You have a folder of old AVI files, a few MP3s and an internet radio link, and you want one window to play them all without hunting for codec packs. SMPlayer, made by Ricardo Villalba, is built for that job, with its codecs already included.
Built-in codecs are the whole pitch
SMPlayer ships with its own codecs, so it plays nearly every video and audio format without outside codec packs. The developer describes it as a free player for Windows and Linux with YouTube support.
The Windows build is version 26.8.29, 67.9 MB, and costs nothing under the GPL-2.0 license.
A session with playlists and radio streams
You install it, open a file or a stream, and play. Version 26.8 now remembers playlist positions and progress between sessions, so a long queue resumes where you stopped. The playlist also has a pause button and re-sorts itself after you add files.
Internet radio gets a small fix too: song titles from icy-title streams are retrieved more reliably. An optional seek bar thumbnail preview is found under Preferences, Interface.
Where it sits next to VLC and mpv
Alternatives include VLC media player, MPC-HC, PotPlayer, Kodi, mpv (shinchiro build) and Jellyfin Media Player. No benchmarks or side-by-side tests are available, so no speed or quality ranking is claimed here.
SMPlayer is free, open source and has no separate codec requirement. It is also tagged for CD, DVD and m3u8 web streams.
What's new in 26.8.29
Version 26.8 adds an optional thumbnail preview on the seek bar, remembered playlist progress between sessions, a playlist pause button and a toggle for secondary subtitles. It also fixes zoom behavior and the black borders option.
SMPlayer pros and cons
Pros
- Built-in codecs, so no codec packs are needed
- Free under the GPL-2.0 license
- Playlist progress is remembered between sessions
- Optional seek bar thumbnail preview and secondary subtitle toggle
- Tagged for CD, DVD and m3u8 web stream playback
Cons
- The look of the app is hard to judge before installing
- At 67.9 MB it is a sizable download for a player
- Qt 6 packages for Windows are marked experimental
Is SMPlayer safe?
SMPlayer is licensed under GPL-2.0, and its developer Ricardo Villalba maintains the project site at smplayer.info. Version 26.8.29 is a 67.9 MB download. No scan results came with it, so running your own antivirus check on the installer before you open it is a sensible step.
How to install SMPlayer
- 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 SMPlayer from the Start menu.
