If you want to play video or music files in just about any format, VLC media player is probably your answer.
Features
Version 2 ("Twoflower") brings a new interface, faster decoding,
support for more formats and the ability to play HD and BluRay. It still
remains however the most stable, flexible and lightweight audio and
video player around today. While other media players will play unusual
formats after downloading a codec, or simply refuse to play things,
VLC media player handles tons of formats, from MPEG to FLV and RMBV
files. Version 2 has seen some important additions too such as support
for 10 bit codes plus multi-threaded decoding for H.264, MPEG-4/Xvid and
WebM.
Also useful is the fact that you can
use VLC media player to preview
files you are downloading since it plays incomplete parts of video
files. VLC media player is not just for video playback however. It also
offers superb integration with video channel streaming services such as
Channels.com giving you access to channels such as ESPN, Reuters and
National Geographic. Just right-click or CMD-click on the playlist,
select Services Discovery and Channels.com.
Channels.com will then appear in your VLC media player playlist.
Click on it to reveal the the different categories of channels
available. Click on the category you want and a drop down list of all
available channels appears in VLC media player. Just click on the
channel you want to watch and streaming should begin almost immediately.
Usability
VLC media player also has great hotkey support and if you take the
time to learn the shortcuts so it can be controlled without touching
your mouse. If you're watching DVDs or video files through it, this is
not an issue. For music, it plays more or less any file and features an
equalizer and playlist creation. VLC media player isn't as intuitive as iTunes
as a media manager, but it's a much more flexible player in terms of
file formats. You can even use VLC to convert your files, and on top of
all the formats and physical media it will play, many streaming
protocols and TV capture cards are supported.
VLC media player makes it easy to add
subtitles to your video files too - just add the SRT file to the folder
where your video is kept, and it will automatically play with
subtitles.
Finally, the interface in VLC media player has been somewhat improved
in version 2 although it remains strictly functional. However, you can
download skins to completely change VLC media player's appearance. The
preferences menu is comprehensive without being overwhelming, and there
is extensive documentation online.
Conclusion
VLC Media Player is quite simply the best multimedia
application for Windows and Mac. It plays just about anything, hassle
free - what more could you need?
What's new
Rework and fixes of the Mac OS X interface
Fix Pulseaudio initial synchronization
Fix MKV, SWF, AIFF and subtitles demuxer crashes
Translations updates and new Welsh translation
DVB-S delivery system detection
Fix audio and video track selection through libVLC
Fix system sleep issue on Mac OS X 10.5
VLC media player supports the following formats
MKV, WMV, MPEG, MP4, MOV, AVI, DIVX, XVID, FLV, FLAC, WAV, REAL, VOB plus many more
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