# QuickTime Player Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/quicktime-player/ 12 people recommended QuickTime Player in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 19 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 7 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. Free Apple media player praised for fast, simple playback and trimming without conversion. Critics say its skeuomorphic interface is clunky and codec support is weak. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Clunky skeuomorphic controls and UI (5 comments in the sample): "Even in the Steve Jobs era Apple produced some real stinkers of a UI, achingly beautiful but a right pain to use." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48598511)) "The poster boy for that is the old QuickTime Player, which had a volume wheel and a drawer for shortcuts." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50253753)) "implement a Blackberry style thumbwheel as the volume control in the Quicktime Player" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47322765)) - Poor codec and format support (3 comments in the sample): "If you tried using QuickTime or MPEG-4 containers, you'd have to rely on hacks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48052058)) "macOS (QuickTime/Preview, iMovie) can't read .mp4 files" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46400397)) "the codec support was pretty bad last time I checked" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48613186)) - Features removed or paywalled (3 comments in the sample): "Pitch is still missing though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48105549)) "the feature was first paywalled as QuickTime Pro, then removed altogether" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45901611)) "They removed the speed and pitch adjuster in QuickTime player" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48095584)) - Awkward screen and audio recording (3 comments in the sample): "QuickTime cannot record system audio output without shenanigans." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46307412)) "I've had a lot of issues using the QuickTime screen recorder" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46307621)) "the shortcut to stop screen recording on QuickTime sucks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46307723)) ## Why people recommend it - Fast, responsive playback and scrubbing (3 comments in the sample): "QuickTime is fine. It does the basics, is intuitive, and fast." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48612232)) "QT is so much faster than anything else." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45907262)) "QuickTime Player (AVFoundation) can scrub around in realtime" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45903107)) - Pioneered digital video and media (3 comments in the sample): "It made video playback available to systems without accelerator cards, allowed for synchronous DV import and more." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47546605)) "QuickTime pioneered digital video and audio before open media standards were ubiquitous" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45902740)) "QuickTime, when new, was at the forefront of mass-market digital media." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47546027)) - Trimming and camera capture without conversion (3 comments in the sample): "You can trim a video in Quicktime or Photos which directly manipulates the file." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49601284)) "quicktime for ingesting firewire feed from camera" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48734839)) "which was leaner. Original file, no conversion." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45901279)) - Simple, expected menus, right tool (2 comments in the sample): "which has the expected menu items" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49600903)) "that's the right tool for the job" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49601105)) ## Other music players people recommend - [VLC media player](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vlc-media-player/): 139 recommend, 31 mixed, 79 criticize - [mpv media player](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mpv/): 68 recommend, 11 mixed, 11 criticize - [Infuse video player](https://hackerapproved.com/p/infuse/): 61 recommend, 14 mixed, 9 criticize - [Winamp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/winamp/): 53 recommend, 6 mixed, 6 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "QuickTime Player", https://hackerapproved.com/p/quicktime-player/ (12 recommend, 5 mixed, 19 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.