Beyond VLC. Other video players

There are software titles for Linux that are so good that they are benchmarks in their category regardless of platform or license. OBS Studio, Blender or the media player of the title. But Beyond VLC there are a ton of really good alternatives that you might want to try.

I clarify that I love VLC and I doubt that you will be able to find any of my articles where I collect free software titles in which it is not included. It is cross-platform and allows interaction between devices, it has dvd support, it converts between formats, it supports customizing the appearance of subtitles and, there is almost no video or audio format that it does not play.

As an acquaintance of mine used to say, a crocodile that doesn't move is made into a bag. AND, If we stay in what we know without turning around from time to time to see if there is something better, we stagnate.

Beyond VLC

I will follow the same criteria that I used in my article about the audio players to classify the selection criteria. The clarification is also the same. To put as many titles as possible I use different examples in each category. However, many of the titles have features for all categories.

Use

In the case of video players we have two types. Those that work in conjunction with other programs and those that need our full attention. In the first case we have a program that I discovered thanks to the fact that for some reason Ubuntu Studio comes with two video players. Haruna It is part of the KDE project and its strong points are the automatic creation of playlists, the online playback of Youtube videos including the exclusion of those that include certain words and the change of the color scheme.

If unlike me, who puts the videos in the background while I do anything else, pyou mean turning your computer into a multimedia center you have several options. One of them is OSMC that allows you to play content from a local network, the Internet or any other connected device.

Formats

The most common formats for video playback are:

• MP4: It is an international standard that supports audio, video, still images, and subtitles. Almost all players and browsers support it and it requires very little bandwidth.
• AVI:  First of Microsoft's contributions to the list. It has higher quality, but the files are larger.
• MOV: Format used primarily by and for Apple. It can contain video, audio, virtual reality, and timecode. It has a good relationship between quality and file size.
• WebM: Designed by Google to transmit content on the web, it stands out for the small size of the files.
• WMV: This second contribution from Microsoft is widely used on Blu Ray and DVD devices as it supports the use of copy protection.

A good and simple option to reproduce these formats is Baka Mplayer

In case you prefer to consume virtual reality or XNUMXD content, you can try building.

User interface

The Linux terminal is a one way trip. Once you get used to using it, you will almost certainly prefer apps with a text interface.  MPV is an excellent option to play videos from the terminal using even graphic acceleration. I clarify that the playback controls are graphic. What is done from the terminal is to configure the reproduction options.

Video edition

Surprisingly, choosing a video editor is one of the most controversial topics I've written about in Linux Adictos. Each title seems to have its group of supporters.

Posts to recommend one for this article, the choice falls on flowblade which is ideal for both beginners and advanced users. It allows you to combine various multimedia formats and make animations with static images.

Finally, there is a recommendation for Android. just video player It is exactly that, a video player that supports most of the local or streaming formats and supports the use of subtitles.