Alternatives to Haruna
An open-source KDE video player built on libmpv with automatic playlists and configurable shortcuts. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Haruna
An open-source KDE video player built on libmpv with automatic playlists and configurable shortcuts.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Haruna.
VLC media player
A free player that opens almost any video or audio file, disc or stream without installing a codec pack.
VLC media player uses its own engine instead of libmpv and runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, with an interface that is functional rather than KDE-integrated.
mpv
A minimal, scriptable media player with high quality video output and no real interface to get in the way.
mpv is the engine Haruna builds on, used directly with only an on-screen controller and configuration done by editing mpv.conf and input.conf by hand, across Windows, macOS and Linux.
SMPlayer
A front end for mpv and MPlayer that remembers where you stopped in every file you have ever opened.
SMPlayer is a Qt front end for mpv and MPlayer on Windows, macOS and Linux that remembers position, audio track and subtitles per file, with a dated interface.
Celluloid
A simple GTK front end for the mpv video player on Linux.
Celluloid is also an mpv front end for Linux, but with a simple GTK interface suited to GNOME that reuses existing mpv configuration and keybindings unchanged.
MPC-QT
A reimplementation of Media Player Classic built with Qt and libmpv.
MPC-QT keeps libmpv playback but reproduces the Media Player Classic interface in Qt, with builds for Windows and Linux rather than a KDE-focused design.
Dragon Player
A simple KDE video player that plays video files and streams with minimal controls.
Dragon Player stays on KDE with regular KDE Gear releases, but it uses a deliberately minimal interface with fewer features than Haruna and no mpv engine.
Clapper
A GNOME media player built on GStreamer and GTK4, designed for simplicity and ease of use.
Clapper swaps libmpv for GStreamer with a GTK4 interface built for GNOME, so format support depends on installed GStreamer plugins.
Showtime
GNOME's video player, with simple playback controls, subtitles, multiple audio tracks and screenshots.
Showtime is GNOME's GPL-3.0 video player with a minimal interface and fading controls, offering deliberately fewer advanced options than Haruna.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Haruna as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Parole
A lightweight GStreamer-based media player written to fit the Xfce desktop.
Haruna is a libmpv-based KDE player with automatic folder playlists, seek previews and yt-dlp online playback, replacing GStreamer and Xfce integration.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Syncplay
Keep video playback synchronized across a group.
Hypnotix
An IPTV streaming application from Linux Mint for live TV, movies and series.
Jellyfin Media Player
A desktop client for Jellyfin built on libmpv, with hardware decoding and audio passthrough so fewer files need transcoding.
Elisa
A KDE music player for browsing and playing a local music library and listening to online radio.
IINA
The mpv engine wrapped in a macOS app that actually looks and behaves like a macOS app.
