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Universal video player that comes with all codecs loaded

Universal video player that comes with all codecs loaded

Vote: (136 votes)

Program license: Free

Developer: Ricardo Villalba

Version: 22.7.0

Works under: Windows

Vote:

Program license

(136 votes)

Free

Developer

Version

Ricardo Villalba

22.7.0

Works under:

Windows

Pros

  • Plays almost any video format without additional codecs
  • Attractive, lightweight interface
  • Easily accessible controls
  • Instantly plays files when double-clicked

Cons

  • Does not stream TCP/IP video
  • Does not extract video clips

SMPlayer is a graphical user interface for the command-line program MPlayer, which runs on Linux, Windows, OS X and other operating systems.

Since SMPlayer uses MPlayer as its video engine, you don't need to install extra video codecs to watch videos. After you download the installation file, double-click it to run the Windows Setup Wizard, which configures your system and adds launch icons to your desktop. After installing SMPlayer, you don't have to take any further action to connect it to MPlayer because the video engine is included with SMPlayer and installed automatically. You can launch SMPlayer by clicking the taskbar icon or Start screen tile.

SMPlayer offers a fairly standard set of features with an attractive user interface. All of SMPlayer's features can be accessed from the menu bar or the navigation toolbar. The Video menu includes a number of settings that let you adjust the horizontal and vertical panning, aspect ratio, deinterlace settings and video filters. Most of the time, you will probably just want to watch a video without applying any filters or adjusting the pan and scan settings. To play a video, just double-click it in your file browser. If you configured SMPlayer to open when video files are double-clicked, it immediately opens and starts playing the video. Otherwise, you can right-click the file, choose Properties and then make SMPlayer the default program for playing videos.

If your video file includes subtitles in SRT format, you can enable or disable them from the Subtitles menu. By default, SRT files open automatically when they're included in the same folder as a video with the same file name. If you have multiple SRT files, you can specify which one is displayed by clicking Subtitles, pointing the cursor to Languages and choosing the desired language. This feature works for video files stored on your computer as well as DVD discs playing in your optical drive. The Options menu lets you change the style for subtitles, including the font, color, size and opacity of your text.

One of the best features of SMPlayer is the fact that you don't have to install extra codecs to watch videos in virtually any format. All of the common file types are supported, including AVI, MP4, MKV, FLV, 3GP, XviD and DivX. Many less common file types should play without issues, although SMPlayer may still lack support for newer formats that haven't gained wide acceptance yet. If SMPlayer doesn't support a video file that you want to play, you will probably need a special piece of software to be able to play it on your computer. Unfortunately, SMPlayer doesn't allow you to stream video from the Web or over a network or remote connection.

Pros

  • Plays almost any video format without additional codecs
  • Attractive, lightweight interface
  • Easily accessible controls
  • Instantly plays files when double-clicked

Cons

  • Does not stream TCP/IP video
  • Does not extract video clips