Watching movies or listening to music on Ubuntu 24.04 doesn’t have to cost you anything. There are plenty of free media players that do the job just as well.
In 2025, you’ve got lots of great options to choose from that handle all your video and audio playback needs with ease.
If you’re in search of the best free media players, this list of the top 5 for Ubuntu will guide you to the perfect app for your entertainment.
Best 5 Free Media Players on Ubuntu 24.04
#1. VLC Media Player
VLC is a free and open-source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols and it is my current favorite when I am using my Ubuntu laptop.
VLC Media Player Main Features:
- Simple, fast, and powerful media player.
- Plays everything: Files, Discs, Webcams, Devices, and Streams.
- Plays most codecs with no codec packs needed: MPEG-2, DivX, H.264, MKV, WebM, WMV, MP3…
- Runs on all platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Unix…
- Completely Free, no spyware, no ads, and no user tracking.
- Can do media conversion and streaming.
#2. SMPlayer
SMPlayer is a free media player for Windows and Linux with built-in codecs that can play virtually all video and audio formats. It doesn’t need any external codecs. Just install SMPlayer, and you’ll be able to play all formats without the hassle of finding and installing codec packs.
One of the most interesting features of SMPlayer: it remembers the settings of all files you play. So you start to watch a movie but have to leave… don’t worry, when you open that movie again, it will resume at the same point you left it, and with the same settings: audio track, subtitles, volume…
SMPlayer is a graphical user interface (GUI) for the award-winning MPlayer, which is capable of playing almost all known video and audio formats. Apart from providing access to the most common and useful options of MPlayer, SMPlayer adds other interesting features like the ability to play YouTube videos or download subtitles.
#3. MPV Player
MPV is a fork of mplayer2 and MPlayer. It shares some features with the former projects while introducing many more.
MPV Player Main Features:
- MPlayer’s options parser was improved to behave more like other CLI programs, and many option names and semantics were reworked to make them more intuitive and memorable.
- mpv has an OpenGL-based video output that is capable of many features loved by videophiles, such as video scaling with popular high-quality algorithms, color management, frame timing, interpolation, and more.
- A straightforward C API was designed from the ground up to make mpv usable as a library and facilitate easy integration into other applications.
- While mpv has no official GUI, it has a small controller that is triggered by mouse movement.
- mpv leverages the FFmpeg hwaccel APIs to support VDPAU, VAAPI, DXVA2, VDA, and VideoToolbox video decode acceleration.
- mpv is under active development, focusing on code refactoring and cleanups as well as adding features.
#4. Bomi Player
Bomi is a multimedia player formerly known as CMPlayer, which is aimed at easy usage but also provides various powerful features and convenience functions. Bomi is a graphical user interface (GUI) player based on mpv for Linux. By taking advantage of mpv and GUI, Bomi provides various features.
Bomi Player Main Features:
- User-friendly interface: Bomi provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI). You can find all features in the context menu, and all configurations can be done in a preferences dialog.
- Unlimited playback history: Bomi records all playback history by default and provides the way to resume playback later. It also tracks playback states such as selected audio/loaded subtitle, etc.
- Automatic playlist generation and restoration: Bomi can generate a playlist based on file names, and the last played playlist is saved and restored automatically.
- Enhanced subtitle handling: Bomi supports various subtitle formats and can render multiple subtitle files simultaneously. It can also render styled subtitles such as SAMI and ASS format.
#5. Dragon Player
Dragon Player is a simple and lightweight video player tailored for KDE users. It provides a basic yet effective media playback experience, focusing on ease of use and quick access to your video content.
Dragon Player Main Features:
- Simple interface designed for straightforward video playback.
- Supports CDs and DVDs, allowing direct playback without needing to copy files to your device.
- Resumes videos from where you left off, making it easy to continue watching.
- Automatically loads matching subtitles for videos.
You should also try the best audio editors on Ubuntu, best file managers on Ubuntu, best Torrent Clients on Ubuntu, best Video Editing Software & Microsoft Office Alternatives.