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Top 10 Real 4K Video Players for Windows 10 Review

Posted by Kaylee Wood | Last update: May 19, 2021 | 5 Min Read

Though Windows 10 adds supports for the HEVC codecs to enable HD/4K video to be opened in Windows Media Player, Windows Media Player on Windows 10 can't provide a 4K resolution to play 4K video. To see all the fine details presenting in the original 4K video on Windows 10, you need a real 4K video player for Windows 10 to play the stunning 4K UHD videos. And this Windows 10 4K video player review is provided here to help you make the right choice for your 4K playing needs.

What is 4K Resolution? Why You Need a 4K Video Player for Windows 10?

What is 4K? 4K UHD video has much higher image definition quality, more detailed picture, better fast-action and larger projection surface visibility. To put it simply, 4K resolution renders more than four times higher image definition than 1080p resolution to provide shocking image effect.

However, 4K video playback depends on video FPS, pixels, frame width & height, size and other details especially CPU and hardware on computer that a player would be able to play a 4K video smoothly or not. To play 4K UHD videos on Windows 10 smoothly, you definitely need a professional 4K video player for Windows 11 as Windows Media Player doesn't own the ability. So there are 10 real 4K video player for Windows 10 that are currently out there to make all the difference in your 4K viewing experience.

Details: 10 Real 4K Video Players for Windows 10 to Play 4K Videos

[Tip: All the programs listed below are real 4K video players and have been tested successfully to play 4K video on Windows 10.]

5KPlayer - Free Hardware-accelerated 4K Video Player for Windows 10/Mac

Type: Freeware
OS: Windows 10/8/8.1/7/Vista, macOS Mojave/OS High Sierra/Catalina
Rate: ★★★★★

Featuring DXVA2, QSV, NVIDIA and AMD Hardware Acceleration technology, 5KPlayer is the brand-new 4K video player for Windows 10 as well as Mac OS that is perfectly compatible with 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) videos movies. It can accurately and speedily detect and distinguish 4K videos on computer to reduce the 4K video loading time and realize the silky-smooth 4K video playback.

Four-in-one, 5KPlayer is a:

  • 4K movie player for Windows 10 built-in 180+ video codec supporting any 4K video codec including .mts, .m2ts, .mkv, .mpg, .mpeg, .mov, H.264, H.265, VP8/VP9, etc.
  • 4K DVD player for Windows 10 to play any 4K DVD disc/ISO image/VIDEO_TS folder and render awesome 4K DVD blu-ray playback performance.
  • 4K video downloader for Windows 10 to download 4K HEVC/H.265 videos movies and blu-ray/360 VR videos from Dailymotion, Facebook, etc and convert 4K to any other format to play on iPhone 7/7 Plus/6S/iPad/Android etc.
  • 4K video streaming server supporting 4K streaming from Windows 10/Mac to Mac/PC/Apple TV and iPhone/iPad/iPod to Mac/PC.
5KPlayer Plays 4K Video

Notice: This 4K video player is 100% clean and free from spyware/adware/malware. You can also use it to fastward/backward, play/pause your 4K video and add subtitles to your 4K videos.

PotPlayer – A Windows 10 4K Video Player Supporting DVD, TV & HDTV

Type: Freeware
OS: Windows10/8/7/Vista/XP
Rate: ★★★★★

PotPlayer is also a true 4K video player for Windows10/8/7/Vista/XP providing 32bit download and 64bit download. Apart from 4K video playback, you can use it to set the screen rotation, use the hotkey to capture the video snapshot, set video aspect ratio, etc.

Key Features:

  • Supports OpenCodec and provides maximum performance by using DXVA, CUDA, QuickSync.
  • Supports types of 3D glasses that you can get 3D experience on your 3DTV or PC.
  • Supports various subtitle forms like Text subtitles (SMI & SRT), DVD (Vobsub) and Blu-ray subtitles, ASS/SSA animation and SMI Ruby tags, etc.
PotPlayer 4K

VLC - Open Source 4K Video Player for Windows 10/Mac

Type: Open source
OS: Windows 10/8/7, Linux, Mac OS X/OS Sierra, Unix, iOS, Android.
Rate: ★★★★

As the No.1 open source media player, VLC Media Player recently has updated to support 4K video playback (with up to 60fps) in version 2.1. However, there is still a long distance yet to successful VLC H265 HEVC 4K playback as VLC sometimes can't decode the format "hevc" (MPEG-H Part2/HEVC (H.265)).

