Have you ever wanted to watch your 4K UHD videos in four times the resolution? If you’re building your own 4K home theater PC, then maybe you’ve encountered some problems when trying to play your videos. The common way of elevating video quality is by picking higher frame rates like 60 frames per second (fps) but there are also other factors like bitrate and resolution.
I’m here to help you out by giving you a breakdown on how to enjoy your 4K videos in the best possible experience.
5KPlayer
Rating: ★★★★★ | Platform: Windows & Mac | License: Free
The 1st 4K media player we want to introduce is 5KPlayer. Free as it is, it is clean and safe to use without any malicious stuff. It is able to play 4K/5K/8K video and audio in almost all formats, e.g. H.265, AVC, AV1, MKV, MP4, MOV, MP3. It is also a good 4K HDR player for Windows 10. In addition to playing 2160p 4k video, you can also free download 4K content from video sharing sites, and stream videos from computer to smart TV wirelessly.
On top of that, 5KPlayer especially utilizes NVIDIA CUDA®, AMD, Intel® QSV, & DXVA 2.0 hardware acceleration, purpose built to deal with the data-intensive UHD 4K HEVC video files and minimize CPU usage. Thanks to its assist, you’re free from computer overheating and choppy or lagging issues and play 4K 60fps videos flawlessly.Free DownloadFor Win 7 or laterFree DownloadFor Mac OS X 10.6 or later
Note: Hardware configuration matters when it comes to playing 4K HEVC videos. If it isn’t up for 4k video playing and you have no plan to upgrade your hardware, you can turn to a GPU accelerated 4K video converter, such as WinX Video Converter to convert 4K HEVC to 1080p H.264 in high quality and good compatibility with your aging devices.
CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra
CyberLink’s PowerDVD Ultra is a Windows 10, 8, and 7 media player optimized for Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc playback. There are three alternative versions of the software, depending on the paid plan – Standard, Ultra, and 365.
PowerDVD Ultra is the best version that supports the full range of video disc formats, such as 4K Blu-ray Disc, DVD, 3D, ISO, 21:9 aspect ratio playback, AVCHD, and 3D DVD.
It’s not entirely surprising that PowerDVD has been getting rave reviews as it boasts a great feature set. This 4K video player for Windows 10 provides unique TrueTheater enhancements that boost color, lighting, and sound in videos for better picture and audio quality.
PowerDVD fully supports virtual reality and 360-degree video. What’s more, it even includes a VR Mode. Even if you don’t have a VR-ready headset, you can still watch 360-degree videos from all angles by selecting the software’s Tri-View Mode.
This 4K player Windows 10 tool enables users to cast video, photos, and music from PC to TV via FireTV, Apple TV, Chromecast, and Roku media streamers. If that isn’t enough, this best 4K media player Windows 10 also plays online 4K, HDR, 360, and 3D-360 Youtube and Vimeo videos.
The Media Library is another notable addition to PowerDVD. It automatically imports all your videos, photos, and music files. So you can also utilize the software to play photo slideshows and music as well as video content.
DivX Player
Rating: ★★★★☆ | Platform: Windows & Mac | License: free
DivX Player is another award-winning HD video player for 4K 60fps videos, which offers impressive high-definition video playback up to 4K 2160p 60fps. It gives you full access to HEVC (H.265), MKV, AVI, MP4, DIVX and other high quality video files.
This video player permits you to fast forward or rewind to your favorite scenes quickly, choose a chapter, create a playlist based on your own needs, and switch seamlessly among soundtracks to hear other languages. And you can even cast videos, music and photos to big screen. But the speed of installation is slow and if you want more features or free from ads, you need to pay for the pro version.
Note:
1. There’s an open candy in the DivX 4K player download package. Make sure to clean it while installing.
2. If you don’t need DivX Converter and DivX Web Player, make sure to uncheck the boxes while installing.
CyberLink PowerDVD
Watch, stream and share 4K video content anytime, and anywhere with this top all-around multimedia player.Free trialVisit website
GOM Player
GOM Player is another top 4K video player for Windows 10 to stream Ultra HD content. Not only it supports tons of popular video formats, but it will also play damaged files or partially downloaded files.
Just as CyberLink, GOM also includes a 360° VR Playback mode, so you can fully immerse yourself in the cinematographic environment.
With over 80k subtitles in the built-in library, this 4K player Windows 10 will automatically look for and load subtitles for the video that’s being played.
Another useful aspect we simply cannot overlook is GOM’s versatility. In fact, it is available for devices running from Windows Vista onwards. Moreover, its user-friendly interface makes it a convenient 4K media player Windows 10 for just about anyone.
