Universal format support
Every codec, every container. If FFmpeg plays it, Lumen plays it — MKV, HEVC, AV1, ProRes, the lot.
v1.0 — Public Beta available now
Playseverything.Lookslike2026.
The modern, open-source media player for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Same powerful FFmpeg engine as VLC — wrapped in an interface that actually respects your eyes.
Rated 4.9 on GitHub142,847 downloadsNo ads. No tracking. Ever.
interstellar-journey.mkv — Lumen Player
“The stars look like fireflies tonight…”
01:42 / 04:28
If it's a file, it plays.
- MP4
- MKV
- HEVC
- AV1
- VP9
- ProRes
- FLAC
- DNxHD
- WebM
- MOV
- M4V
- Opus
- AAC
- ALAC
- M3U8
Features
Built for people who actually watch things.
Six things VLC won't do, and one thing it does — wrapped in an interface from this decade.
AI subtitles in 99 languages
Whisper-powered. Drop any video, get accurate line-timed subs in under 60 seconds. Runs locally.
Smart upscaling
Bring SD content to 4K with Real-ESRGAN. GPU-accelerated, real-time, on your machine.
Stream from anywhere
Plex, Jellyfin, DLNA, SMB, NFS. Your media — wherever it lives — connects natively.
Plugins in JavaScript
Not Lua. Extend Lumen with a language you already know. 40 lines beats a Lua sandbox every time.
Cloud-synced playback
Pause on your PC, resume on your phone. Tomorrow. Encrypted. Optional. Off by default.
AI features
AI that's actually useful.
Most “AI features” are gimmicks. These run on your own machine and earn their place in the playback loop.
Auto-subtitles
AI · live
whisper-large-v3 · 99 langs · 100% on-device
Drop a video without subs. Get accurate, line-timed subtitles in 99 languages in under 60 seconds. Runs locally. Nothing leaves your machine.
Smart upscaling
480p
4K · live
Watching that 480p classic? Real-ESRGAN upscales in real-time. 4× resolution, GPU-accelerated, no re-encode.
Voice isolation
rnnoise−22 dB background · voice +6 dB
Noisy podcast or muffled interview? One click cleans it up. RNNoise model, on-device.
Compared
The honest column is the first one.
Lumen vs the players we love and learned from. No marketing fluff — these are real differences, today.
| Feature | Lumen | VLC | MPV | IINA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All major formats | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Modern UI | Yes | No | No | Mac only |
| Auto-subtitles (AI) | Yes | No | No | No |
| AI upscaling | Yes | No | Partial | No |
| Cross-platform (Win / Mac / Linux) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Plugins / scripting | JS | Lua | Lua | JS |
| Cloud-synced playback | Yes | No | No | No |
| Free & open-source | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Active development | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
Based on publicly available features as of May 2026. Open a PR if anything looks off.
Product tour
What it looks like in use.
A handful of representative views. The real thing is faster.
Lumen Player — Library
Use cases
Made for the way you actually use media.
Editor's choice
“I review dailies in 12 different codecs every day. Lumen handles ProRes, DNxHD, and raw .R3D files without breaking a sweat. The frame-stepping is buttery.”
Movie watcher
“I have a Plex server with 8TB of media. Lumen connects natively, remembers where I stopped, and the subtitle search is faster than Plex's own.”
Developer
“I wrote a 40-line JS plugin that auto-skips intros across my anime library. Try doing that in VLC's Lua sandbox.”
Loved by
People who care about playback.
Finally a player that doesn't look like Windows XP got drunk at a UX bar.
The AI subtitle pass on a 90-minute interview took 47 seconds on my M3. Insane.
Replaced VLC across our editing bay. Nobody has asked to go back.
Open the .mkv. It plays. Like, just plays. No 17-step codec install dance.
Upscaling old family VHS rips to watchable quality is genuinely emotional.
JS plugins. I wrote a chapter-skipper in 12 minutes. That's the whole pitch for me.
As featured in (soon, we hope)
- TechCrunch
- The Verge
- Ars Technica
- Wired
- Hacker News
- Engadget
Requirements
Runs everywhere people actually have computers.
Windows
- OS
- Windows 10 (1903+) or Windows 11
- Arch
- x64 · ARM64
- Packages
- .exe installer.msiwingetMicrosoft Store
macOS
- OS
- macOS 12 Monterey or later
- Arch
- Apple Silicon · Intel
- Packages
- .dmgHomebrew cask
Linux
- OS
- Ubuntu 22.04+ · Fedora 38+ · glibc ≥ 2.35
- Arch
- x86_64 · aarch64
- Packages
- .deb.rpmAppImageFlatpak
Recommended: 4 GB RAM and a GPU with hardware decode (Intel UHD/Iris, NVIDIA, AMD) for 4K HEVC playback.
FAQ
Questions, asked plainly.
Is Lumen Player really free?
Yes. Free forever. GPL-3.0 licensed. No paid tier, no enterprise upsell, no telemetry. We accept GitHub sponsorships if you want to help — but the binary you download is the whole product.Does it collect any data about me?
No. Lumen Player ships with telemetry off and there is no opt-in to turn on. The only network calls the app ever makes are the ones you explicitly initiate (e.g. streaming from Plex, fetching subtitles, checking for updates — and that update check is also off by default).How is it different from VLC?
Same FFmpeg engine under the hood. Different UI, modern AI features (subtitles, upscaling, noise removal), JS plugin runtime instead of Lua, native cloud-sync, and a download bundle that's a third the size.What file formats does it support?
Everything FFmpeg supports — MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, WMV, FLV, WebM, OGV, MPEG, MTS, M4V, HEVC, H.264, AV1, VP9, ProRes, DNxHD, MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC, OGG, Opus, ALAC, M4A, WMA, AIFF, DSD, ISO, BDMV, M3U8, MPD. If it's a file, it plays.Will it work on my old Mac or PC?
Windows 10 (build 1903+) or 11; macOS 12 Monterey or later; any Linux with glibc 2.35+. The Windows build runs comfortably on a 2017 ThinkPad. AI features need a reasonably modern GPU but the player itself does not.How do I uninstall it?
Windows: Settings → Apps → Lumen Player → Uninstall, or `winget uninstall Lumen.Player`. macOS: drag to Trash. Linux: your package manager's normal remove command. No registry leftovers, no daemons, no hidden caches.Can I use it for Netflix or other streaming services?
No. Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, and similar services use DRM that requires their official apps or browser plugins. Lumen plays files and open streams (Plex, Jellyfin, DLNA, HLS, DASH).Is the source code available?
Yes — github.com/lumenplayer/lumen, GPL-3.0. The build pipeline is reproducible from a clean checkout.How can I contribute or report a bug?
Open an issue on GitHub for bugs, a discussion for feature ideas, or a PR if you've already got a fix. We respond within 48h on weekdays.Do you offer enterprise support?
Not in the traditional SLA sense. If your team needs paid prioritisation, email enterprise@lumenplayer.net and we'll quote a deployment + support contract.
Stop fighting your media player.
Lumen is free, open-source, and ready when you are. Two clicks from this button to a video playing.
Free forever · No ads · No telemetry · GPL-3.0