Top 8 MOV Video Players to Play MOV on Windows 10, Mac & More

Speaking of MOV video playback, many media players can play MOV files and most of them are free. So, here we gather eight free MOV players varying from most popular open-source VLC media player to less-known but reliable player 5KPlayer to help play MOV video files when you encounter can’t play MOV on Mac with QuickTime or Windows Media Player not playing MOV file error. Read the reviews and select the right one for your MOV playing up to 4K UHD easily.

Hot search: 12 Best Video Converters to Convert MOV Videos for Playback, Editing & Uploading >>

Table of Contents:

• Part 1. Top 8 MOV Video Players Free Download

These MOV players are listed in no particular order, you can jump to the one you are familiar with or like most. Note, all of them aren’t perfect but can play MOV files successfully with or without third-party help.

1. 5KPlayer	Windows 11/10/8/7, Mac Monterey & earlier	Free
2. VLC Media Player	Windows 11/10/8/7, Vista, Mac Monterey & earlier, Android, iOS, Linux, Chrome OS	Free
3. QuickTime Player	Windows Vista or Windows 7, Mac Sierra 10.12 and earlier	Free
4. PotPlayer	32bit & 64bit Windows 10, 8, 7, VISTA, XP	Free
5. RealPlayer	Microsoft Windows, Android, Mac, Linux, Symbian, Oracle Solaris, Palm OS	Freemium
6. KMPlayer	Windows 2000, OS X 10.6, Android 4.0.3, iOS 7 or later	Freemium
7. Windows Media Player	Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 7	Free
8. MOV Viewer Free	Windows 8.1 and above	Free

• Part 2. How to Play MOV Files on Windows 10/Mac?
• Part 3. How to Solve MOV Player not Playing MOV Files?
• Part 4. FAQs about MOV Video Player

Part 1. Top 8 MOV Video Players Mac, Windows, iOS, Android Free Download

No.1: 5KPlayer

• Price availability: Free
• Rating: ★★★★★
• Operating System: Windows 11/10/8/7, macOS Monterey & earlier
• Highlited features: Play videos, music & DVD discs, live stream TV & radio, grab online contents, AirPlay iOS, DLNA media to smart TV

5KPlayer stays at No.1 on the list of best free MOV players. It shows great performance in MOV playback on Windows 10 and Mac, including MOV files up to 4K UHD and MOV encoded in HEVC/H.264 without any third-party help. More than a MOV player, it also plays MP4, MKV, WMV, FLV, AVI, H.264, H.265, VP9, MPEG4, etc. format videos in 4K, 1080p, 720, 480p and 360p smoothly as silk and in high quality. As multifunctional software, you can also throw DVDs, ISO Images, 360-degree videos, etc. at it, and use it to live stream IPTV/internet radio, download online media files, DLNA stream contents to smart TV and AirPlay iPhone iPad at will.

Pros:

• Support nearly all codecs used to encode MOV files including h.265, 10bit x264, H.264, AVCHD, AVC.
• Play MOV files with various customizable settings like video speed up/slow down, add subtitles, video audio synchronization, etc.
• Cross-platform share MOV files to smart TV with bigger enjoyment with the help of DLNA.
• Smoothly play MOV videos up to 4K 30fps thanks to NVIDIA CUDA®, AMD, Intel® QSV, & DXVA 2.0 Hardware-acceleration techs.
• Create playlist to play favorite music songs, render DTS surround sound.

Cons:

• Choppy playback performance when the 4K MOV videos are at 60fps or 120fps.
• Crashes occasionally during MOV playing without notice.
• Run in the background and is high in CPU usage when you don't use it.
• MOV HDR video playback performs bad, and sometimes image color washes out.

No.2: VLC Media Player

• Price availability: Free
• Rating: ★★★★★
• Operating System: Windows 11/10/8/7(64bit/32bit), Vista, macOS Monterey & earlier, Android, iOS, Linux, Chrome OS
• Highlighted features: Open source, multimedia & DVD playback, video conversion, network streaming, record screen, Chromcast/DLNA media.

As the world's number one downloaded and used open-source media player for MOV, MP4, MKV, DVD, WMV, etc. video files, VLC Media Player handles your media files without the need to install extra codecs or codec packs in most cases. Besides a desktop MOV file player, you can also download VLC mobile app to play MOV videos on iPhone, Android, and iPad freely when your MOV videos are not playing. Also, it has many hidden features that help enrich your media viewing experience.

Pros:

• Play all MOV video files without downloading extra codec packs.
• Various customizable settings like video speed up/slow down, add subtitles, video audio synchronization, etc.
• Cross-platform share MOV files to smart TV with bigger enjoyment.
• Hardware Acceleration tech helps 4K MOV smooth playback up to 60fps.
• Create playlist to play, convert MOV to MP4, and record MOV videos.

