In my opinion, MPV is even better. I mean, it is faster and has better codec support. On the other hand, VLC has a better user interface with a lot of preferences. As for Showtime, oh boy, it’s a clear beauty!
For now I’m staying with MPV, because ffmpeg > gstreamer.
To be fair, I don’t know any benchmark for this comparison. But I just tried a relatively big file with both of them. Opening part is not really noticeable, but fast-forwarding is much better and slicker in mpv. In VLC it looks like it’s jumping between scenes, in mpv you actually see the motion of it’s getting fast-forward.
Yeah, with mpv you can even hold the jump 10/60 sec forward/backward button pressed and the frames just fly in the screen. Vlc seeking is really slow in comparison.
Me. I support this, and I did for over a decade. If you don’t use windows there are more performant general purpose media players than VLC. Anybody who’s been reviving old hardware with Linux knows this.
You sound like you suspect that people want to dis VLC. That is not the case. I’m sure VLC has valid use cases even on Linux, and it certainly is a marvellous piece of software in its own right.
How come they don’t just use VLC?
In my opinion, MPV is even better. I mean, it is faster and has better codec support. On the other hand, VLC has a better user interface with a lot of preferences. As for Showtime, oh boy, it’s a clear beauty!
For now I’m staying with MPV, because ffmpeg > gstreamer.
I love VLC. I also love mpv.
I like to think that VLC is for window users for them to get a taste of what it’s like to use Linux.
Lol, what? Do people really care about the ‘speed’ of their video player in 2025?
You can still use older hardware in 2025. So, yes.
Yeah, but is the speed difference between the two really noticeable?
Playing high quality 4k videos on old hardware, it seems to make a noticeable difference.
My laptop from 2014 significantly loads .ts video faster on MPV than VLC.
VLC even stuck on video seeking for a few seconds.
Yes it’s quite noticeable, especially with the bigger file size. mpv is really light.
Are there any benchmarks to support this?
To be fair, I don’t know any benchmark for this comparison. But I just tried a relatively big file with both of them. Opening part is not really noticeable, but fast-forwarding is much better and slicker in mpv. In VLC it looks like it’s jumping between scenes, in mpv you actually see the motion of it’s getting fast-forward.
Yeah, with mpv you can even hold the jump 10/60 sec forward/backward button pressed and the frames just fly in the screen. Vlc seeking is really slow in comparison.
Me. I support this, and I did for over a decade. If you don’t use windows there are more performant general purpose media players than VLC. Anybody who’s been reviving old hardware with Linux knows this.
You sound like you suspect that people want to dis VLC. That is not the case. I’m sure VLC has valid use cases even on Linux, and it certainly is a marvellous piece of software in its own right.
Now go away, you silly person.
I don’t care if people want to dis it or not.
Based on my experience and the experiences of literally everyone I know, performance of video players has never been an issue.
I don’t watch videos of such length and quality that seeking could cause lag; I’m glad I asked to get other people’s input.
Asking for benchmarks is just par for the course when measuring performance. It’s fine if they’re not there, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
🖕
Doesn’t feel gnomey enough.