HC Player

A modern Windows media player that combines the power of mpv with a native WinUI experience.

HC Player was created for users who want the playback quality and flexibility of mpv, without giving up a polished, native and easy-to-use Windows interface.

Instead of simply wrapping mpv in another generic frontend, HC Player integrates advanced playback features directly into a modern Windows experience.

Why HC Player?

Native Windows experience

HC Player is built with Win32 and WinUI, with native light/dark themes, Windows media controls, taskbar integration, file associations and a Fluent-style interface designed specifically for modern Windows.

High-quality mpv playback

Under the interface is a full multimedia stack based on:

• libmpv
• FFmpeg
• libplacebo / gpu-next
• D3D11
• WASAPI

This provides high-quality video rendering, hardware-accelerated decoding and extensive format support.

HDR and advanced video processing

HC Player exposes advanced playback features without requiring the user to manually edit configuration files:

• HDR playback and tone mapping
• Hardware decoding
• High-quality scaling
• Dithering and debanding
• Video interpolation
• Custom GLSL shaders
• Anime4K shader support
• Advanced color and presentation controls

Dedicated Picture-in-Picture

HC Player includes its own Picture-in-Picture mode, integrated directly into the player interface, with compact playback controls and seamless return to the main window.

Powerful subtitle support

• Primary and secondary subtitles
• Independent timing and positioning
• ASS subtitle support
• Custom subtitle fonts
• Subtitle styling controls
• External subtitle loading

Audio control built for Windows

• WASAPI output
• Windows audio-device selection
• Optional exclusive mode
• Audio-track switching
• External audio tracks
• Audio delay controls
• Preferred audio languages

Media information and smart badges

HC Player integrates MediaInfo for detailed technical information about the current media.

It can also automatically identify and display media characteristics such as:

• Dolby Vision
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Audio
• DTS / DTS:X
• HDR10+
• HDR
• YouTube
• HLS / Live media

Badge artwork can also be customized by the user.

Playlist and modern playback controls

HC Player includes a complete playback queue with drag-and-drop, shuffle and direct item navigation, along with chapters, frame stepping, A–B looping, playback-speed controls, resume playback and configurable screenshots.

Advanced without being complicated

Power users can import:

• mpv.conf
• GLSL shaders
• subtitle fonts
• playback profiles
• yt-dlp
• Deno

while normal users can control the most important features directly from the native Settings interface.

yt-dlp and Deno are optional integrations and are not bundled with the HC Player installer.

Installation

HC Player 1.0 is distributed as a native x64 Windows application through the official installer.

The installer provides:

• Native Windows integration
• Custom file-type icons and associations
• Start Menu integration
• Optional Desktop shortcut
• Clean installation and uninstall behavior
• Required Windows runtime components

Portable distribution is not included in the HC Player 1.0 public release.

Languages

• Português (Brasil)
• English (United States)

Requirements

• Windows 11
• Windows 10 version 1809 or later
• x64 processor

Open Source

HC Player is free and open-source software licensed under the GNU GPL-3.0-or-later.

Third-party components remain under their respective licenses.

See LICENSE, THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md and SOURCE-MANIFEST.md for details.

Source and compliance materials for each public release are available alongside the installer in the corresponding GitHub Release.

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HC Player 1.0 — native Windows design, serious mpv playback.