Last updated on 2018-09-09, by David Brooks

How to Play 4K Blu-ray Disc on Computer

Now there have been 4K Blu-ray discs on the market for people to get much higher resolution image of movies. Many people are wandering how to play 4K Blu-ray disc, since there exist some differences between 4K Blu-ray disc and general Blu-ray disc. Some people may even ask whether or not can Blu-ray players play 4K or Blu-ray player with 4K upscaling.

Till now, there are mainly two ways to play 4K Blu-ray movies: external 4K Blu-ray player device and 4K Blu-ray player software installed on computer. It is quite simple to play 4K Blu-ray disc with external 4K Blu-ray player (you only need to purchase an external 4K Blu-ray player for hundreds of dollars). In this post, we would like to provide some detailed information on how to play 4K Blu-ray disc with computer: install Blu-ray 4K player software and 4K Blu-ray converter.

Part 1: Requirements for Playing 4K Blu-ray Disc on Computer

To play 4K Blu-ray disc on computer, the very first thing you need to make clear is whether your computer has a BD drive. Many people would think that they have to upgrade their Blu-ray drive to 4K Blu-ray drive. Actually, PCs will not require new Blu-ray drives to play 4K Blu-ray/media. PCs will only need 4K Blu-ray player software that supports 4K Blu-ray playback. Of course, to make thing easier and smoother, you could consult your Blu-ray drive provider for the 4K Blu-ray disc compatibility issue, and prepare a 4K Blu-ray disc drive if you can.

Speaking to 4K, we know it contains 4096 x 2160 pixels, which means if you want to get the full 4K movie experience, the display should be at least support 4K. If you only have a 1080P display, the 4K movie pixels would downlscale to 1080P (1920×1080 pixels). Therefore, a 4K display is required.

To sum up, to play 4K Blu-ray disc on computer, you need to meet the below requirements:

1. 4K display
2. Blu-ray drive (compatible with 4K Blu-ray disc, or 4K Blu-ray drive)
3. 4K Blu-ray disc
4. 4K Blu-ray player software (UHD Blu-ray player software) of course

With all these things ready, you could then start to play 4K Blu-ray disc on computer easily.

Part 2: 5 Best 4K Blu-ray Player Software

The below content introduces you 5 best 4K Blu-ray player software to help you play 4K Blu-ray disc on computer. Some of these best 4K Blu-ray player software are free 4K Blu-ray players, while others require you to pay dollars.

No.1 Leawo Free 4K Blu-ray Player

As an all-inclusive media player combo, Leawo Free Blu-ray Player features region free Blu-ray player, free DVD player, free 4K video palyer, free 4K Blu-ray player, free audio player and free ISO player. With the support of several different advanced audio decoding technologies like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc., this free UHD Blu-ray player could play 4K Blu-ray disc free without any quality loss. To play 4K Blu-ray disc on computer with Leawo Free 4K Blu-ray Player, you don’t need to install any plugin.

Note: Currently Leawo Free Blu-ray Player only supports non-protected 4K Blu-ray disc playback. The non-protected 4K Blu-ray discs often refer to 4K Blu-ray discs burned with 4K Blu-ray burner software. Those 4K Blu-ray discs on sale in the market are often encrypted. These encrypted 4K Blu-ray discs will be supported by Leawo Blu-ray Player in the near future according to Leawo officials.

No.2 CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra

This certainly is one of the best software programs for playing blu ray videos. The latest version of it (Power DVD 15 Ultra) supports blu-ray, 4K, 3D, HD and various others formats of videos. It comes in three versions and all the 3 versions have powerDVD remote that turns your android device into a remote control for the power DVD installed system. It costs around $100 and you can purchase it online as well.

No.3 iDeer Blu-ray Player

This Blu-ray 4K player is the authorized player software for all Windows OS all across the world. It can play both commercial and non-commercial blu ray discs, folders and ISO files. It supports a vast range of video formats and MP3, AVI, WMV, WMA, MPEG, MP4 etc. are to name a few. This is also a powerful HD video player that doesn’t cause any loss to the picture and audio quality. This blu ray player software also supports smart phones. It costs around $60.

No. 4 VLC Player

VLC player, widely known for compatibility with a huge number of file formats, like video formats MP4, MKV, AVI, FLV etc and audio formats MP3, WMA, M4A, AACA and many more, has a strong ability to play files and codecs many other programs fail to handle with.

Recently, this video player get a got a boost and updated its support to cover 4K videos playback, as well as 8K video playback. Besides, this 4k video player software runs on both Mac and Windows for free.

No.5 5KPlayer

5KPlayer is another a free 4K Blu-ray player which is designed to work under PC and Mac to smoothly play videos in 4K uhd 3840×2160, HD 1080p/720p, MKV, AVI, as well as play 360º virtual reality videos. Besides the ability to play UHD videos, it also features download & airplay knacks. If you don’t know how to play 4K videos on your computer, this video player for 4K videos will be a good choice.