MPC-HC
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 19 of 30 music players by recommenders
Free video player that plays most files by default, with strong HDR support and an interface fans prefer over VLC.
10 people recommended MPC-HC in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 9 comments.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- mixed feelings
- 1
- warn against or regret it
- 0
The record
Recommended in 4 of 12 months
In 6 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 6 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 30% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 8 of the 13 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Preferred over VLC
“it is still suggested over VLC in Anime circles”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “What You Need to Know Before Touching a Video File” Still actively maintained
“the currently maintained fork of MPC-HC which similarly has this”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “VLC's Jean-Baptiste Kempf Receives the European SFS Award 2025”
Other music players people recommend
The four most recommended other music players, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VLC media player | 139 | 31 | 79 | 64% | 12 | — | — |
| mpv media player | 68 | 11 | 11 | 86% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Infuse video player | 61 | 14 | 9 | 87% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Winamp | 53 | 6 | 6 | 90% | 11 | — | Approved |
| MPC-HCThis page | 10 | 1 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | Approved |
Also compared with Kodi, foobar2000, iTunes and Plexamp.
What people said
8 of the 13 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“comes with really good HDR support and default configuration out of the box”
“I virtually never run into a media file that VLC or MPC-HC can't play by default these days”
“MPClassic or VLC worked fine.”
“it is still suggested over VLC in Anime circles”
“you can do that in MPC and mpv”
“I personally just use my video player for this, mpc-hc.”
“switched to mpc-hc and never looked back”
“the currently maintained fork of MPC-HC which similarly has this”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.