Got a folder of mixed video and music files and want one small player that opens them all, with no account and no subscription? MPC-HC 2.8.4 is a free Windows player from the MPC-HC Team and weighs 22 MB. The installer is fetched from the official github.com server, not from this site.
Setting up HDR playback after install
The first thing to check is the video renderer. HDR video needs either MPC Video Renderer (MPCVR) or madVR, and you pick one under Options > Playback > Output. With other renderers the colors will be wrong, according to the project notes.
MPCVR is bundled and is the default on modern systems. madVR has to be installed separately, and only MPCVR supports Dolby Vision. If you use MPCVR on Windows 10 or 11, the notes advise switching the hardware decoder to D3D11 in the LAV Video Decoder settings, since the renderer runs on DirectX 11.
A DirectShow player with a plain interface
MPC-HC is built on DirectShow, which means third-party filters can be added to change how files are decoded and shown. The project describes it as extremely light-weight and says it handles all common video and audio formats.
The interface is deliberately simple, and the developers say it offers a large amount of functionality behind it.
When VLC, mpv or Kodi fit better
MPC-HC is a Windows-only player. If you need something beyond local file playback, the alternatives are VLC media player, PotPlayer, Kodi, mpv (shinchiro build), Jellyfin Media Player and Plex.
Kodi, Jellyfin Media Player and Plex are the names to look at first for a media library setup.
What's new in 2.8.4
Version 2.8.4 updates MPC Video Renderer to 0.10.10.2618 and MediaInfo DLL to 26.10, and improves HDR to SDR tonemapping in MPCVR. It also fixes a 2.8.3 regression that could hang the player when the seek preview first appeared.
MPC-HC pros and cons
Pros
- Free to use, with a GPL-3.0 license
- Small download at 22 MB
- MPCVR is bundled and handles HDR and Dolby Vision
- DirectShow design allows third-party filters
- Statusbar audio icon now shows channel count
Cons
- Windows only, with no Android version listed
- madVR must be installed separately and does not support Dolby Vision
- Not suited to media library setups; Kodi, Jellyfin Media Player and Plex fit that need better
Is MPC-HC safe?
The file is served from github.com, the developer's own host. MPC-HC is open source under GPL-3.0, with the code public on the MPC-HC Team's GitHub page. We have no antivirus scan results to show, so if that matters to you, scan the download before running it.
How to install MPC-HC
- Press the download button to get the official file.
- Run the installer you saved and confirm the Windows security prompt if the publisher matches.
- Follow the setup steps, then start MPC-HC from the Start menu.
