Microsoft’s journey with local video playback in Windows has been a strange one. After years of clinging to legacy apps like Windows Media Player, the company finally seems to be embracing a modern approach with Windows 11. The built-in Media Player app offers a surprisingly robust set of features for a simple application, and its intuitive interface makes it easy to use.
However, despite its progress, Media Player still falls short of free, open-source alternatives due to two key issues. The first is the lack of free support for HEVC (H.265) encoding. While most users might be able to spare $1 for the add-on in the Microsoft Store, the fact that Microsoft previously offered this feature for free, and now even blocks the installation of the free version, is frustrating. This issue is particularly relevant for users who work with video editing and capture applications where HEVC is commonly used.
The second issue stems from Media Player’s history as a music player, resulting in a lack of dedicated video features. For instance, there’s no way to find subtitles for videos directly within the app, unlike VLC’s VLSub extension which integrates with Opensubtitles.org. This omission, along with the lack of metadata retrieval for videos, underscores Microsoft’s focus on music over video playback in the app.
While Media Player’s improvements are commendable, these shortcomings highlight the need for a more comprehensive approach to video playback in Windows 11. In its current state, Media Player still falls short of the functionality offered by free, open-source alternatives, leaving users with the option of choosing between a convenient but limited experience or switching to a more feature-rich third-party solution.
