Alternatives to Zoom Player
A customizable Windows media player with a media library, streaming, skins and keyboard control. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Zoom Player
A customizable Windows media player with a media library, streaming, skins and keyboard control.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Zoom Player.
JRiver Media Center
Organize and play a local media collection with a configurable media-center application.
JRiver Media Center is also paid and closed source, combining library organisation with playback for home media, and it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.
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 is free and open source under GPL-2.0, plays almost any format on every major platform, but offers no media library scraping or skins.
MPC-BE
A lightweight Windows media player descended from Media Player Classic, with its own independent development.
MPC-BE is a free, open source Windows player that is very small and fast, with a deliberately old-fashioned interface and fewer customisation options than Zoom Player.
MPC-HC
A small, fast Windows video player with a classic interface and DirectShow filter support.
MPC-HC is a free, open source Windows player with a classic interface and DirectShow filter support, and it takes no new feature requests.
SMPlayer
A front end for mpv and MPlayer that remembers where you stopped in every file you have ever opened.
SMPlayer is free and open source, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux with mpv and MPlayer engines, and remembers position and subtitles per file.
mpv.net
A Windows media player built on mpv, adding a modern graphical interface and themes.
mpv.net is a free, open source Windows player built on mpv, with a graphical interface and themes, though advanced setup relies on mpv-style configuration.
GOM Player
A Windows video player with built-in codecs, subtitle search and support for 360-degree video.
GOM Player is a freemium Windows player with built-in codecs, subtitle search and 360-degree video, but no media library and heavily promoted paid upgrades.
KMPlayer
A free Windows and macOS video player with built-in codecs for most formats, including 4K and 3D.
KMPlayer is a free, closed source player for Windows and macOS with built-in codecs for 4K and 3D video, with little published detail on its features.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Screenbox
A LibVLC-based video and audio player for Windows built on the Universal Windows Platform.
5KPlayer
A free Windows and Mac media player with AirPlay and DLNA streaming and an online video downloader.
DivX Software
Free video software to play, convert and cast DivX, AVI, MKV and HEVC files up to 4K.
LibreELEC
A minimal Linux operating system that exists only to run the Kodi media center.
OSMC
A free, open-source media center operating system based on Debian Linux and Kodi.
mpv
A minimal, scriptable media player with high quality video output and no real interface to get in the way.