Cons:

• Choppy, crashing, mosaic, or frame dropping when the 4K MOV videos are at 120fps.
• Lots of MOV errors: MOV no sound, MOV no video, MOV video audio out of sync, MOV HDR washed out colors, etc.
• It is hard to recognize sub-codec of AV1 - av01.
• Sudden green screen, blank screen or black screen without notice.

No.3: QuickTime Player

• Price availability: Free
• Rating: ★★★★☆
• Operating System: Windows Vista or Windows 7, macOS Sierra 10.12 and earlier
• Highlighted features: Video music playback, edit a movie, record Mac screen, capture screen of iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch

MOV file format is a QuickTime format developed by Apple for native playback on Macs, iPhones or iPads. In theory, QuickTime Player should be the default MOV player for Mac computer to play MOV video files. However, due to codec issues, you may encounter MOV file not compatible with QuickTime error message on Mac or Windows 10. Though QuickTime Player only supports MOV encoded with MPEG-4 or H.264 video and AAC audio, you can convert H.265 to H.264 to fix can't play MOV error thanks to the help of a video converter.

Pros:

• Play MOV videos by default with various customization settings like: choose a screen size, show subtitles, choose soundtrack, etc.
• Record a MOV movie.
• Edit MOV videos: Trim, rearrange, rotate, and split a movie into multiple clips.
• Share MOV movies through AirDrop.
• Export MOV movies to other file formats and resolution.

Cons:

• Play MOV files encoded with certain codecs only.
• No updates on Windows QuickTime 7.7.9 in 2016.
• Unknown error happens now and then.

No.4: PotPlayer

• Price availability: Free
• Rating: ★★★★☆
• Operating System: 32bit & 64bit Windows 10, 8, 7, VISTA, XP
• Highlighted features: Multimedia playback, enhanced Hardware Acceleration tech, immersive 3D experience, subtitles support, variety of built-in codecs.

This is another free MOV video player for Windows 10 and older. It is lightweight and supports a large number of media formats including MOV, MP4, MKV, WMV, AVI, FLV, etc. With enhanced Hardware Acceleration mode, the player shows greate performance in playing 4K Ultra HD MOV videos on Windows 10. It offers various settings and customizations for MOV files, which is also a big drawback because complicated settings can be confusing.

Pros:

• DXVA, CUDA, & QuickSync Hardware acceleration techs help fast and smooth 4K/8K MOV playback.
• Play MOV, MP4, MKV, AVI, etc. video files with subtitles (SMI, SRT, ASS, SSA).
• No need to install different codecs, built-in OpenCodec lets users easily add whatever codecs they want for MOV.
• Customizable settings: Preview the scene, bookmark scene or chapter, full screen playback, etc.

Cons:

• Most of settings are complicated, which make it more suitable for experienced users.
• Occasional errors include no sound, time error when making bookmarks playlist, small subtitles, broken screen, strange color, etc.
• Problems in playing 4K ProRes MOV videos: audio out of sync, choppy playback, black screen.
• No Mac version. Can't play MOV on Mac.

No.5: RealPlayer

• Price availability: Freemium
• Rating: ★★★☆☆
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows, Android, macOS, Linux, Symbian, Oracle Solaris, Palm OS
• Highlighted features: Play local and online videos, video downloads, stream & cast videos to bigger screen, all-platform enjoyment

RealPlayer, formerly known as RealOne Player and RealAudio Player, supports lots of file formats, including QuickTime MOV, MP4, FLV, AVI, WMV, etc. This MOV media player has various plug-ins and its browser plugin can download online videos for offline viewing. Users are also allowed to directly post MOV videos to Facebook and Twitter from RealPlayer. However, QuickTime must be installed to help play .mov files successfully.

Pros:

• Play any online and local videos, music, movies in any format including MOV, MP4, MP3, etc.
• Chromecast MOV videos to smart TV with bigger picture and better sounds.
• Online MOV videos downloads.
• Access media files from anywhere anytime: iPhone, computer, and TV.
• Customizable settings: Automatically organize videos, browse & search videos, find & remove duplicates, create playlists, make videos private.
• Convert MOV to other common formats. Turn video into MP3.

Cons:

• Real Player Library loads slowly or not at all, stops working, keeps crashing, or show video black screen when playing videos.
• Computer is too slow when running Real Player.
• Can't display videos in SD card, but just show no video found.
• Very limited in working video/audio enhancement features.
• The Mac version is not as stable as the PC version.

