Last updated on 2016-07-21, by David Brooks

5 Best Windows Media Player Alternatives for Windows 10/8.1/8/7

Have you ever been failed by Windows Media Player when you sit down on the sofa and plan to watch your favorite movies with your friends or the other half? Or have you ever met such kind of occasion when you try to play a Blu-ray disc with Windows Media Player but only to find out that it supports no Blu-ray? Don’t worry. We are here with solutions.

As we all know that Microsoft has removed DVD disc playback since Windows 8, and Blu-ray disc playback is yet far from being on Microsoft’s plan. Therefore, if you want to play DVD disc or Blu-ray disc with Windows Media Player on your Windows 10/8.1/8, you will get disappointed. In such conditions, you need to find a Windows Media Player alternative as alternative solution for a smooth movie experience. Here, we’ve collected the top 5 best Windows Media Player alternatives for Windows 10/8.1/8/7 for you to choose from. Any of these Windows Media Player alternative serves you well. Check them below and get your desired one.

No.1 Best Windows Media Player Alternative – Leawo Free Blu-ray Player

Leawo Free Blu-ray Player has been ranked as the No.1 best Windows Media Player alternative for reasons. Firstly, it’s the first free Blu-ray media player software around the world to provide lifelong free service for people to play Blu-ray movies. Therefore, it is the first free Windows Media Player alternative that supports Blu-ray playback. Secondly, it’s a region-free Blu-ray disc player. This means it could play Blu-ray discs of all regions (A, B, and C). What’s more, it incorporates with advanced disc decryption tech, which enables it to play both commerical and noncommercial Blu-ray discs. Thirdly, it is a free 4K video player app that could play 4K video and 1080P video without any loss of image and audio quality. Of course, being the best alternative to Windows Media Player, Leawo Free Blu-ray Player accepts most video formats like MP4, AVI, MOV, FLV, WMV, MKV, and 180+ others.

Tip: How to Play Movies with Leawo Free Blu-ray Player?

No.2 Best Windows Media Player Alternative – VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player is a classic media player that plays from every source (files, discs, stream, webcams and other devices) and is entirely free. No ads, no spyware, no catches at all.

It’s all very easy to use. Double-click just about any file and it’ll play immediately, with all the core controls where you’d expect them to be.

Browsing the menus reveals all kinds of additional goodies that you won’t find in Microsoft’s player: special effects that enhance your audio and video files, custom bookmarks to save and recall your favorite playback moments, and even a module to batch convert media files into a more convenient format.

No.3 Best Alternative to Windows Media Player – KMPlayer

KMPlayer is another excellent free video player for Windows 10. It supports a great variety of video file formats, AVI, WMV, FLV, MKV, just to name a few. KMPlayer allows users to play video files without any separate codec thanks to its own internal codec. It plays videos without running all of your resources. Moreover, it supports a host of languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, etc. Free as it is, it is completely clean, very powerful, and highly customizable. But sometimes, you may come across some errors like play videos with noise, cannot show video, can’t play H.264/MP4/MKV.

No. 4 Best Alternative to Windows Media Player – RealPlayer

RealPlayer is a freemium video player solution that is available for Windows PC. Rather than merely letting you watch movies, there are enhanced options to share those videos through cloud. Then, you would be able to access those files from the device you want, anytime. Even though the free version offers standard features, it seems okay for us to get the premium version by spending $4.99 per month, given that you get a storage space of 365 GB. So, if you have good internet connection in all the devices, RealPlayer is worth a try.

There are additional features as well, such as the option to share your movies into big screen, such as HD TVs and you just need the app installed in your device. There is also an option to create bookmarks and keep them safe, so that you won’t miss a bit of your favorite stuff. Altogether, though a premium software, RealPlayer makes sense.

No.5 Best Windows Media Player Alternative – Media Player Classic

Media Player Classic is a light-weight media player for Windows 10. Looks like Windows Media Player from the appearance but added more bells and whistles. This Windows 10 media player alternates has built-in codecs for MPEG-2 and LPCM, MP2, AC3 and like 5KPlayer, it supports DTS audio and it’s also a full-fledged DVD player software on Windows 10 in 2016. While the cons lies where it doesn’t support as much as video format as Leawo Free Blu-ray Player or VLC.