Software & Apps > Apps 83 83 people found this article helpful Free Programs That Can Replace Windows Media Player Tired of using Microsoft's aging media manager? By Mark Harris Mark Harris Writer University of Wolverhampton Mark Harris is a former writer for Lifewire who wrote about the digital music scene and streaming music services in an easy to understand, no-nonsense manner. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on June 13, 2022 Reviewed by Jon Fisher Reviewed by Jon Fisher Wichita Technical Institute Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA certified technologist with more than 6 years' experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek. lifewire's editorial guidelines Apps Best Apps Payment Services Trending Videos Close this video player Windows Media Player is a free app in Windows. However, you may want something more from a media program. Whether you have a vast music library or want to watch a video you downloaded, there are many full-featured programs to choose from. Below are several free programs that could be your perfect Windows Media Player replacement. 01 of 06 Full-Featured Replacement: VLC Media Player Hinrik / Creative Commons / Wikimedia Commons What We Like Free to download and use. Supports video/audio formats without plug-ins. Totally ad-free. Cross platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, and Mobile. Great, responsive community of developers. What We Don't Like Outdated interface. Has some difficulty playing DVDs smoothly or at all. Not made to play or catalog a music library. Often a victim of hackers. If you're looking for a full-featured replacement for Microsoft's media player, the VLC Media Player is a serious contender. The number of formats that it supports is impressive. In addition to playing audio, video, and DVDs, VLC Media Player allows you to do advanced things that aren't possible with Windows Media Player. For example, you can extract audio from video, convert between formats, and set up your computer as a streaming media server. VLC Media Player is available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and other operating systems. Download VLC 02 of 06 Best Audio-Only Player: Foobar2000 What We Like Simple, lightweight interface. Lots of plug-ins to customize and add advanced functions. Easy to customize the theme. Supports gapless playback. What We Don't Like Default theme looks outdated. Many plug-ins are outdated or not frequently patched. Some customizations require advanced computer skills. If you're looking for an audio-only player, take a look at Foobar2000. It's regarded as one of the best. The program has a simplistic look on the surface, but hidden under this interface is a capable player. Audio format support is excellent, and it can convert between formats using optional plug-ins. The program doesn't need much memory compared to Windows Media Player, which can be a real RAM hog. Foobar2000 comes with advanced music tagging, which uses the Freedb service to add metadata automatically. The program has a built-in CD ripper for transferring your originals to digital music files. Foobar2000 is available for Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP (SP2 or newer), and iOS and Android devices. Download Foobar2000 03 of 06 Manage Enormous Media Libraries: MediaMonkey Free What We Like Free to download and use (with limited features). Powerful music collection organizer. An intuitive interface. Powerful audio format converter. Syncs with most mobile devices. What We Don't Like May be too complicated for novice users. Attempts to be PC's default audio player. Advanced features aren't free. MediaMonkey is a flexible free music manager that is a strong replacement candidate for Windows Media Player. This program can manage small or large media libraries with more than 100,000 files. The free version has a robust set of built-in tools for playing and managing audio and video. Format support is exceptional, too, providing you have the correct codecs installed on your system. You can use MediaMonkey Free to automatically tag music files, add album art, rip CDs, burn media to disc, and convert audio files. There's also a handy set of podcast options that allow you to subscribe and update your favorites. Media Money is compatible with Windows 10, 8, 7 Vista, and XP, Linux, macOS, iOS 11, and Android 8. Download MediaMonkey 04 of 06 Lightweight Player With Ripping and Tagging Tools: MusicBee Steven Mayall What We Like Free to download and use. Performance is faster than other media players. Automatically imports song information, including lyrics. Can sync with iOS devices with a plug-in. What We Don't Like Only available for Windows and Android. Not suitable for large music collections. Very simplistic interface. If you're looking for a lightweight music player and don't need video features, MusicBee has an impressive tally of audio-based tools. The interface is user-friendly and, in some ways, it feels similar to Windows Media Player. The left pane gives you a quick way to choose music, podcasts, audiobooks, and radio. Another nice feature about the MusicBee GUI is that you can have multiple screens via menu tabs. It's almost like using a web browser. MusicBee's rich selection of audio options includes extensive data tagging, a podcast directory, an audio format converter, the ability to stream music from internet radio stations, and more. MusicBee comes with a CD ripper/burner, which is useful if you need to import music or archive to disc. With the Auto-DJ function, it's possible to discover and create playlists based on your listening preferences. Overall, MusicBee is an excellent alternative to Microsoft's WMP. It has more features and is user-friendly. MusicBee is available for Windows 10, 8, 7, and Android devices. Download MusicBee 05 of 06 Flexible Streaming Media Tool: Kodi Kodi What We Like Open-source software that you can run anywhere. Supports most media file formats. Various add-ons available to stream media. Free to download and use. Cross-platform compatible, including mobile devices. What We Don't Like Lacks the security features of other media players. No technical support is available. Interface can feel confusing for beginners. Has been a victim of hackers in the past. Anyone with massive music, movie, and photo libraries can benefit from using Kodi. The open-source software media center is designed to be hooked up to a TV or a large monitor. However, you can run it about anywhere. It can be used as a DVR if your PC has a TV card. Kodi excels when combined with some of the vast collection of compatible add-ons. These extensions add support for extra services such as games, lyrics, subtitles, and streaming sites. The number of add-ons is overwhelming, and it may take a while to configure them in the best way to work for you. Kodi is compatible with most virtual private networks that secure devices and prevent hacking. Kodi is available for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, Raspberry Pi, and other operating systems. Download Kodi 06 of 06 360-Degree VR Video Player: GOM Player What We Like Free to download and use. Very user-friendly interface. Supports most common media formats. Capable of playing partially downloaded media files. Multiple language support. What We Don't Like Connects to the internet on startup by default. Lacks some features found in most other media players. Has difficulty playing DVDs. GOM Player is a free video player that supports the most popular video formats by default, has plenty of advanced features, and is extremely customizable. GOM Player's unique claim to fame is its support for 360-degree VR videos. Use it to watch from up, down, left and right, and 360 degrees around using the keyboard or mouse. Other advanced features include screen capture, playback speed control, and video effects. The player can be customized with skins and advanced filter controls. GOM Player is available for Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, Android, and iOS. There's also a beta version for macOS. Download GOM Player Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit