Member Avatar for Krispy84

I'm trying to find a good DVD player that's free...
Since DvD's encoding was made open source by that lovely employee of RealPlayer, i refuse to pay for one, anyone have any suggestions?
What's your preference?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jamestomsa

Dani AI

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Several replies already named VLC, MPlayer, AVS and DivX. The choice depends on platform, willingness to install a separate CSS library, and whether DVD menus are important. The notes below expand on those suggestions from , , , and and give practical setup and troubleshooting pointers that remain valid years later.

VLC is the easiest cross‑platform pick for most situations. Official VLC builds exist for Windows, macOS and Linux and handle a wide range of formats and subtitles; encrypted DVDs often require the CSS library that distributions sometimes omit for legal reasons. Videolan documents the decryption library and the player here: VLC and libdvdcss. Installing libdvdcss from a trusted source or a distro repo that provides it normally restores playback of commercial DVDs.

For Linux power users, the MPlayer family remains solid — the actively developed fork mpv is the recommended modern alternative because of better rendering, scripting and lower-latency output. See mpv and for details and downloads. GUI frontends exist for both if a graphical interface is preferred.

Quick troubleshooting and cautions:

  • If a disc fails to play, try another player and check for scratches or firmware/region issues before changing software.
  • Some distributions omit libdvdcss for legal reasons; install it via the distro’s recommended repository or the Videolan page above.
  • Avoid unofficial bundles from download portals; prefer official project sites to reduce bundled adware.
  • Legal note: circumventing copy protection can be restricted by law in some countries; background on the Content Scramble System is available at Content Scramble System.

Short takeaway: VLC for straightforward cross‑platform use; mpv for Linux users wanting control and quality.

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for jbennet

for windows, mac or linux?

for linux use mplayer

Member Avatar for Infarction

I use VLC on both Windows and Linux. I think my roommate uses it on his Mac too.

commented: pwn- +3
Member Avatar for Duki

<3 Vlc

Member Avatar for MrTwister

AVS

Member Avatar for jamestomsa

i strongly strongly sugest divx player

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