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Best Free AV1 Player for Windows and Mac Download

Posted by Kaylee Wood | Last update: September 30, 2020 | 3 Min Read

Compared with other video codecs, AV1 is pretty a new codec since its 1.0.0 version just released in Feb. 2019. Due to the short release time, AV1 codec is not as popular as other codecs, but because it is free and has its own advantages, many websites are going to use AV1 for transferring video. It is not surprising to download videos in AV1 online, but getting them to play on your own Windows or Mac PC is a vexing problem.

Latest news: NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX™ 30 Series GPUs has added AV1 hardware decoding support, Windows 10 will get AV1 Hardware-accelerated video support this fall and AMD RX 6000 Series GPUs will also support the AV1 Codec.

1. 5KPlayer - Free AV1 Player with AV1 Hardware Acceleration Support to Come

5KPlayer is a free professional all-in-one media player for Windows and macOS. It has built-in with 450+ video codecs and 180+ audio codecs can play almost any video such as MP3, AAC, AC3, WMA, FLAC, ALAC and so on. Also, its hardware-acceleration tech supports playing high-resolution video up to 4K and even 8K without hassle. Except act as a media player, 5KPlayer is a DLNA/AirPlay server, media streamer, online video downloader, light-weight video editor and converter. If you want to keep only one media player, add 5KPlayer to your video toolbox!

2. VLC Media Player - Open-source AV1 Video Player

VLC is a very famous free and open-source multimedia player for long years. VLC media player is cross-platform with versions for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Syllable, etc. It can read all the video and audio codec in any format, but sometimes depending on the operating system it is running on. If you cannot play AV1 video by using VLC on your PC, maybe you need to install and set up the add-on for VLC to decoding the AV1 file. But when it comes to playing UHD video, VLC users have a lot to complain about.

3. CnX Player - UHD AV1 File Player

CnX Player is a powerful UHD Media Player for Windows, iPhone & iPad, and Android, it does not support macOS yet. CnX Player had added AV1 codec this month and only available on Windows PC, if you want to use it to play AV1 video, you need to download or upgrade it to the newest version.

Given the above, if you want to find a free and powerful player for Windows and Mac PC to satisfy all your video playback needs, choose the NO.1 5KPlayer to tackle all the problem of AV1 video playback.

Content:
1. Wiki: What Is AV1?
2. How to Solve AV1 Not Playing on Windows and Mac?
3. Top 3 AV1 Video Media Players for Windows and Mac
4. How to Play AV1 File by Using 5KPlayer?

Wiki: What Is AV1?

AV1 is the abbreviation of AOMedia Video 1, and it is an open and royalty-free video coding format. It is said that AV1 codec was developed because of the copyright license of HEVC is hard to get and to better handle high-resolution video. Compared with HEVC codec, the compression efficiency of AV1 has gone by 30% . In any case, compressing video bound to cause a loss of quality, and despite the controversy that AV1 also supports lossless compression, there is no authoritative citation to confirm this. But after YouTube started using AV1 video codec on its site, Netflix also announced that it would use AV1 to transferring content on Android phones, we can make a reasonable conjecture that AV1 codec will be one of the most widely used formats in the future.

How to Solve AV1 Not Playing on Windows and Mac?

Because Windows and macOS do not build in with AV1 encoding pack, you cannot play AV1 files by using their default media player like Windows Media Player or QuickTime Player. In this situation, here are some methods to solve AV1 not playing problem .

1. Convert AV1 Video File to The Other Wide Used Video Format

TAV1 is a new codec, more time is needed to achieve the industry transition. Therefore, convert AV1 to a codec supported by more devices would be one of the solution. Generally, the video decoded by H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec in MPEG-4 format (such as MP4 and MOV) would be the preferred. However, after transcoding, the video may lose quality and with less compression efficiency coding format, the video size will be much larger.

