IINA [1] is an open-source [2], native [3] modern video player for macOS based on MPV [4].
[1] https://iina.io
[2] https://github.com/iina/iina
[3] Written in Swift and designed with modern macOS (10.11+) in mind
[1] https://iina.io
[2] https://github.com/iina/iina
[3] Written in Swift and designed with modern macOS (10.11+) in mind
It has clean and well organised preferences that come with sensible defaults.
I have used it for over three years and not had a crash or bug with it ever. Never failed to play a file, even partially downloaded via torrent (so just random fragments of the file it was able to handle properly rather than just error/crash out).
But what I love most is that it is just a media player. It doesn't try to be a capture tool or converter or editor. It plays video and music files and does that job superbly.
If you're a macOS user I can't think of a better media player out there. Plus it is not only free but open source!
There is also mpc-qt, which replicates the classic MPC-HT UI, but with libmpv as the backend. [3]
Personally I found mpv's defaults sane enough to not need a GUI for it, but I did release an unofficial version to the Windows 10 Store with a wrapper that adds file association and macOS-style single instance support. [4][5]
[1] https://github.com/stax76/mpv.net
[2] https://www.microsoft.com/store/productId/9N64SQZTB3LM
[3] https://github.com/mpc-qt/mpc-qt
IIRC a long time ago mpv was based on mplayer, though probably no shared code exists anymore.
You'll also find that even on the most powerful of Macs that it will struggle with higher resolution video playback that QuickTime Player, VLC, or straight mpv play without issue.
> For and only for modern macOS.
> IINA is born to be a modern macOS application,
As a policy I stay away from all software whose primary marketed feature is being “modern,” which I wholly consider to be a meaningless term.
IINA is born to be a modern macOS application, from its framework to the user interface. It adopts the post-Yosemite design language of macOS and keeps up the pace of new technologies like Force Touch, Touch Bar, and Picture-in-Picture.
Yes, if IINA is no longer modern, it will cease being modern.
If IINA doesn’t adhere to modern macOS UX standards, but advertises that it does, there will be a compelling reason not to use it.
In general, macOS apps require constant updates every year in order to run on new versions, period. The idea that an app that competes on UX would continue implementing updates solely in the non ui realm and as a result fall out of current macOS UX practices year after year is unlikely, to say the least. It’ll just die normally.
Years ago when VLC was the rage, I could open any video or sound file I wanted in QuickTime Player with an array of plug-ins including Persian, Flip4Mac and a couple others I’ve long since forgotten. That served me well until it became impossible to install and use QuickTime 7 on a modern Macintosh.
IINA quickly filled that hole for me, and was a solid upgrade over a player I never asked much from, readily replicating all the features I cared about and throwing in a few more. If all you want is a media player that lets you double click a file and play it back, IINA is the best there is on the Macintosh today.
So for all I know, 15 years later VLC might actually be the best media playback player on the Macintosh and I’m just too set in my ways to realize that because I went basically straight from QuickTime 7 to QuickTime X to IINA and IINA was already such a solid upgrade that I’m not looking for another replacement.