QuickTime is still my favorite, but unfortunately Apple is not keeping it up with the times, so is often unable to play videos. The free, open-source software is capable of playing. It can play DVDs, CDs, VCDs, network streaming protocols, and various types of video files for free with advanced video playback. So just throwing this out there for anyone else looking for an alternative media player that's free (though they do offer a pro version with expanded features). VLC Media Player (Windows, MacOS, Linux) VLC has held the media player crown for years, even before graduating from its beta phase in 2009. VLC Media Player, an uncluttered, open-source and cross-platform program, supports AirPlay, DivX and MPEG streaming. Note that the first generation of Intel-based Macs equipped with Core Solo or Core Duo processors is no longer supported. Previous devices are supported by older releases. It runs on any Mac with a 64-bit Intel processor or an Apple Silicon chip. Installed it and it works like a charm so far and far better than VLC for navigating videos. VLC media player requires Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later. In googling the issue, I came across a recommendation for Elmedia Player, which I've never heard of before. And, incredibly to me, it doesn't let you go backwards frame-by-frame, which is basic functionality! Nor does it have any sort of smooth scrubbing-only choppy scrubbing in 1-second chunks at the smallest). av01), but recently it's been giving me nightmares (VLC version 3.0.20, latest version), constantly freezing and making me force-quit the app if I skip around in a video or try to frame-by-frame. I normally use VLC Media Player on my Mac when I need a video playlist or play videos with encoding that QuickTime doesn't recognize (e.g.