Since I switched to linux, I have only used mpv. It is far more costumizable, has a ton of keybinds. Also in my expirience it has a lot less bugs, however my usecase is pretty common.

mpv, it just fits me better, I don’t really do playlists for videos outside of the TV, where I’ve got kodi.

I launch many videos from the terminal, since sometimes big AV1 videos need my big GPU (DRI_PRIME)

VLC has been disintegrating on Wayland, mpv became the default

I like to use both, I use MPV as my main player but if a format isn’t supported I use VLC.

Despite MPV being simpler VLC usually has less problems to play something than MPV. I don’t really like VLC’s interface, but I DO like how powerful it is without having to read any manuals.

mpv on linux, vlc whenever i’m on windows.

no particular reason, just habit.

Count me in on the minimalist interface preference gang. I’ve been using it for probably more than a decade. Less nowadays that I watch content on my TV through my media center server, but on the off occurrence that I need to watch a file on my computer, mpv is my boo.

Fun fact: VLC still supports Android 4.2 (Nov, 2012) which i use to play local media on my old tablet(4.4) through f-droid. Works well with old formats.

On PC, I use MPV because I’ve gotten used to its command line and shortcuts.

MPV, better colors , faster , lighter and has everything I need and nothing I dont

mpv, very easy to configure and use

i use mpc-be on m$win because of occasional glitch with mpv though, might be my system’s issue

I use MPV, mostly because I like the simplicity of the on-screen interface.

But both are great players. No issues with VLC and it is a go-to if I ever have a file I can’t play otherwise (which is a vanishingly rare occurrence).

MPV>VLC

While they’re technically the same type of software, it’s still sort of like comparing apples to oranges.

VLC is your kitchen skink media players that comes bundled with basically everything possible.

mpv is more of a minimalist media player that let’s the user add the features themselves using add-ons.

Me personally prefer mpv since it’s minimal in every regard. I have turned of the OSC, and I use the keyboard for everything. I don’t use a lot of extras, but the ones I have, is add-ons I couldn’t probably live without, like yt-dlp and SponsorBlock (for YouTube).

I even use mpv as my music player with playlist that I manage using Neovim and the tool echo (to add new tracks to my playlists).

While VLC is great, I have had cases where it failed me regarding hardware accelerated decoding. mpv has never let me down with this.

vlc for watching.
mpv for listening.