MOV files, which is Apple’s native recording format for its line of iDevices. Besides that, QuickTime is a very capable video player on OS X for the common formats that it supports, and it works the best for. What really limits QuickTime as a solid contender is its lack of format support, especially for MKV files.
However, recommending it for the second spot on our list was quite difficult, but we went with it in the end just because QuickTime is the most battery optimized video player that you’ll find for OS X (which is true for almost all native Apple software on a Mac). QuickTime Player is native to OS X, and it has seriously grown over the years. Still, the good certainly outweighs the cons, so you have to give VLC a try if you’re looking for a capable video player. Compared to some other players, VLC can seriously drain your Macbook’s battery, so be advised. The only downsides that you might face with VLC are the relatively outdated interface compared to some other video players on our list, and its lack of battery friendliness. Top this all off with the active development that VLC has become accustomed to over the years, and you’ve got your number one contender at your hands without any cost.
You also get very decent Trackpad gesture support, which becomes a godsend if you don’t use a mouse all the time. VLC also doubles as not just a media player, but a capable cataloguing and library management tool as well as a decent screen recorder. You’d be hard pressed to find a video codec or format that VLC can’t handle, and the number of customization and enhancement options that it presents is overwhelming. This insanely powerful media player is all that you’ll ever need, be it a power user scenario or just someone who wants to watch videos. It’s hard to place the immensely popular and cross-platform VLC Media Player at any spot other than first.
So here, we take a look at the best video players specifically for Mac OS X, and rank them in the order that we feel they deserve your attention. Granted, you have VLC on Mac, but the major players from Microsoft’s ecosystem don’t really exist in OS X otherwise. With Mac, the list is considerably different. With Windows, it’s easier to identify the best video players, because you have choices like Media Player Classic, VLC. Hence, it becomes really difficult to single out the best based on just looks or features that you probably won’t ever find a need for. You see, the primary differentiator between video players is usually the kind of codecs and file types they support, but beyond that, almost all players give a feature set that is sufficient for a vast majority of users. Compiling a list of best video players for any platform isn’t an easy feat, mainly because most of the time, they’re a highly subjective choice.