17 Best Free Video Streaming Software For Windows

Here is the list of best free Video Streaming Software which you can easily use for online video streaming.

You can stream any video file available online simply by providing the correct URL of the video file to these video streaming software in any supported format. Aside from this, some of them may also allow you to stream videos from video-sharing portals like YouTube with different streaming quality options.

These video streaming software simply require you to fetch URL of any video file available online and these software will stream them.

Not only for online video streaming, these awesome applications can be used as all-purpose multimedia players as well. Most of them are well-known media players and come with quality features guaranteeing high-quality viewing and listening experience.

Go through this list of best free video streaming software to find out more about them, also get to know how to stream online video with these software.

My Favorite Video Streaming Software

Of all the listed video streaming software, I personally like VLC Media Player the most. It’s an all-rounder multimedia software that not only lets me stream online videos, but also gives enhanced video and audio experience. You can watch any media file of almost any extension without having to worry about any crash, freeze, or error. Also,  here you can listen to online radio stations from around the world.

You can also checkout the list of best free WebM Player For Windows, Podcast Player, and Internet Radio Players.

VLC Media Player

VLC media player is one of the most popular media players that you can use for online video streaming. It is open source and available for Windows, Mac, Android, and Linux.

Simply by using the hotkey Ctrl+N, you can enter a video file URL to watch video. It is capable of supporting almost all the available video formats, such as vob, flv, mov, mp4, wmv, flv, f4v, etc. It also allows you to add subtitle files from the local system while playing online videos. While streaming an online video file, you can record and save it to your computer in the same format and quality of the file being played.

You can even play videos from online video sharing portals, like YouTube, Twitch, etc.; however, it doesn’t work with most of the video sharing websites, like: Vevo, TEDX, etc.

You cannot seek online videos; but the seek option works when you stream YouTube videos.

PotPlayer

PotPlayer is another popular media player which can easily be used for online video streaming. Videos of all the major formats can easily be streamed, recorded, and saved locally in the same format and quality.

It also allows you to stream videos from YouTube by entering a video URL. You can easily seek a video that you are streaming from YouTube. Subtitles can be added to any video while streaming.

Videos from Dailymotion and Viki can directly be streamed on this media player. You can even create playlists of streamed videos and save them.

GOM Player

GOM Player is another popular media software which you can use for online video streaming. You can easily stream video files available online in just about any video format.

It also allows you to stream YouTube videos. While streaming from YouTube, you can adjust the video quality to boost its speed and reduce the buffer time. The seek bar works perfectly fine while streaming videos from video-sharing websites, but is of no use while streaming a simple downloadable video file.

It allows you to capture high-quality audio as well; however, there is no option to record/capture videos to store locally. Creating playlist is another simple task you can do.

Cherry Player

Cherry Player is a simple and quite handy media player, which can be used for online video streaming.

It not only allows you to stream videos available online, but music too. You can even browse through videos on YouTube, Twitch, and VK, right on this video streaming software’s interface. There are different sections for each video portals, which let you browse channels, search videos category wise, and favorite videos. You can even login to YouTube and Twitch accounts from here to visit subscribed channels and mark a video favorite. Also, you can tune in to online radio stations with many radio streams available. You can also add subtitle files from the local system, while playing an online video.

It comes with a playlist editor to create and manage playlists of different streamed video files.

KMPlayer

KMPlayer is a good and famous media player which you can use as an online video streaming software. The media player can play almost all the major media file formats.

For URL video streaming, all you have to do is simply provide the right URL to stream a video on this video streaming software. It also features a quick video capture option, allowing you to record and save streamed video files locally.

Unlike earlier version of this player, the new one apparently doesn’t have any search box to search videos from YouTube; however, it is now replaced by another video-sharing portal called Pandora.tv.

It cannot stream and play videos from video sharing websites, such as YouTube, Vevo, Vimeo, etc.

MPC-HC

MPC-HC is another easy-to-use media player for online video streaming. Simply by providing the right video file URL, it can easily stream the videos available online.

It comes with a playlist editor to create and manage playlists to keep a record of your streamed video files. You can also add subtitle from your computer while streaming videos. The seek bar works fine while online video streaming.

