Best web audio/video players

July 12, 2008 1:24 PM

What are the best embedded open source/free audio/video players?

I'm looking at finding a flexible media player for an arts related site I'm working on. Although I'm looking for something that will handle an audio playlist (i.e. like the ubiquitous myspace player) bonus if it can also handle flash video as well. I really like Flowplayer but it is $75 for a license and while that is a fair price, I'd rather find something free and open source with an active community around it. I'm looking for something to manage .flv and .mp3 files and would appreciate some more options. Thanks!

posted by avocet to computers & internet (7 comments total)

The web audio player is http://musicplayer.sourceforge.net/
posted by majikstreet at 2:19 PM on July 12, 2008

Definitely look at the JW FLV Media Player.

"It supports playback of any format the Adobe Flash Player can handle (FLV, MP4, MP3, AAC, JPG, PNG and GIF). It also supports RTMP, HTTP and live streaming, various playlists and captioning formats, a wide range of settings and an extensive javascript API. "

I used it for a commercial website about a year and a half ago with great results. It's free for noncommercial use, and he offers commercial licensing options as well.
posted by mrbill at 2:40 PM on July 12, 2008

I've been having a lot of success with VLC, you might add it to your check out list.
posted by ptm at 2:56 PM on July 12, 2008

another vote for jwplayer: it's fantastic. Handles video, audio, subtitles, theming, javascript integration... very popular. I don't work for it but I work with it and it's good enough for massive sites.
posted by tmcw at 3:22 PM on July 12, 2008

ptm:
Has someone developed an embedded version of VLC? I haven't seen anything like that, but it'd be an amazing solution.
posted by Magnakai at 3:53 PM on July 12, 2008

Another vote for JW Player, it's pretty awesome.
posted by perpetualstroll at 4:19 PM on July 12, 2008

Media Player Classic is well worth it, VLC is terrific too
posted by mattoxic at 5:44 PM on July 12, 2008