SMPlayer

The very nice thing about MPlayer is that it provides support for numerous video formats, it works on multiple platforms, and it is offered for free. The not so nice thing about MPlayer is that it does not have an interface – and this is where SMPlayer comes with. SMPlayer adds a user friendly interface to the MPlayer platform and uses it as the basis for the video playback. To sum it up, you get a very nice graphical user interface (GUI) for the functionality MPlayer has to offer.

You can use SMPlayer on Microsoft Windows operating system and on the open-source Linux operating system. The Windows installation file weighs in at about 16MB, which is not much; on a high-speed internet connection it will take little time for the download to complete. Run this installation file and you will be able to easily install SMPlayer on your system in the language of your choice. A handy setup wizard will guide you and the whole process will go along smoothly.

If you’ve ever used a media player before, then you should immediately feel at home with SMPlayer. Right in the middle you have the playback window that shows the video you load. Above this window there are buttons for various functions the application can perform while at the bottom you will find the playback controls. By choosing Compact mode, the buttons and the playback controls will be hidden out of sight. By going to the Preferences menu, the Interface submenu, you can customize the interface by changing the GUI type, changing the icon set, changing the style, and more.

Here are the main things you can easily do from SMPlayer interface: load and play videos, play online videos, browse YouTube, take snapshots, listen to online radio stations, watch TV, adjust the colors, and so on. As mentioned above, SMPlayer is nothing more that a GUI for MPlayer – SMPlayer uses the MPlayer platform for video playback. This means that SMPlayer offers the same functionality MPlayer has to offer.

You will not have to part with your money to use SMplayer. Just as MPlayer, the application on which it is based, SMPlayer is free.

SMPlayer puts a user friendly and customizable interface on top of a properly good media player.