UMPlayer

UMPlayer is another handy media player, which you can use for online video streaming. This application supports a large number of video formats, such as vob, mov, flv, mp4, avi, wmv, etc. What I really like in this player is that it lets you look for subtitles on the internet, right from this media player, which you can add to a video that you are streaming.

You can quickly stream videos by entering the video URL in the URL box of this video streaming software. There is a dedicated search box on its interface, which lets you search for YouTube videos. You can easily seek while watching a YouTube video, but not while streaming a downloadable video file. It has an in-built radio browser to listen to different radio channels.

Even though the software works pretty fine, but it kept crashing on me when I tried playing Youtube videos, but it worked fine for other downloadable videos.

SMPlayer

SMplayer is an open source media player that you can use for online video streaming. It can handle almost all the major video extensions that you may like to stream, including flv, vob, mov, wmv, mp4, f4v, etc. Here, you can stream YouTube videos as well. It allows you to seek only YouTube videos while streaming.

As was the case with UMPlayer, this player also lets you look for subtitles on the internet for the videos that you are streaming.

MPC-BE

MPC-BE Player is another simple to use media player you can use for online video streaming. It’s an excellent media player which comes loaded with tons of features for a best video streaming experience.

A wide range of video formats are supported here, which include: vob, flv, wmv, mov, webm, mp4, flv, 3gp, mpeg, etc. It also lets you directly play videos from YouTube. Seek bar simply fails to perform while streaming online videos but works fine while streaming YouTube videos. It does not let you record streaming videos.

3nity Media Player

3nity Media Player is another media player that can be used for online video streaming. By entering the right video file URL, you can easily stream any video file available online. It supports almost all the popular video formats, such as mov, vob, flv, mp4, avi, wmv, etc.

Subtitles can be easily added from the local system to play with videos being streamed. You cannot seek a video while streaming.

JetVideo Player

JetVideo is a quite convenient solution for online video streaming. It supports a number of video formats, including vob, flv, mp4, webm, avi, etc.

It has an intuitive interface and provides basic video player options. Seek bar works really fine while streaming an online video. It also lets you capture snapshot of a video frame and play a video in different playback speeds.

Sigma Media Player

Sigma Media Player is a fantastic media player with a capability of playing just about any media format and can easily be used for online video streaming.

You can play online video files, play videos from YouTube, add subtitles to online videos, and create playlists of online videos. The seek bar works fine while watching a video on YouTube but not when streaming an online video file. You can also add subtitle while streaming an online video.

FLVPlayer4Free

FLVPlayer4Free is a fairly simple media player which can easily be used for online video streaming. It is compatible with all the major video formats including vob, mov, wmv, flv, webm, mp4, etc.

Its recommended to use this player if you just want to watch a video without seeking it. Subtitle option is also not available here.

Here, you can capture a video frame as image if you want.

Full Player

Full Player is another lightweight video streaming software that can come in handy for online video streaming.

When you play an online video, it lets you record it in 4 different video formats: AVI, OGG, Matroska, and DirectShow Meida. Seeking a video file is not an option during online video streaming. You can add a subtitle file while playing online videos.

Free Player

Free Player is a simple and lightweight media player which you can use for online video streaming. You can stream video files simply by providing the video URL to this video streaming software.

It comes with variety of features and supports many formats: avi, flv, 3gp, mkv, mov, mp4, psp, rm, rmvb, swf, wmv, wma, and wav.

Seek bar locks itself and cannot be used while streaming online video.

It comes with an inbuilt browser, where you can surf the internet to look for different videos and play them on the browser.

nFLVPlayer

nFLVPlayer is a fast and lightweight application that can be used to stream online FLV videos. Simply enter the URL of the online FLV video file and it will start streaming.

Its good for watching a video without seeking it. If you attempt to seek an online video, the video will restart. Of course, the fact that it can only stream FLV videos is a big limitation.

FLV Player

FLV Player is a very lightweight media player which can only play online flash video files (flv files). You cannot seek a video while streaming neither can you save it locally. No other features are available here.

The player itself is pretty basic, with some playback options, and option to see video in full screen. To stream online FLV video, get URL of the video, and enter it in the text box at the bottom of the interface and click on “Open Video”.