Media Player

A Media Player is an object or tool used for playing media of a particular format or set of formats.

Media Players

There are a number of possible technologies to use in creating your own Media Player, however the most common for each platform will be listed below.

Desktop

By sharp contrast, Desktop media players are meant for viewing video on an actual desktop, laptop, mobile or other client device, which has its own media playing capabilities (including the necessary codecs, to play video, audio, image and other media formats). Desktop solutions typically come in one of two varieties, closed-source and open-source.

Open-Source

VLC

• VLC

Amarok

Amarok is the leading OSS Media Player for the Linux OS. It also has some "device media synchronization" type features to act as somewhat of a limited stand-in for full-blown synchronization software such as iTunes, BlackBerry sync, Samsung sync, etc used by the various device-specific Mobile OS platforms for transferring multimedia files over to your device from a computer.

• Amarok: https://amarok.kde.org/

MIRO

• MIRO

Media Player Classic

• Media Player Classic (MPC): http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/

Others

• Songbird: http://getsongbird.com/
• FLV Player: http://www.martijndevisser.com/blog/flv-player/
• SMplayer: http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/ (Mplayer front-end)

Closed-Source

• RealPlayer

Winamp

• WinAmp

Windows Media Player

• Windows Media Player

Quicktime

• Quicktime: https://support.apple.com/quicktime | DOWNLOAD - Mac | DOWNLOAD - Windows

iTunes

• iTunes

Adobe Media Player

Adobe Media Player (commonly abbreviated AMP) is the latest release from Adobe, and is intended as a proprietary media center solution and alternative to Windows' Media Player and Apple's Quicktime/iTunes player combo.

• Adobe Media Player: http://www.adobe.com/products/mediaplayer/ | DOWNLOAD | DOCS
• Adobe Labs - AMP Page: http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Media_Player

Web

Web-based consumption of content has become increasingly pervasive thanks to the availability of a number of feature-rich media players. A media player for the web still requires a Media Streaming Server and typically (but not necessarily) a web browser client to display the media in.

SUN: Java Applets

The first true cross-platform (cross-browser/cross-OS) multimedia player option were Java Applets using JMF.

For more details, see: Applets

REAL: Real Media plugin

• wikipedia: RealPlayer
• REAL Media Player: http://www.real.com/ca

APPLE: Quicktime plugin

• Quicktime
• Quicktime: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL837?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

MICROSOFT: Windows Media Player plugin

Windows Media Player (commonly abbreviated as WMP) is the flagship Media Player software Microsoft's main media platform which ships with all versions of its Windows Operating System.

• Windows Media: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/windows-media
• Windows Media Player: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/windows-media-player
• Windows Media - Web Player plugin: https://web.archive.org/web/20170304053612/http://www.interoperabilitybridges.com/windows-media-player-firefox-plugin-download | BACKUP

ADOBE: Shockwave/Flash extensions

• JW Media Player
• FlowPlayer
• Flash Player
• Agriya
• OSMF: http://www.osmf.org/
• Kaltura - MWE Player: http://player.kaltura.com/modules/KalturaSupport/tests/Strings.html
• MC Media Player: http://www.mcmediaplayer.com/
• Applian FLV Player: http://applian.com/flvplayer/
• AS-Flash Media Player: http://www.flashden.net/item/asflash-media-player/19643
• Media Player Classic: http://www.download.com/Media-Player-Classic/3000-2139_4-10518778.html
• Javascript PHP Progressive Media Player: http://www.rich-media-project.com/ (allows seeking on video)
• Dash Media Player: http://mediafront.org/dashplayer/ (originally a Top 5 Flash Video Player, now a HTML5 video player with YouTube & Vimeo support... repurposed as OpenStandards Player for widespread use in Drupal)

MICROSOFT: Silverlight extension

• JW WMV Player
• Generic MS Silverlight player

DIVX: 4K HD & DRM plugin

• wikipedia: DivX
• DivX Player: http://www.divx.com/ (DivX organization now also offers Mobile "Cast to TV" style app, and DivX Player PRO with editing/ripping/publishing capabilities)

W3C: HTML5/JavaScript, no plugin/extension

1. Video.js: http://videojs.com/
2. Open Standard Media (OSM) Player: http://www.mediafront.org/project/osmplayer
3. Projekktor: http://www.projekktor.com
4. LeanBack Player - HTML5 Video Player with Subtitle-Support: http://dev.mennerich.name/showroom/html5_video/
5. moovie - custom controls on top of vidow: http://colinaarts.com/code/moovie/
6. FlareVideo: http://flarevideo.com/
7. MediaElement.JS: http://www.mediaelementjs.com/ | SRC | DOCS

Mobile

PLEX

• PLEX: https://www.plex.tv/ | DOWNLOAD (PLEX is the leading "DIY/home-OTT" service enabling you to stream between devices/screens)

Tutorials

• How to use NetBeans IDE 6.5 to create a media player in JavaFX: http://netbeans.tv/screencasts/JavaFX-MediaPlayer-431/
• Usability of Streaming Video Interfaces: http://dangreenblatt.com/blog/2009/01/12/streaming-video-interfaces/

External Links

• wikipedia: Portable media player
• New media player searches for spoken words in videos: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10069806-2.html
• Best Open Source Free FLV Players: http://www.greepit.com/2009/02/best-open-source-free-flv-players/
• Video Service Provider Brightcove Launches HTML5 Video Support for iPhone iPad: http://obamapacman.com/2010/03/video-service-provider-brightcove-launches-html5-video-support-for-iphone-ipad/

See Also

HTML5 | Flash | Silverlight | Unity | JW | Playlist | Audio | Video | Streaming | Object Embed | Multimedia | DVD/Blu Ray