Running across QuickTime or Real Player content around the net is not hard to do. We all find ourselves occasionally trying to access a .mov file or any of the many Real Player file formats. Either way, you’ve usually got to end up installing QuickTime or Real Player. Here at Make Use Of, we really don’t have a problem with either of these services, they just seem a little bloated for our very limited usage of them.
In comes a great site called CodecGuide.com with two great alternatives for these two aggravating applications.
QuickTime Alternative is a slim and trim version of the popular QuickTime. It only contains the essential portions of the program crucial to playing QuickTime content that might be embedded into web pages you visit. I mean, who wants to load that QuickTime package only for it to add itself to the startup every time you boot up and trying to check in with Apple’s servers?
From the site:
Advantages of QuickTime Alternative are:
- Quick and easy install
- Ability to make an unattended installation
- No background processes
- No unwanted stuff and other nonsense
- Smaller size
There is also another variation of the QuickTime Alternative known as QT Lite. The only real difference is that the QT Lite version does not contain the Media Player Classic.
OS: Windows XP/2003/Vista
RealPlayer Alternative
The “Real Alternative” allows you the ability to play RealMedia without requiring you to install the dreaded RealPlayer. Even though RealNetworks really doesn’t have a foothold on the internet media war that they used to, this is a perfect solution to that one site you visit that still streams audio/video in RealPlayer format.
All the “Real” file formats are supported including the ability to view streaming content.
Formats:
From the site:
Some advantages compared to RealPlayer:
- Quick and easy install
- It’s easy to make an unattended installation
- Proper uninstallation
- No background processes
- Use a player of your own choice
- Low on resources
- No advertising, no registration forms, nothing annoying
As with the Quicktime Alternative above, the RealPlayer Alternative includes a Lite version without the Media Player Classic.
OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
(By) Travis is a husband, engineer, entrepreneur, technology swami, visual communicator, WordPress lover and writer in his spare time. You can check out his personal blog at TQuizzle.com.
Filed Under: Cool Software Apps
Tags: audio, better alternatives, Quicktime, Real Player, streaming, Vista, windows tips, XP
These are great, I’ve been using them for years.
The site also has the “K-lite codec pack” available, which bundles Quicktime & Real Alternative with a boatload of other codecs.
BTW, the site first link should be to “www.codecguide.com”
so basically look up the plugin + “alternative”. Not sure the quality of this article is up to par with the rest of makeuseof articles.
I personally think it’s a great post.
The best player I have always trusted is the VLC Player…It can take on any kind of media on earth.
Media player classic is one cool player especially when you are in the full screen mode.
Here it scores over vlc man…
I currently have the vlc media player and if I was to install the lite version of the above (ie without media player classic which I don’t really need) would I be able to play quicktime and realplayer formats in my browser?
I just wanted to point out to the above commenters that Media Player Classic and VLC are media players and not codecs. You still need to install Real Alternatice and Quicktime Alternative to get the codecs in order to play these files.
Been using them for years, highly recommend them vs the full blown installs to keep your system running smoothly!
@ Marko
The article is to the point, short&sweet and not everyone may have heard about these two alternatives. In other words, I don’t see what’s wrong with this particular article.
@ everyone
If you know of other alternatives, please share!
I like both of these - thanks for letting me know about them!
You should note that at least Real Alternative has been marked as illegal by Real Networks.
I have tried QT Alt but I still came across videos it wouldn’t load. I would still get a prompt saying I needed QT installed. I’ve gone back to using the full Apple QT. I just stop the tray tool from starting. With hd space so cheap I don’t mind the extra space required.
This same logic holds true for Adobe Acrobat. I’ve tried the alternatives but would still run across PDFs that they couldn’t load properly, especially forms. I now run the full product with no background tasks running.
http://www.foxitsoftware.com has a most exellent & free pdf alternative to Adobe. I’ve been using it for years and have yet to have any problems viewing anything that typically required Adobe’s bulky software.
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I’ve been using them for years. They are great and the codec pack enhances the properties. Quicktime is one of the most widely used audio softwares around the world. Its a great market tool and should be advertised on a PR building tool like MyPRGenie (www.myprgenie.com/technology/) to allow even further customers to use it.
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