Screenbox Is an Elegant and Functional VLC-Based Video Player for Windows
Looking for a video player for Windows that looks good, is easy to use, and supports all possible media files? Screenbox is a free, open-source app that is perfect for Windows 11. It is the media player that Microsoft should have made for its own operating system.
We talked about IINA , an elegant VLC alternative for Mac. Screenbox is its Windows version. It goes without saying that VLC is a powerful video player, and if you like it, you should definitely keep using it. But there are some downsides: VLC’s various switches can feel cluttered and overwhelming, and the mostly gray app doesn’t quite fit into a modern Windows desktop. Screenbox is built using LibVLCSharp, meaning it supports all the media formats that VLC supports, and it delivers the same performance. The main difference is the user interface.
And what a difference. Open a video with this app, and you’ll see a beautiful player with only useful buttons. And there are some nice features, too. The player supports hidden YouTube keyboard shortcuts , meaning if you’ve learned them, you can use them in your computer’s video player. There’s also picture-in-picture support, allowing you to play videos in the background while you work on something else.
The app also offers a media library feature if you want it. By default, your video and music folders are included – you can add more folders in the settings. I find this especially handy for browsing music. You can explore by track, album or artist.
But most people, I suspect, will only use this for opening random files, not for library management. I like that it works for both use cases. Check it out if you haven’t found the perfect Windows Media Player yet — it might be for you.