Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Minitube VS VLC Media Player

Compare Minitube VS VLC Media Player and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Minitube logo Minitube

Minitube is a YouTube desktop application.

VLC Media Player logo VLC Media Player

VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework.
  • Minitube Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-27
  • VLC Media Player Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-13

Minitube features and specs

  • Ad-Free Experience
    Minitube provides an ad-free experience, allowing users to watch videos without interruptions from advertisements, enhancing the viewing experience.
  • Lightweight Application
    The application is lightweight and doesn't consume many system resources, making it ideal for machines with limited performance capabilities.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Minitube is available on multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring a wide range of compatibility with different operating systems.
  • Ease of Use
    The user interface is straightforward and user-friendly, making it easy for users to navigate and find videos without a steep learning curve.
  • Playlist and Channel Management
    Users can easily create and manage playlists and subscriptions to their favorite channels, which enhances the organization and accessibility of content.

Possible disadvantages of Minitube

  • Limited Features
    Compared to the full YouTube website or application, Minitube may lack some advanced features, such as comments, likes, and detailed video information.
  • Subscription Fee
    Minitube is not entirely free; it requires a subscription fee after a trial period, which might be a deterrent for some users who prefer free solutions.
  • Non-Official YouTube Client
    As an unofficial YouTube client, Minitube may occasionally face issues with video playback and other functionalities due to changes in YouTube's API or terms of service.
  • Video Quality Settings
    Minitube does not offer as many options for selecting video quality compared to YouTube's website or official app.
  • No Online Integration
    The app does not support features like YouTube comments, live chat, or other community interactions, limiting the social aspect of watching videos.

VLC Media Player features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    VLC Media Player is available on multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, providing a consistent experience across different devices.
  • Wide Format Support
    VLC supports virtually all audio and video file formats, making it a versatile media player for various types of content.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source project, VLC is free to use and its source code is accessible, allowing for community-driven modifications and improvements.
  • No Ads or Spyware
    VLC Media Player is free of advertisements, spyware, and user tracking, offering a clean and private user experience.
  • Customizable Interface
    Users can customize the interface with skins and add functionality through plugins and extensions, enhancing the user experience.
  • Streaming Support
    VLC can stream content over networks and manage internet radio streams, making it ideal for both local and remote media playback.
  • Frequent Updates
    The development team regularly updates VLC, ensuring it remains secure, stable, and compatible with the latest media formats.

Possible disadvantages of VLC Media Player

  • Resource Intensive
    VLC can be resource-intensive, which may cause performance issues on older or less powerful devices.
  • Complex Interface
    The extensive range of features and settings can be overwhelming for new or less tech-savvy users, making it difficult to navigate.
  • Occasional Bugs
    Like any software, VLC is not immune to bugs, which can sometimes result in crashes or unexpected behavior during playback.
  • Limited Library Management
    VLC's media library functionality is relatively basic compared to dedicated media management software, which may be a downside for users with large media collections.
  • Suboptimal Subtitle Support
    While VLC supports subtitles, the functionality can sometimes be glitchy, with occasional issues in displaying or syncing subtitles accurately.
  • Advanced Features Can Be Hidden
    Some advanced features are not immediately obvious and may require digging into the settings or using command-line options, which can be a barrier for less experienced users.

Analysis of Minitube

Overall verdict

  • Minitube is a good option for those looking for a lightweight YouTube desktop application.

Why this product is good

  • Minitube is praised for its simplicity and ease of use. It provides a distraction-free experience compared to using a web browser, with no ads and a clean interface. It also allows users to watch YouTube videos without needing Adobe Flash Player, opting for a more efficient usage of resources. Additionally, it supports HD videos and offers features like downloading videos for offline viewing.

Recommended for

    Minitube is recommended for users who prefer a desktop application for browsing and watching YouTube videos, especially those who want a simple, ad-free experience without any added complexity. It's particularly beneficial for users with older computers that might struggle with the resource demands of a full web browser.

Analysis of VLC Media Player

Overall verdict

  • Yes, VLC Media Player is widely considered to be a good media player.

