RealPlayer is a media player, video downloader and library manager for Windows. It brings web downloads, existing video files and music into a collection that you can play, search and reshape into other media files. Alongside playback, including RealAudio and RealVideo content, its tools cover person-based scene finding, trimming, conversion and disc creation.
RealPlayer’s video downloader
RealPlayer’s downloader saves videos from sites such as YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook for playback from your computer. Smart Download chooses the settings, while Advanced Download exposes the available video streams. You can choose an MP4 or WebM container, codec, frame rate and resolution for an individual download rather than applying the same choice to every video.
Paid plans add the advanced stream controls, a choice of audio language and saving only the sound as an MP3 or M4A file; these choices depend on the streams supplied for the video.
| Plan | Download resolution | Advanced stream and audio choices | In-product ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Up to 720p | No | Shown |
| Downloader Express | Up to 8K | Yes | Shown |
| Plus | Up to 8K | Yes | Removed |
| Premium | Up to 8K | Yes | Removed |
Paid downloading tools also handle YouTube playlists and channel subscriptions. A playlist brings several videos into the download queue, while a channel subscription retrieves new videos automatically. Signing in to YouTube makes your Watch Later, Liked and private account videos accessible within RealPlayer. Live recording saves a YouTube broadcast as it happens; PLAY NOW instead opens a web video directly in the player’s full-screen view.
Media library
Existing media can enter the library through a file selection or through watch folders. RealPlayer monitors the folders you choose and adds media copied or downloaded into them. The library stores information about those files in its database; the originals remain on your drive.
A playback queue can become a named playlist. Drag music, videos or photos into the queue, arrange their order and save the sequence for later playback. Desktop playlists remain on the PC rather than becoming cloud playlists on other devices. Paid plans also provide video duplicate removal for cleaning up a collection containing repeated files.
People Search
RealPlayer can organize videos around the people appearing in them. Its facial indexing groups the library by faces, providing another way to locate footage when a filename does not identify its contents. People Search covers recognizable celebrities as well as people in a personal collection.
The results can lead to particular appearances inside a video. During playback, the People control shows the people associated with that video. Selecting a person displays scene entries, and opening one starts playback at that appearance.
Trimming videos and capturing frames
The trimmer takes a video stored on the PC and saves a selected portion of it. Start and end controls define the region to keep, with playback and a movable playhead helping locate the boundaries. Trimming works in keyframe units, so it is not a frame-by-frame editing timeline. It keeps one continuous section and cannot join separated passages; VOB files cannot be trimmed.
RealPlayer can also save an individual video frame as a picture. Frame capture supplies an image that can stand on its own or serve as a library thumbnail. Paid plans add AI image filters for changing the captured frame’s appearance.
File conversion
Conversion starts with a file in the RealPlayer library: the More menu’s Convert command opens the format choices for that item. The converter can process several files together, create several formats from one input or extract a video’s audio. By default, the converted copy keeps the original’s base filename with a new extension in the same folder; a destination control sends it elsewhere.
Inputs include MP4, AVI, WMV, MKV, WebM and RealVideo, alongside audio formats such as MP3, M4A and WAV. Output choices include MP4 and WMV video, plus MP3, M4A, WAV and other audio formats. Codec availability can affect conversion: some formats require Plus, including MPEG-2 when the operating system does not supply it.
Disc burning
RealPlayer can copy selected tracks from an audio CD into the library, with controls for the save location and CD preferences. It also creates audio CDs from an ordered list of songs or data CDs containing media files. MP3 CD creation and crossfade are paid features.
Plus and Premium add DVD playback and DVD Video burning. For a video disc, you build an ordered clip list and choose whether to include an on-screen menu. Menu text identifies the clips; without a menu, the disc plays them in sequence. Output-standard and aspect-ratio controls adapt the disc’s video presentation to the intended player and display.
Casting, RealPlayer Mobile and cloud backup
With Plus or Premium activated, RealPlayer can cast local or cloud videos to a Chromecast. The Cast control lists the receiving device, after which playing a video sends it to the connected television. RealPlayer Mobile provides a separate companion for moving videos between a phone and PC and accessing the media collection away from the computer.
Premium adds cloud storage and automatic library backup. Cloud backup is separate from adding local files to the library, so a collection can remain on the PC without being uploaded.