No.6: KMPlayer

• Price availability: Free
• Rating: ★★★☆☆
• Operating System: Windows 2000, OS X 10.6, Android 4.0.3, iOS 7 or later
• Highlighted features: Play movies/dramas/music, 3D/4K UHD playback, KMPlayer 64X plays 8K and 60FPS, subtitles support, video capture

KMPlayer, also KMP Player, MKP, can be used as a free MOV player that also handles a wide range of video formats, such as MKV, AVI, MP4, WMV, MPEG1, H.264, H.265, and more. To satisfy the increasing needs of high-res video playback, KMPlayer also beefs itself up to be able to play 4K/8K, 60fps MOV video files, skip damaged frames and play incomplete MOV files easily. If needed, you can also download KMPlayer mobile app to play MOV videos on Android, iPhone, and iPad.

Pros:

• Built-in codec enables quick and convenient use when playing different files.
• KMPlayer 64X plays 8K and 60FPS thanks to Hardware Acceleration, and downloads MOV.
• Supports subtitles in SMI, ASS, SRT, PSB, S2K, SUB, TXT and LRC formats.
• Capture desired screen and audio of MOV playback in the format you want.
• Customizable settings: Noise reduction, rotate the screen, bookmark chapters, audio video synchronization, etc.
• Supports 24 languages for users worldwide.

Cons:

• CPU occupying, takes a lot of source when playing files especially the 4K videos.
• There are many ads and pop-ups in the homepage, dedicated side panels, and the options panel.
• The KMPlayer Mac version is still in beta, so it is not very stable for MOV playback on Mac.
• The installer contains several extra software.
• The audio quality in all versions of KMPlayer needs improvements

No.7: Windows Media Player

• Price availability: Free
• Rating: ★★★☆☆
• Operating System: Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 7
• Highlighted features: Multimedia playback, disc burning/ripping, media streaming

Windows Media Player is also able to play QuickTime movie file MOV. Windows Media Player is included in clean installs of Windows 10 so that you don't need to download it by yourself. However, as for Windows Media Player on Windows 10, only version 12 or higher version can accept MOV files though there is still "only sound no image" problem. Besides, in many instances, the extra MOV codec for Windows Media Player is required to play some certain MOV media files, for example, HEVC codec is needed for playing MOV HEVC content as MOV is not by default supported by Windows Media Player.

Pros:

• Default media player for Windows users to play MOV when relative codec installed.
• DLNA stream MOV files to Android smart TVs.
• Built-in Media Guide lets create playlist, browse a website for music, movies, TV, and Internet radio.
• Automatically download all the information about CD: name of the album, artist name, song title, year, etc.

Cons:

• Won't play MOV video files encoded in modern codecs like ProRes codec, H.265/HEVC, AV1, ProRes, VP9, etc.
• Choppy or sluggish performance when playing 4K, 2.7K & 1080P, 60fps, 50fps, 30fps, etc. videos
• Can't stream MOV properly especially over slow DSL connection.
• No updates anymore. It hasn't received any new versions ever since Windows 7 was released.

No.8: MOV Viewer Free

• Price availability: Free
• Rating: ★★★☆☆
• Operating System: Windows 8.1 and above
• Highlighted features: Play video audio files, dedicated MOV viewer

MOV Viewer Free is designed for opening and playing MOV files especially on Windows 10 computer. You can download its official version on Microsoft Store and play MOV, WMV, WMA, MP4, etc. files in a very easy manner. Some users report crashing error and the viewer doesn't open MOV files from iPhone with the screen going black, but it can be fixed by converting the video to other formats. However, it is not an ideal choice if you are looking for a free MOV video player for Windows 10 or earlier that can deal with various other formats and up to 4K UHD.

Pros:

• Play most MOV files and other media formats such as 3G2, 3GP, WMA, WMV, etc.

Cons:

• Crashing error happens often especially when playing videos up to 4K UHD.

Part 2. How to Play MOV Files on Windows 10/Mac Step by Step?

Step 1. Free download a MOV video player on your computer, install and launch it. Here, we take 5KPlayer to show you how to.

Step 2. After open MOV player 5KPlayer, just play MOV videos by using one of the following ways.

1. Drag and drop your MOV files to 5KPlayer to play directly.
2. Click on "Video" button on the main UI of 5KPlayer to add a MOV file on your computer to play.
3. Find your MOV video on computer and right click on the file to choose "Play with" and then choose 5KPlayer to play.
4. Set 5KPlayer as default MOV player on your computer, and double-click your MOV video to play quickly.

Note: MOV is a container format that may contain different video and audio codecs which your media player can't recognize. To solve the MOV not playing error caused by incompatible codecs, simply convert MOV video first and then play with your media player.