GOM Player
Check out this sleek media player that will display 4K videos smoothly and vividly on your Windows 10 PC.Free trialVisit website
LEAWO Blu-ray Player
Leawo Free Blu-ray Player has all the features you need to use as a Blu-ray player and it’s also one of the best free 4K video players out there.
In fact, it doesn’t play only Blu-ray disks but it can also play BDAV movie folders and ISO image files even if they are home made.
The software is light on your system and it’s perfectly adapted to your Windows 10 and even older versions like Windows 7, 8 and 8.1.
Of course, it can also act like a region-free DVD player, also completely free with crisp image quality and unaltered audio on your PC.
Leawo Free Blu-ray Player can play 4K videos on MKV, MP4 and TS formats but it also supports 1080P videos in most formats, including HD MP4, HD MKV, HD MOV and also 720P videos.
And if you’re creating your own content, it can easily play your footage from your camcorder. It can also handle online or streamed video with ease.
As for the audio, the player supports all advanced audio decoding technologies like DTS, AAC, Dolby, TrueHD, multiple channel DTS-HD and more so you can benefit from ultimate sound quality.
The player comes with a virtual controller panel that allows you to access the settings from the disc menu (if available) during the playback like the Scene Selection or Languages for instance.
The player is completely free, and it has a very friendly interface that can be enjoyed by everyone without the need of any instructions.
Let’s see a recap of some of its best features:
- 6-in-1 free 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, Video, Audio media player software
- Supports all major media formats
- Lossless 4K image quality
- Incredible sound with support for all advanced audio decoding technologies
- Advanced disc protection removal technology
Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player
Blu-ray Disc is one notable input media that VLC doesn’t directly support. If you need a 4K media player Windows 10 that plays Blu-ray content without any hiccups, then this tool from Aiseesoft is a better choice than VLC.
This 4K video player for Windows 10 is optimized for 1080p Blu-ray playback, and it also supports 4K playback for MOV, AVI, MKV, FLV, WebM, and MP4 video formats.
But there’s more to come! Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player boasts smooth audio playback and HD surround sound for crystal-clear video/audio as well as super-fast video loading time, especially when connected to the Internet.
Although less rich in configuration settings and features compared to the previous options, this 4K player Windows 10 can still be customized in terms of playing effects, video playback time, and skins.
Needless to say, Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player is compatible with Windows platforms starting with Windows XP.
⇒ Get Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player
VLC Player
Rating: ★★★★☆ | Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux | License: Free
As one of the most popular free media players, VLC is capable of playing almost all video and audio formats without installing additional codecs, be it HEVC, H.264, Xvid or VP9. Besides serving as a free 4k video player for Windows (10), Mac, Linux, Android and iOS, it can also play DVDs, 4K Blu ray discs, videos such as MKV, audios, and transcode multimedia files. Just like 5KPlayer, it stays far away from spyware, ads and doesn’t track users.
VLC offers hardware-accelerated 4K playback initially with the release of version 3.0.0. You are guaranteed a seamless experience to import and play virtually all 4K videos from UHD bluray disc, DSLRs, webcams, and streaming platforms. However, some VLC users complained 4K video playback was choppy or lagging and returned a “close unexpectedly” error. In spite of this, it is still a good option.
Related: Why 4k is choppy and lagging in VLC >>
Media Player Classic and K-Lite Codec Pack
rating: ★★★☆☆ | Platform: Windows | License: Free
Media Player Classic, aka. MPC, is an open source free media player for windows PC. It mimics the look and feel of Windows Media Player 6.4. MPC is also a completely clean yet free 4K video player for Windows 10/8/7. No ads and no toolbars. You may feel relieved by the use greatly.
In fact, MPC cannot play 4K Ultra HD videos on its own. It needs the help from K-Lite Codec Pack. To make things easier, you are suggested to download the K-Lite Codec Pack full package which has Media Player Classic covered. MPC can work on even the oldest computers, but you still need a more powerful system to play HEVC x265 video in 4K resolution. Despite MPC is not underdevelopment since 2017, you can have a try to view 4k UHD content.
Conclusion
4k is the next form of video resolution with an image resolution of 3840 pixels by 2160 lines (8.3 million pixels total). If you are using a monitor with the best monitor 4k, this is more than enough. If your computer is powerful enough it will allow you to play some specific video files at high picture quality, high frame rates, high bit rates, high color depth. Many manufacturers are now releasing devices that output ultra-high definition 4k content. You can connect your 4k ultra-high definition TV to your computer so you can watch on your computer screen on your TV, giving presentations at school or work.