SMPlayer
Shares rank 28 of 30 music players by recommenders
Free video player, a front end for mpv, that people recommend for bundling codecs, flexible skip intervals and dark skin options.
5 people recommended SMPlayer in Hacker News comments and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
3 of the 5 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Windows 11 New Media Player Uses 3.5x More RAM, Charges for Popular Video Codecs”.
Summary written by Claude from 4 comments.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- mixed feelings
- 0
- warn against or regret it
- 0
The record
Recommended in 3 of 12 months
In 3 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
- Recommended in 3 threadsNeeds 5 or more, not met.
- 3 of its 5 recommenders came from one threadNeeds half or less, not 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 4 of the 5 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
Codecs bundled, no extra installs
“These days you can just install SMPlayer and have all the codecs bundled in the player.”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Windows 11 New Media Player Uses 3.5x More RAM, Charges for Popular Video Codecs” Skip by 10 seconds to 10 minutes
“I prefer SMPlayer. I can skip ahead or back 10 seconds, 1 minute or 10 minutes.”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “"I'm Embarrassed on Behalf of the Tech Industry"” Front end for mpv
“SMPplayer is a frontend for mpv which I use and like.”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Windows 11 New Media Player Uses 3.5x More RAM, Charges for Popular Video Codecs” Dark skin available
“highly recommend https://www.smplayer.info with dark skin”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Windows 11 New Media Player Uses 3.5x More RAM, Charges for Popular Video Codecs”
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 |
| SMPlayerThis page | 5 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
Also compared with Kodi, foobar2000, iTunes and Plexamp.
What people said
4 of the 5 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I prefer SMPlayer. I can skip ahead or back 10 seconds, 1 minute or 10 minutes.”
“These days you can just install SMPlayer and have all the codecs bundled in the player.”
“highly recommend https://www.smplayer.info with dark skin”
“SMPplayer is a frontend for mpv which I use and like.”
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 3 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.