Part 3. How to Solve MOV Player not Playing MOV Files?

Considering the particularity of container formats including MOV, MP4, MKV and AVI which may contain different codecs, you may still face MOV file not playing issue as the codecs inside your MOV file are not supported by your media player (Windows Media Player, QuickTime or VLC). Trying a different MOV video player is an ideal way, and converting MOV to a more compatible format is also suggested. If needed, you can use a professional video convert to help convert MOV videos.

Winxvideo AI is a good tool helping you convert any format for any media player, device, or platform. You can convert MOV to MP4, AVI, WMV, MKV, etc. for storage, sharing and uploading, and also compress 4K large videos to smaller sizes.

Step 1. Free download Winxvideo AI, install and launch it on your computer.

Step 2. On the main UI, click on "Video Converter" button to navigate to the video conversion window.

Step 3. Click on the "+ Video" button on the main UI to add your MOV file to the video converter. Besides, you can also add more than one MOV videos at a time for batch conversion.

Step 4. When the "Output Profile" window pops up, choose an output format. Here, we suggest you to choose MP4 as the best one.

Step 5. Now, click on the "Browse" button to pick the destination folder to save your converted file, and hit "RUN" to start converting your MOV file.

Conclusion: If you want a cross-platform MOV video player for Windows (10) and macOS that handles a wide range of formats, 5KPlayer, PotPlayer, and VLC Media Player are good choices. For users who have numerous 4K UHD MOV videos or CPU-intensive HEVC MOV resources, We recommended 5KPlayer and PotPlayer that support Hardware Acceleration. For any SD common video playback, the above all eight recommended MOV file players can perform well. But please note, your MOV file player probably can't recognize all the MOV codecs, you have to convert MOV videos for your media player to play.

Part 4. MOV Video Playback FAQs

1. Which player can play MOV file?

The players for MOV files playback are diverse. To just name a few, there are VLC Media Player, QuickTime Player, Windows Media Player, 5KPlayer, PotPlayer, KMPlayer, etc. These MOV video players performs perfectly when playing common SD MOV videos and some of can support MOV files up to 4K and 8K.

2. Can you open MOV with VLC?

Yes. Without any third-party codec packs installed, VLC Media Player can play all SD MOV videos easily in most cases. However, when playing HEVC 4K MOV videos, there might be some errors like choppy video playback, MOV no video/sound, audio out of sync, etc.

3. How do I play a MOV video?

Step 1. Free download a MOV player like 5KPlayer, install and launch it on your computer.

Step 2. Drag and drop your MOV file to the player, and it will starts playing quickly.

Step 3. If there is any error, convert the video to a more compatible format with a Video Converter and then play it with your player.

4. How do I play MOV files on Windows 10 without QuickTime?

Ideally, you can play MOV files on Windows 10 with QuickTime Player or Windows Media Player (12 or higher). However, you may still meet problems that you usually have 3 ways to fix them.

Method 1. Use a more powerful MOV file player like VLC and 5KPlayer to play MOV files.

Method 2. Convert MOV to formats more compatible with QuickTime and Windows Media Player, for example, convert MOV HEVC to MOV H.264 or MP4 (H.264).

Method 3. Install MOV codec pack which is a must-have to let MOV files be playable by kinds of MOV video player.

5. Can you play MOV files on Windows Media Player?

Yes. Since Windows Media Player 12, Windows Media Player can be used as a MOV player to play QuickTime Movie file (.mov). However, MOV is a container format which may contain codecs incompatible with Windows which leads to the not playing problem. Don't worry, by downloading MOV codec for Windows Media Player or converting MOV to Windows Media Player compatible format will make MOV playable on Windows 10/8/7 PC.

6. What is the best video player for MOV files?

After comparison and playback teste, VLC and 5KPlayer should be the best MOV file player for both Mac and Windows 10. Other good choices include QuickTime Player, PotPlayer, GOM Player, KMPlayer, MOV Viewer Free, etc.

7. Why is MOV file not playing?

If your MOV files aren't being corrupted, the codec incompatibility or missing required codec is to blame. QuickTime Player by default can’t play MOV encoded with some codecs, Windows Media Player earlier than version 12 won't play MOV videos, and mainstream video players also have problesm in playing MOV files especially the 4K HEVC MOV videos from iPhone, iPad, Nikon/Canon cameras, or DJI drones, etc. To solve the MOV not playing error, you can convert MOV to a more compatible format for your MOV file player to play without hassle.

8. What is the MOV player for Mac?

By default, QuickTime is the best MOV player for Mac to play MOV video files. However, as some MOV files are not supported by QuickTime, you need another Mac MOV player like 5KPlayer and VLC.