We've all been there before: Wanting to play an episode of your favourite TV series or that clip your colleague sent you, but Windows Media Player doesn't seem to support the format... So we've decided to put together a little guide with some good alternative media players!

iTunes/Quicktime

Apple's popular media player suite is great if music playback is your main priority. There are many playlist options, ranging from criteria-based 'smart playlists' to a playlist that generates songs based on their similarity. The suite also introduced its own MOV video format.

Supported codecs:
Audio: MP3, AIFF, AAC, WAV, MPEG4, AU, CAF, ULAW, ALAW, MIDI, QDesign Music, QCELP
Video: 3GPP, AVI, BMP, DV, Flash, Animated GIF, H.261, H.263, H.264, JPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, QTZ, MOV, QTVR, Sorenson, Apple Video

Other features: Supports Audio CD burning, CD cover printing and can also convert between many audio formats. Quicktime Pro also comes packed with a limited video conversion feature and the ability to edit clips ? though the product key is sold for $29.95 by Apple.

[Download]


Media Player Classic / Media Player Classic Home Cinema

A free media player that's included in the K-Lite Codec Pack, Media Player Classic mimics the look of the older versions of Windows Media Player while incorporating a host of features. MPC prides itself on being a jack of all trades when it comes to media playback.

Codecs supported:
Audio: AAC, MP3, MP2, AC3, DTS Audio, OGG, Vorbis, MO3, IT, XM, S3M, MTM, MOD, UMX, FLAC
Video: 3GPP, AVI, MKV, OGM, MP4, MPEG, VOB, DAT, FLV, PS, TS, NUV

Other features: Media Player Classic also supports playback and recording of TV if a TV tuner is installed.

[Download]


MPlayer

Originally a Linux project, the MPlayer is now compatible with Windows and Mac as well. This free, open-source player has even been unofficially ported to the Nintendo Wii!

Codecs supported:
Audio: AAC, AC3, MP3, AMR, DTS, FLAC, Vorbis, WMA, Musepack, RealAudio, Speex
Video: Cinepak, DV, H.263, H.264, MPEG4, Huff YUV, Indeo, MPEG1, MPEG2, RealVideo, Sorenson, Theora, WMV

Other features: The MPlayer can also be used to display TV from a TV card as well as play and capture internet radio.

[Download]


Real Player

Introduced way back in 1995, the pioneering Real Player was one of the most popular media players early in its development. It's also brought with it, the RealAudio and RealVideo formats. Besides the free and commercial versions, Real Player has also been ported to Nokia's smartphones.

Codecs supported:
Audio: RealAudio, MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV, AIFF, AU Audio
Video: DVD, VCD, MPEG, AVI, WMV, Flash Video (FLV)

Other features: RealPlayer prides itself on its internet connectivity, with a Firefox add-on allowing you to download web videos, another plug-in that connects you to music website Last.FM and a host of other plug-ins for new formats.

[Download]


VLC Media Player

VLC media player is another open-source, free media player, in development for almost 14 years. It comes packed with features and highly recommended.

Codecs supported:
Audio: AAC, AC3, FLAC, ALAC, AMR, MACE, DTS, MP3, Mod, PLS, QDM, WMA, Vorbis, Speex, S3M, TTA, DV Audio, XM
Video: WMV, VP5/6, VC-1, Theora, FLV, Real Video, MPEG-1/2/4, Indeo, HuffYUV, H.264, H.263, DV, Dirac, Cinepak

Other features: VLC media player is also capable of streaming, as well as converting files. It's also capable of playing back .ISO files for those who have disc images. Another awesome, albeit useless feature is the ability to play back a video as the desktop wallpaper. For those that do a lot of downloading, VLC is also capable of playing back partially downloaded or damaged video clips.

[Download]