC-1 4, 5, Indeo Video v3 (IV32)

Subtitles:
DVD 6, SVCD / CVD, DVB, OGM, Matroska, Text files (MicroDVD, SubRIP, SubViewer, SSA1-5, SAMI, VPlayer), Vobsub

Filters:
Deinterlace, Cropping, Image wall, Image adjust, Rotate/Mirror, Logo overlay, Magnification, Image distortion, Bluescreen, RSS/Atom feeds

Outputs:
Native DirectX, GDI, SDL, ASCII Art

Audio:
Decoders:
MPEG Layer 1/2, MP3, AC3 - A/52, DTS, LPCM, AAC, Vorbis, WMA 1/2, WMA 3 7, ADPCM, DV Audio, FLAC, QDM2/QDMC (QuickTime), MACE, Real Audio 8, Speex

Filters: Visualization effects, Equalizer

Outputs:
Native DirectX WaveOut, S/PDIF DirectX WaveOut, Multi-channel DirectX WaveOut, SDL

Streaming:
Interfaces and control:
Default WxWidgets, Qt 4, Skins, Web, Telnet, Command line

Miscellaneous:
SAP/SDP announces, Bonjour protocol, Mozilla/Firefox plugin, ActiveX plugin, SVCD Menus, Localization, CD-Text 10, CDDB CD info 11, IPv6, IGMPv3 Win XP, CPU acceleration 13

Download VideoLAN VLC Media Player 2.0.4 for Windows
21.85MB - Windows XP/Vista/7