Why this product is good

  • VLC Media Player is praised for its versatility, open-source nature, cross-platform support, and ability to play a wide variety of media formats without needing additional codecs. It also offers features like streaming, conversion, and extensive subtitle support.

Recommended for

  • Users who need a reliable and versatile media player.
  • Anyone looking to play non-standard or less common media formats.
  • People who prefer open-source software or want a player that is consistently updated.
  • Users who require cross-platform compatibility between Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Minitube videos

MiniTube Review for Linux, Windows, etc

More videos:

  • Review - DabbersDaily: Grasshopper Glass Minitube Review

VLC Media Player videos

VLC Media Player Review!

More videos:

  • Tutorial - VLC Media Player Android Review and Tutorial - Cool Features of VLC

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Minitube and VLC Media Player)
Video
100 100%
0% 0
Audio Player
0 0%
100% 100
Video Platform
100 100%
0% 0
Media Player
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Minitube and VLC Media Player

Minitube Reviews

15 Best YouTube Vanced Alternatives 2023
It’s worth pointing out that it has a filtering feature that you can activate to ensure that children do not have access to inappropriate content. Once you play a video on Minitube, playback will continue from one video to the next automatically.

VLC Media Player Reviews

  1. Muhammad Yaseen
    Playing Videos

    This is very useful application for me. Now i can watch videos of any format on my laptop with vlc player. It solved my all problems of video formats and play problem.


Best VLC Alternative Media Players
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9 Best VLC Alternatives to Play Media in Any Format
In today's fast-paced world, media players have become an essential part of our lives. VLC Media Player has always been a popular choice, but it seems that the video player exhibits more problems as time goes on. A quick search of user reviews proves that it has fallen behind competitors in terms of advanced features, and newer updates of VLC are fraught with bugs, glitches,...
10 Best VLC Media Player Alternatives in 2024 (Free)
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Source: xtendedview.com
Top 5 Alternatives of VLC for iPad
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Minitube should be more popular than VLC Media Player. It has been mentiond 7 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Minitube mentions (7)

  • Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids
    Minitube is pretty great, and uses MPV (and therefore yt-dlp) behind the scenes. It has filters that are really neat, and is very minimalistic. I personally use it, too, to avoid distracting myself and to actively search for everything I consume. [1] https://flavio.tordini.org/minitube. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Block YouTube Ads on AppleTV by Decrypting and Stripping Ads from Profobuf
    I can recommend "minitube" [1]. It's super minimalistic, and requires you to actively search for things to find them. No ads, no feeds, no short videos, nothing - just playlists for search terms. Uses yt-dlp and mpv behind the scenes, so it's using less than 5% CPU on my small Intel NUC machine, too. I can't stress enough how it is soooo much better in terms of what type of content I consume now.... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • YouTube confirms that it has removed the “sort by oldest/newest” option
    In regards to alternative Youtube clients. Not sure if it fits your requirements but I've used MiniTube which is pretty decent: https://flavio.tordini.org/minitube. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • YouTube Player
    Minitube is what I use, not open source though. https://flavio.tordini.org/minitube. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Invidious: An alternative front-end to YouTube
    Or the native cross-plattform opensource Minitube from https://flavio.tordini.org/minitube . Is already available on most systems through the package manager. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
View more

VLC Media Player mentions (3)

  • The 10 tools I install on every new Mac I get
    VLC - plays everything, has excellent keyboard shortcuts and can in a pinch even record screens for you (free). - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Why Open Source Software VLC's official website has been blocked for over 5 months now?
    Try accessing it without the 'www' subdomain (https://videolan.org/vlc/). Source: almost 3 years ago
  • AV1 no working
    I think I recommend you to use VLC Media Player without AV1 extension, it just decode. Source: almost 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Minitube and VLC Media Player, you can also consider the following products

FreeTube - FreeTube is an open source desktop YouTube player built with privacy in mind.

AIMP - AIMP : Free Audio Player : Официальный сайт программы

NewPipe - NewPipe is a lightweight YouTube front-end for Android.

Winamp - Winamp is a media player that allows users to play multiple-file formats, arrange media in a varied file-management system, and play unique media with AAC encoding.

YouTube - Our mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world.

foobar2000 - An advanced freeware audio player for the Windows platform.