2. Download AV1 Codec Pack or Extension on Your PC

If you are a Windows user, you can download AV1 video extension from Microsoft Store. The Windows extension is free and safe, but it can only work on Windows 10 version 17763.0 or higher, and the beta version is not stable to use. If you are a Mac user, you need to find an AV1 codec or AV1 video tool to help.

3. Download AV1 Player for Windows and Mac PC to Play AV1 File

Convert AV1 video to other formats will lose video quality, and the AV1 video extension is not stable to solve the playback issue, but there are not much to dislike about downloading an AV1 video player on the PC. Download a free and secure video player that supports this new codec will make things easier if you want to find such an AV1 video player, read the review below to pick the one you like.

Top 3 AV1 Video Media Players for Windows and Mac

Actually, software support for AV1 codec format is not universal, and not many players support decoding this codec now. Therefore, it could be said the players support playing AV1 videos among the most outstanding in multimedia field, and you do need to spend time to find and test the other players to play AV1 files anymore.

1. 5KPlayer - Free AV1 Player with AV1 Hardware Acceleration Support to Come

5KPlayer is a free professional all-in-one media player for Windows and macOS. It has built-in with 450+ video codecs and 180+ audio codecs can play almost any video such as MP3, AAC, AC3, WMA, FLAC, ALAC and so on. Also, its hardware-acceleration tech supports playing high-resolution video up to 4K and even 8K without hassle. Except act as a media player, 5KPlayer is a DLNA/AirPlay server, media streamer, online video downloader, light-weight video editor and converter. If you want to keep only one media player, add 5KPlayer to your video toolbox!

2. VLC Media Player - Open-source AV1 Video Player

VLC is a very famous free and open-source multimedia player for long years. VLC media player is cross-platform with versions for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Syllable, etc. It can read all the video and audio codec in any format, but sometimes depending on the operating system it is running on. If you cannot play AV1 video by using VLC on your PC, maybe you need to install and set up the add-on for VLC to decoding the AV1 file. But when it comes to playing UHD video, VLC users have a lot to complain about.

3. CnX Player - UHD AV1 File Player

CnX Player is a powerful UHD Media Player for Windows, iPhone & iPad, and Android, it does not support macOS yet. CnX Player had added AV1 codec this month and only available on Windows PC, if you want to use it to play AV1 video, you need to download or upgrade it to the newest version.

Given the above, if you want to find a free and powerful player for Windows and Mac PC to satisfy all your video playback needs, choose the NO.1 5KPlayer to tackle all the problem of AV1 video playback.

How to Play AV1 File by Using 5KPlayer?

With 5KPlayer, you don’t need to install codec packs or convert video formats. You can play any AV1 files as easy as ABC.

Step 1 : Download and install this free AVI player, and then launch it.

Step 2: Load the AV1 files you want to play by using one of the ways below:

* Drag & drop AVI file to the main window of 5KPlayer;
* Click “Video” to add AV1 video for playback;
* Right click on target AV1 file, navigate to “Open with” option and then scroll down to “5KPlayer”. And then 5KPlayer will play the AVI file for you immediately.

If you want toconvert video to the MP4 videoformat, 5KPlayer can easily help you get the converted file in only a few seconds.

Step 1: Download and install 5KPlayer, then launch it on your PC.

Step 2: Click “Library” button directly above the user interface, and go to Select “Playlists > Movies” from the navigation tree on the left side.

Step 3: Click on “+” icon to load the AV1 file you want to convert, then click on the added video and click “Convert” option box. Choose “MP4(H264): Convert to MP4(H264)”.

If you are looking for a free AV1 player to play your favorite video, you can count on 5KPlayer. It supports overt 450+ video codec and plays almost the popular video formats like MP4, HEVC, VP9, AVI, etc. After the newest version update, 5Kplayer added the AV1 codec support and you can get your AV1 video to play with it. Download this best free AV1 player now to solve AV1 playback problem now!

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