Key Features:

  • Plays anything – Files, Dics, DVDs, Webcams, Devices and Streams.
  • Plays most codecs with no codec packs needed like MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, MKV, WebM, WMV, etc.
  • Runs on Windows 10/8/7, Linux, Mac OS X, Unix, iOS and Android.
VLC 4K

DivX Player – Free 4K Video Player Windows 10 Capable of HEVC Playback

Type: Freeware
OS: Windows 10/8/7, Mac OS
Rate: ★★★★

This 4K video player can well handle HEVC Ultra HD (4K) videos on Windows 10 without chock. It is also optimized for movies, TV shows and web video clips in the Internet's most popular formats, including AVI, DivX, MKV, MP4, etc. But there are still no fast forward and rewind functions in DivX player. Doesn't matter, it still has a variety of advantages for you:

Key Features:

  • Streams videos, music and photos to any DLNA-compatible device in your home, like PS3, Xbox, Chromecast, Samsung Galaxy line of products, etc.
  • Creates, plays and loops playlist, and automatically adds 4K files from your DivX Movies folder.
  • Keeps track of what you watch that you can jump right back into that scene and easily remember where in a series you left off.
DivX Player 4K

Plex – 4K Video Player for Windows 10 Phone with 4K Streaming

Type: Payware
OS: Windows 10 phone/iOS/Android/Roku, Apple TV
Rate: ★★★★

Plex is a 4K video player for Windows 10 phone/iOS/Android/Roku Apple TV etc with 4K streaming. You can play all your movies, music, TV shows, photo collections at your fingertips and stream them to your Windows device paying $4.99 for a month, $39.99 a year and $149.99 lifetime. It supports smooth playback of 4K video files using the H.264 (AVC) codec as long as your computer is powerful enough to decode it. However, some other 4K files in MKV, MXF, MPG, etc fromat won't be supported by this 4K player that you have to transcode and compress the 4K videos to Plex most compatible formats, or just try other 4K video players in this list.

Key Features:

  • Supports for all file types, including hi-fi music and video formats.
  • Shows entire media collection like personal music, photos, and videos in a rich, easy-to-navigate interface.
  • Gets online content from various sources, like TED Talks, NPR, Spike, Comedy Central, and Soundcloud, and allows you to save them to watch later.
DivX Player 4K

CyberLink PowerDVD 16 Ultra – 4K Video Player for Windows 10/PC with 360° Videos

Type: Payware
OS: Windows, TV
Rate: ★★★★

PowerDVD is also an affordable Windows 10 4K video player and TV with video editing functions. At a cost of around $80 for PowerDVD cupon code, you can play 4K/Blu-ray videos on PC/TV with full customer support and newest updates.

Key Features:

  • Explores the video in 360-degrees on PC/TV.
  • Plays UltraHD 4K/Blu-ray discs/DVDs and common files with richest colors, sharpest images and deep surround sound.
  • Supports Roku, AppleTV and Chromecast streaming to send any media to your big screen.
PowerDVD 4K

Leawo Blu-ray Player – Blu-ray/4K Video Player for Windows 10/Mac with Multiple Screen Displays.

Type: Freeware
OS: Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP, Mac OS
Rate: ★★★★

Leawo Blu-ray Player is a 100% free Blu-ray/DVD/Video Player that can play Blu-ray/DVD disc, folder or IOS on Windows and Mac to offer you a HD movie enjoyment. During the testing, this Mac/Windows 10 4K video player could smoothly play 29 frames/sec and 4096*2160 resolution videos.

Key Features:

  • Plays Blu-ray/DVD (discs/folders/ISO files)/1080p HD, AVI, MPEG, WMV, etc on Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP/Mac.
  • Delivers extraordinary audio effect with the built-in audio decoding technologies like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc.
  • Adjusts subtitles, audio tracks and videos, customizes background picture and swicthes program skins, supports multi-languages.
Leawo Blu-ray Player 4K

Media Player Classic – 4K UHD Video Player Only for Windows

Type: Open source
OS: Windows10/8/7/Vista/XP
Rate: ★★★

MPC-HC is an extremely light-weight, open source media player for Windows supporting all common video audio file like HEVC H265 video playback. Media Player Classic can provide 4K playback capabilities on Windows 10 with the premise that you install the K-Lite Codec Pack.

Key Features:

  • Lightweight - Watch movies on any SSE CPU, even on your old computer back from '99.
  • Customizable – Wide array of options to fit almost any needs.
  • 100% spyware free – No advertisements or toolbars.
MPC-HC 4K

FreeSmith Video Player – Blu-ray/4K Video Player for Windowss

Type: Freeware
OS: Windows10/8/7
Rate: ★★★

FreeSmith Video is another neat, safe and clean 4K video player for Windows 10 like 5KPlayer that can support different multimedia files including MKV, AVI, MP4, MPEG, etc without installing any video codec.

Key Features:

  • Plays 200+ Blu-ray movies, DivX, XviD, OGG, MP4, H263, etc files smoothly.
  • Creates and saves playlists, takes snapshots, controls volume, etc.
  • No Opencandy, No toolbar, No spy, No ads, No virus, No user tracking.
FreeSmith Player 4K

KMPlayer - A 4K Video Player for Windows 10 with 3D 4K UHD Supported

Type: Freeware
OS: Windows, Mac
Rate: ★★★

This Windows 10 4K video player contains all the codecs you need and offers superior image quality when playing 3D 4K and UHD videos movies. It also provides full control over DVD selections, Movie menus, audio menus, subtitle menus, etc that you can easily handle your files.

Key Features:

  • Supports diverse formats like RTS, MPEG1, MPEG2, AAC, WMA7, WMA8, OGG, etc.
  • Supports over 24 languages worldwide.
  • Captures audio and video, and enables you to save them to the formats you want.
KMPlayer 4K