MPEG4 Player

MPEG4 Player Software

Overview

MPEG4 Player is a small freeware video player for Windows, released as version 1.0 by spgsoft.com, the developer of a series of simple single-purpose players, converters and cutters. As its name suggests, it is made for playing MPEG-4 video files, and the developer described it simply as a player that lets you play any of your MPEG4 files easily. The program does not try to be a full media center: it has no media library, no online streaming and no editing tools, just a compact window with a video area and two rows of buttons below it. The installer is about 4.65 MB, and the program runs on all common versions of Windows.

MPEG4 Player is no longer developed. Version 1.0 is the only release, and the developer's website is no longer online, so the program is now available only from download archives. During setup the installer may offer to download and run a third-party offer first; this offer can be declined, and MPEG4 Player itself is then installed for free.

spgsoft.com released MPEG4 Player alongside many other small tools with the same simple design, including an MPG Player, MP4 Player, AVI Player, 3GP Player, OGG Player, AMR Player and DVD Player, as well as video and audio converters, video and MP3 splitters, cutters for many formats and an automatic mouse clicker. The licence agreement shown during setup grants the right to use the software without any payment requirement.

MPEG4 Player offers simple, lightweight playback of MPEG-4 videos with playlist, subtitle, screenshot and frame-step tools.

Features

• Plays MPEG-4 video files in a compact window with Open, Play and Stop buttons.

• A seek bar and a time counter show the current position and the total length of the video.

• A volume control sits next to the playback buttons.

• Playlist support: the Show Playlist option opens a list of files that are played one after another.

• Subtitle support for watching videos with text tracks, such as films in a foreign language.

• The Screenshot button saves the current video frame as an image file.

• The Frame Step button moves through the video one frame at a time, which helps when examining a scene.

• The Change Ratio button switches the aspect ratio of the picture.

• An Overscan setting with plus and minus buttons adjusts how the picture fits the window.

• The Keep on Top option keeps the player window above all other windows.

• Full-screen playback for watching videos on the whole screen.

• Keyboard shortcuts, with a built-in Keyboard Help list of the available keys.

• A Home Page button opens the developer's website, and a small link below the controls advertises the developer's free PG Auto Clicker.

• Freeware licence with no time limit and no registration.

Because the player concentrates on MPEG-4, other formats are better handled by other programs: FLV clips play in a dedicated FLV player, MKV files need an MKV-capable player, and audio effects such as echo or reverb are not available at all. For basic playback of MP4 videos on an older PC, however, MPEG4 Player remains a light and simple option: it does not need a powerful computer, and its small set of buttons is easy to learn even for beginners.