About
IINA is the modern media player for the Mac: a native Swift app wrapped around the powerful mpv engine, so it plays virtually every video and audio format you can throw at it without codec packs or conversion. It supports Picture-in-Picture, system media keys, Touch Bar controls, gesture navigation, thumbnail previews on the seek bar and online streaming through youtube-dl and companion browser extensions.
It is completely free and open source under the GPLv3 licence, with development still active a decade in: version 1.4.4 arrived in June 2026. Where VLC feels ported, IINA feels designed, with a considered dark mode, a customisable interface and a plugin system for extending it. It remains the default recommendation for anyone who watches anything on a Mac.
Alternatives
- VLC
Pick VLC if you need a player on more than a Mac or an older system: it is free, runs on Windows, Linux and Android, and supports Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later.
- QuickTime Player
Stay with QuickTime Player if you only want to play common formats, trim clips and record your screen: it is built into every Mac and needs nothing extra to install.
At a Glance
- Requires
- macOS 12 Monterey or later on Apple silicon, macOS 10.15 Catalina or later on Intel
- Price
- Free and open source
- Get It From
- iina.io
Curator's Note
“Every Mac I set up gets IINA within the first hour; no other player looks or behaves this much like it belongs.”
Theo, Mac Dept.
