With phones and tablets packing lots of storage space, carrying several around movies on the go has become normal. I travel by train each day and see many people checking out TV shows and movies, myself included. With movies being available in many formats it can happen that a phone or tablet won’t play specific formats out of the box. This doesn’t mean you will have to start converting your video files though as there is a big choice of video player apps available. I decided to look at my personal favorites and best of all: They are all free.
This is my go to app for almost all my movie watching. It supports a big range of formats (.3gp .avi .divx .f4v .flv .mkv .mp4 .mpeg .mov .vob .wmv .webm .xvid and more), can add subtitles. It has a lot of options you can change, including the format of the video while it is playing (so you can stretch it out if necessary for example) and quickly allows you to change the brightness of the screen by swiping up or down on the right hand side of the screen. The reason it is my top choice though is that it allows you to up the volume past the maximum other applications can, which is useful for movies with weak sound (especially in a busy train or bus).
Although MX Player almost plays everything there occasionally can be some files it won’t be able to play. I then go with Dice Player. It is similar in fuctionality compared to MX Player, but has some functionality MX Player doesn’t. You can have a video playing in a small window while you are doing other things and if you are watching a particularly boring movie which you do want to finish it allows you to watch it at a higher speed (for example 1.5x or 2.0x speed).
For years VLC was the video player to go to on PC, but it has also been ported to Android. I’ve included this since I know people are a fan of VLC, but do be aware that it is still in beta, which means you could run into some issues.
Now this is a not a movie player you will use on the go, but might want to check out if you have a UPnP / DLNA media server in your house (like a NAS or PC). What it means is that you can stream movies which are on your network to your phone or tablet. I have started the Insanity workout some weeks ago and this app allows me to do my workout if the TV is used by someone else in the house. Although I have not used this app for very long periods yet I like it for itss simple functionality.
What are your preferred movie playing apps for Android?
Great selection here. Can’t fault any of them. Been a fan of MX player but now VLC player is taking over for me. Just because of VLC’s ability to play anything and everything.
Can recommend Skifta if you stream over dlna. Have used it in the past combined with mx player and it’s very good.
I have a synology nas box and have started using ds video on my phone and tablet. Tried using Plex Media Server, which in theory is fantastic, it just couldn’t play loads of my files. Mostly TV shows. Has a great way of presenting a beautifully organised view of whatever media you have on your nas box!
Thanks Jaina, happy to see you agree as a fellow Nexus owner 😉
Have not heard of Skifta before, but will be checking that one out.
Did not know that DS Video was also available on Android. I also have a Synology Nas so it might be worth trying that one (although I need to check which version of the software you’ll need to be running on the NAS as I have not upgraded it in a while). Plex was based on XBMC right? I love XBMC and use it on my Apple TV. Since I don’t stream much at home to my tablet (only those workouts) I don’t really need to have it, but it is an awesome app for those who do!
Yep, its XBMC. I’m fairly sure you can get Plex on Apple TV. Not totally legitimately, but you don’t have to jailbreak! I think.
It’s funny, I’ve had my synology for a long time, but still learning new things I can do with it.
Yeah, had to jailbreak my Apple TV (version 2 as it isn’t possible on the latest one) to install XBMC and it’s awesome being able to get a nice presentation of the movies you have, details about it, which ones you have seen etc. Plus the plugins available are awesome.
I know what you mean about the Synology. A colleague of mine gave me one as he wasn’t using it anymore and through the years awesome features have been added to it. Every once in a while I check it out to see what has been added 🙂
Always been a fan of VLC but shall check out MX Player. Thanks!
Looking at all the reactions I think it was a good idea to add VLC to the list. I hardly use it myself since MX Player will do almost everything. It’s all a matter of preference though 🙂
VLC rules!
Another VLC fan 🙂