Download VibePlayer
for Windows.

Which one do I need?

Open Settings › System › About on Windows 10 or 11, or Control Panel › System on Windows 7 and 8.1. It shows your Windows edition and system type. Most PCs need the first installer. Windows 8 needs the free update to 8.1 first. Windows XP and Vista aren't supported.

Windows 10 & 11

x64 or ARM64, plus 32-bit Windows 10. Self-contained: nothing else to install. Each installer carries the VLC engine for its processor.

Windows 7 SP1 & 8.1

32- or 64-bit. Uses Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8. If it’s missing, setup tells you and offers to open Microsoft’s download page. Setup installs the 32- or 64-bit VLC engine that matches Windows.

Windows 8

Needs the free update to Windows 8.1 first.

Windows XP & Vista

Not supported. VibePlayer needs Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or newer.

Installation

For all users (the default; needs administrator permission) or only for you (no administrator rights needed).

I ran the 64-bit, 32-bit and Windows 7/8.1 (.NET Framework) builds on my Windows 11 PC, playing video, and installed and uninstalled the Windows 7/8.1 edition silently. The ARM64 edition is built natively for ARM, but I haven't run it on ARM hardware yet, and it ships without VLC's prebuilt plugin cache, so it starts a little slower. I haven't run any build on an actual Windows 7 or 8.1 machine.

• 01

  Skip mode

  Mark the parts you don’t want to see, by typing the times or pressing [ and ] while you watch. They show in amber on the progress bar and are skipped every time that file plays. The file itself is never changed.

• 02

  Hold for 2x

  Press and hold the right side of the video, or hold the right mouse button, to play at double speed. Let go to return to your speed.

• 03

  A familiar player

  A YouTube-style interface: red progress bar with hover time, pill buttons, autoplay, captions, miniplayer and full screen, and the keyboard shortcuts you already know.

• 04

  One tidy menu

  Loop, playback speed, subtitles, audio track, aspect ratio, brightness, skip scenes, snapshots and updates, all in the settings menu.

• 05

  Plays almost anything

  47 video and 34 audio file types through LibVLC, the engine inside VLC. Drop a subtitle file on a video to add it, or open a network stream.

• 06

  Picks up where you left off

  Long videos resume where you stopped. Recent files wait on the start screen, and the rest of the folder plays next.

• 07

  Keeps itself up to date

  From version 1.0.2, VibePlayer checks this site for a new version about 10 seconds after it starts, then at most once a day. If there is one, a small card offers it, never over a full-screen video that is playing. Update now downloads the installer for your edition, checks its SHA-256 checksum, installs it and starts the player again. Switch it off in Settings › Updates.

Try skip mode in your browser

1. Download the installer for your PC. Use the recommended download above, or pick one from the list.
2. Open it. The installers aren't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show “Windows protected your PC”. Choose More info, then Run anyway. Compare the SHA-256 checksum first if you'd like to be sure the file is the one I published.
3. Choose who it's for. All users is the default and needs administrator permission; only for you needs no administrator rights.
4. Pick the extras. A desktop icon, VibePlayer in Open with for video and audio files, and Play with VibePlayer on the folder right-click menu.

To make VibePlayer your default player, right-click a video, choose Open with › Choose another app › VibePlayer and tick Always. Installing a newer version, or another edition, replaces the one you have and keeps your settings.

From version 1.0.2 you won't need to do that by hand. VibePlayer looks for a new version shortly after it starts and at most once a day, and Update now installs it over the one you have, then starts the player again. If it's installed for all users, Windows asks for permission first. The check only downloads a small file from this site, https://www.nomanshafiq.com/updates/vibeplayer.json, with an ordinary web request; nothing about you or your videos is sent. You can turn it off, or check yourself, in Settings › Updates. Versions 1.0.0 and 1.0.1 don't have the updater, so install 1.0.2 over them once.

To remove VibePlayer, uninstall it from Settings › Apps. Your settings, resume positions and skips stay in %APPDATA%\VibePlayer in case you come back.

I wrote about why I built VibePlayer, how skip mode works, and what it took to run one player on every Windows from 7 to 11. There's an interactive demo of skip mode, too.

VibePlayer uses LibVLC, the open-source engine of the VLC project, under the LGPL. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by VideoLAN. The image above is a recreation of the app's interface, not a screenshot.