Media player

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about media players in general. For the first Microsoft media player, see Media Player.

Media player is a term typically used to describe computer software for playing back multimedia files. Most software media players support an array of media formats, including both audio and video files.

Some media players focus only on audio or video and are known as audio players and video players respectively. The producers of these players usually focus on providing a better user experience as they are specifically tailored toward the media type.

Microsoft Windows comes with pre-loaded Windows Media Player. The latest is Windows Media Player 11, which is bundled with Windows Vista, and available as a download for Windows XP SP2. Mac OS X comes pre-loaded with Quicktime Player for playing Quicktime movies and iTunes for playing a variety of media formats. Linux distributions come pre-loaded with various media players including VLC, MPlayer, xine, and Totem.

1 Terminology
2 Software
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Terminology

Although the term usually refers to computer software, the term is also used for the media playback devices used in digital signage. The term may also be used to describe analog electrical or mechanical media playing equipment such as a phonograph or player piano.

[edit] Software

List of some Media Players.

software media players
Name	Audio	Video	OperatingSystem	License
BSplayer	Yes	Yes	Windows	own
Foobar2000	Yes	No	Windows	own
GOM player	Yes	Yes	Windows	own
Media Player Classic	Yes	Yes	Windows	GPL
MPlayer	Yes	Yes	POSIX-compatible, MacOS X, Windows	GPL
PowerDVD	No	Yes	Windows	own (CyberLink)
Quicktime	Yes	Yes	Mac OS X, Windows	own (Apple)
RealPlayer	Yes	Yes	Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Palm OS, Symbian OS	own
VLC Media Player	Yes	Yes	Linux/Unix, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, BSD	GPL
Winamp	Yes	Yes	Windows	own
Windows Media Player	Yes	Yes	Windows, Mac OS X	own
WinDVD	No	Yes	Windows	own (InterVideo)
itunes	Yes	Yes	Mac, Windows	own (GPL)
iMesh	Yes	No	Mac, Windows	own (GPL)
Napster	Yes	No	Windows	own
XBMC (XBox Media Center)	Yes	Yes	Xbox game-console, Windows (partial port to Win32)	GPL / LGPL
xine	Yes	Yes	Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, IRIX, Mac OS X	GPL
XMMS	Yes	No	POSIX-compatible	GPL
Zinf	Yes	No	Linux, Windows	GPL
Zoom Player	Yes	Yes	Windows	own

Many media players use libraries. The library is designed to help you organize, or catalog, your music into categories such as genre, year, rating or other. Good examples of media players that include media libraries are Winamp, Windows Media Player, iTunes, RealPlayer, and Amarok.