Media Player Classic – Home Cinema (MPC-HC) is a free and open-source video and audio player for Windows. MPC-HC is based on the original Guliverkli project and contains many additional features and bug fixes.
The player supports all common video and audio file formats available for playback. It has a built in DVD player with real-time zoom, support for AVI subtitles, built-in MPEG2/SVCD/DVD codec. Media Player Classic was created and is currently maintained by a programmer named "Gabest". This is a mod of Media Player Classic design for home cinema usage.
The original MPC-HC project ended in July 2017 with version 1.7.13. However, a community fork maintained by "clsid2" on GitHub has continued development and is actively releasing new builds.
The original team stopped due to a lack of developers. The clsid2 fork picked up the codebase and continues to maintain it. It focuses on bug fixes, updating internal libraries like LAV Filters and MediaInfo, and keeping compatibility with modern Windows versions.
The clsid2 fork is updated regularly with development builds and stable releases. These include codec updates (e.g., AV1, HEVC improvements), bug fixes, and minor feature improvements. Updates are less frequent than flashy media players, but they still occur several times a year.
Yes, MPC-HC comes bundled with LAV Filters, which allow playback of most modern formats, including H.264, HEVC, VP9, AV1, and high-resolution audio and video files without the need for additional codec packs.
Yes, MPC-HC supports GPU-accelerated decoding through DXVA2, D3D11, Intel QuickSync, and other APIs, helping reduce CPU usage during playback of high-definition or 4K video.
While both come from the same Media Player Classic codebase, MPC-BE features a modernized interface, more customization options, built-in dark themes, and broader codec support. MPC-HC is lighter and closer to the original classic design, while MPC-BE focuses on usability and new features, it can use a bit more resources due to extra features and UI elements.
The installer of MPC-HC is very basic (and that will not change).
MPC-HC can remember playback position, so you can resume from that point later
Options > Player > History
You can quickly seek through a video with Ctrl + Mouse Scrollwheel.
You can jump to next/previous file in a folder by pressing PageUp/PageDown.
You can perform automatic actions at end of file. For example to go to next file or close player.
Options > Playback > After Playback (permanent setting)
Menu > Play > After Playback (for current file only)
There are lots of keyboard hotkeys and mouse actions to control the player. They can be customized as well.
You can stream videos directly from Youtube and many other video websites
