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VLC media player vs mpv-android: catalog facts
VLC media player	mpv-android
Free Free software from a non-profit; there is no paid tier and no advertising in the player.	Free Free and open source.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS	Android
Plays an unusually wide list of codecs and containers out of the box, including MPEG-1/2, H.264, H.265, VP8/VP9… No spyware, no advertising and no user tracking, stated on the project feature page	Hardware and software decoding Styled subtitles through libass
The stable desktop line is still 3.0.23; the 4.0 interface rewrite has not shipped The interface is functional rather than modern, and advanced options are buried in preference dialogs	Plain interface with no media library Android only
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-2.0	License not stated
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 20, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.