At this point, VLC is a staple of every Mac user’s life.
And it’s not a bad video app.
It will play virtually everything you throw at it, and it’s free, and it’s open-source.
With Apple’s modern design language, and the fast M chips, VLC feels quite out of place.
If you’ve felt that too, it might be time to try outIINA.
Like VLC, it’s also a free, open source app that’s regularly updated.
It has that trademark swiftness and polish that’s evident in Apple apps.
If you’re considering a switch from VLC, here’s why you should give IINA a shot.
You drop in a file, it starts playing, and the interface disappears in a couple of seconds.
That swiftness is something that VLC just does’t offer right now.
Plus, the interface itself is heavily inspired by QuickTime player, but with its own spin to it.
You have similar dark, translucent elements, but they do a lot more than what QuickTime offers.
Jump into the options and you might quickly customize the entire interface.
it’s possible for you to also choose to pause media when leaving full screen mode.
A useful welcome screen
I’m generally not a fan of welcome screens in apps.
Sometimes they can feel like an additional step before you might get to the task at hand.
IINA’s welcome screen, though, has one useful feature.
And of course, the playback is instant.
From the welcome screen, you’re able to also start playback for any online stream.
I’ve had varying degree of luck with VLC, but the whole experience is much better with IINA.
That is, if you’re on Mac.
Sadly, IINA is not available for any other platform, not even iPhone or iPad.
