Open Source Alternatives to VLC Media Player
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VLC Media Player is a free, open source multimedia player by VideoLAN that plays almost every video and audio format on all major platforms. Full details →
VLC Media Player is already open source and free, but its interface and architecture date back decades — some users prefer a leaner player with better GPU acceleration, a more modern UI, or tighter Wayland integration on Linux. The alternatives listed here are all actively maintained, fully open source, and cover everything from a scriptable CLI-first player to polished GNOME and KDE-native frontends.
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Open Source Alternatives
mpv
A free and open source media player based on MPlayer and mplayer2
mpv is a free, open source, cross-platform media player with GPU-accelerated video playback, a minimalist on-screen controller, and scripting support.
Celluloid
Simple GTK4 frontend for mpv
Celluloid (formerly GNOME MPV) is a simple GTK4 frontend for mpv, providing a clean GNOME-style interface over mpv's powerful playback engine.
Haruna
Qt-based media player built on mpv
Haruna is a free, open source Qt-based media player for Linux built on the mpv backend, with playlist management, YouTube support, and picture-in-picture.
Clapper
Modern GTK4 media player with GStreamer backend
Clapper is a free and open source GTK4 media player for Linux built for GNOME, using GStreamer as its backend with hardware-accelerated playback support.