Full screen is done via the default macOS full-screen features, though that’s somewhat expected at this point. It’s just about the same as QuickTime’s borderless playback, though without the rounded edges. Elmedia has a preference pane for slightly tweaking subtitle appearance and a keyboard shortcut for adjusting subtitle sync, but that’s about it.īorderless playback is a nice touch as well. There are more tools that are quickly available for playing and modifying subtitles quickly. Subtitle support in Elmedia is solid but it’s not quite as good as VLC. This compares to VLC’s significantly larger effects toolset, which includes crop, color, transform, watermarking, banding removal, film grain, equalizer, compressor, and a handful of other specialized tools. Here, you’ll only see a 10-band equalizer and a video tuner to balance color and contrast. You can capture a single frame of video, or set a repeating screenshot to take a capture every frame, second, or minute: whatever it is you need.Īudio effects are not as wide-ranging as VLC’s tools. The app also includes built-in screenshot tools that allow you to precisely capture images from videos. So as far as streaming or capture goes, there’s not much of a functional loss in terms of Elmedia not having those tools. VLC has an additional set of tools for capturing video, but those open-source tools have never worked right on macOS. Downloaded files can be saved in their maximum quality as MP4 files. This allows you a greater degree of playback control than you’ll find within the YouTube player online. You can download YouTube videos directly from a link, or play them within the Elmedia app separately from the web page. Elmedia: The Key DifferencesĮlmedia also includes a variety of features you won’t find in VLC. But the UI felt snappier and more reliable, with a slightly more reliable full-screen mode.

It’s hard to quantify exactly what made it this way. In testing, we found that Elmedia was a little easier to use than VLC. Playback speed can be adjusted in 10 percent increments, and playback loops can be set for replaying the same portion of a video file repeatedly. You can also get detailed control for subtitle syncing and audio syncing, fixing out of sync audio and subtitle problems from within the player. It supports subtitles, multiple video streams, and playing videos from a link. It will roll through AVIs, MOVs, MKVs, and FLVs without complaint. Like VLC, Elmedia can play just about any kind of video file. You don’t have as many strange quirks and broken buttons as you find in VLC. That might sound like a rip-off, but Elmedia’s tools tend to work a little better. When you’ve paid for the pro features, you’ll have access to just about the same number of features that VLC provides for free. The basic version of the application is free, but you can shell out a couple dollars for the pro features. Why use Elmedia?Įlmedia Video Player is a replacement for VLC that offers a little more polish and a little less stutter. While VLC is a suitable application for occasional video playback, Elmedia represents the next step up. And the UI design is somewhat out of place on a Mac, surrounded by higher-end software designs. But like a lot of free, open-source software, it can be a little bit buggy from time to time. It’s lightweight, safe, and widely trusted. In the world of free desktop video players, VLC reigns supreme.

Elmedia player pro safe