Level up your streaming setup
For many of us, a video player is just a video player, and we settle for whatever works — usually the faithful but often clunky VLC media player or the bare-bones native option. I was firmly in that camp for years, dissatisfied but too lazy to look for an alternative that truly fit the modern macOS environment.
That all changed the moment I finally hit download on IINA. My immediate reaction was one of regret; I should have made this switch much sooner. After just one evening using it, I realized I hadn’t just upgraded my software; I had upgraded my entire viewing experience.
Native macOS experience
Built for Mac only
For so long, my philosophy on Mac media players was simple: If it plays the file, it’s good enough. I preferred VLC because it was cross-platform and never fails to open a file. But ‘never failing’ isn’t the same as excelling.
I lived with several annoyances: a player that looked slightly out of place, had a menu system from a different operating system, and generally felt heavy.
I knew there had to be a better way — a player designed specifically for my machine — but I kept postponing the switch. That hesitation is what I regret the most now.
The single biggest revelation with IINA is how it feels like it was designed by Apple, for Apple. My old player always felt like an imported application, whereas IINA feels completely integrated.
It supports the Touch Bar and even essentials like Picture-in-Picture (PiP) seamlessly, so I can tuck a video away while I work. Even simple tasks, such as adjusting the playback speed or switching audio tracks, flow naturally because they utilize the expected macOS conventions.
