Editing Media player software (section)

{{short description|Software that can play video and audio data}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}
[[File:MPlayer.png|thumb|[[MPlayer]], an example of a  cross-platform media player]]

'''Media player software''' is a type of [[application software]] for playing [[multimedia]] [[computer file]]s like audio and video files. Media players commonly display standard [[Media controls|media control icons]] known from physical devices such as [[tape recorder]]s and [[CD player]]s, such as play (&thinsp;[[File:Octicons-playback-play.svg|10px|alt=▶️]]&thinsp;), pause (&thinsp;[[File:Octicons-playback-pause.svg|10px|alt=⏸]]&thinsp;), fastforward (⏩️), rewind (⏪), and stop (&thinsp;[[File:Octicons-primitive-square.svg|10px|alt=⏹️]]&thinsp;) buttons. In addition, they generally have [[progress bar]]s (or "playback bars"), which are sliders to locate the current position in the duration of the media file.

Mainstream [[operating system]]s have at least one default media player. For example, [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] comes with [[Windows Media Player]], [[Microsoft Movies & TV]] and [[Groove Music]], while [[macOS]] comes with [[QuickTime Player]] and [[Music (software)|Music]]. [[Linux distribution]]s come with different media players, such as [[SMPlayer]], [[Amarok (software)|Amarok]], [[Audacious (software)|Audacious]], [[Banshee (media player)|Banshee]], [[MPlayer]], [[Mpv (media player)|mpv]], [[Rhythmbox]], [[Totem (media player)|Totem]], [[VLC media player]], and [[xine]]. [[Android (operating system)|Android]] comes with [[YouTube Music]] for audio and [[Google Photos]] for video, and smartphone vendors such as Samsung may bundle custom software.