Features
RealPlayer, beyond its function as a media player, also contains additional features, including:- Media Browser (based on Internet Explorer) that allows web browsing while playing media.
- Playlist Editor that is similar to other media players, supporting "drag and drop" and playlist randomization.
- Theater Mode (full screen mode) video playback. This will only play on monitor 1 of a multi-monitor Windows PC (paid version offers a skin-decorated "Toolbar Mode" that uses less desktop space).
- Visualizations - graphical animations or "light shows". Five are included with RealPlayer set-up. Others are available from RealNetworks, including a 3D Visualization Plug-In Surreal.FX.
- Continuous Play (Loop multiple songs) and Shuffle Play (Play tracks randomly; however, RealPlayer will select the random tracks in sequence e.g. Track 1, Track 5, Track 2, Track 6, Track 3 etc.).
- Stay on top while playing option.
- Favorites menu to save and recall media locations for files or streams.
- Equalizer and Video controls. Crossfade and Gapless playback are included in RealPlayer Plus.
- Media library allows organization of media through track tagging and editing. The Premium version adds Audio Converter to convert between RealMedia, MP3,AAC, Windows Media, and WAV formats, and others.
- Recording audio, (RealPlayer Plus only) which records audio via a sound card.
- LivePause pauses streaming video clips without having to stop the buffering.
- Version 10.5 included Harmony technology, making the Music Store compatible with iPodand Windows Media DRM-compatible players.
- Both the basic and the plus version can burn CDs. The current burning technology is powered by NPI; formerly it was powered byAdaptec (Roxio). The free version can burn audio and data CDs; the premium version burns MP3 CDs.
- CD ripping into AAC (in MP4) (32 kbit/s - 320 kbit/s) (default), RealAudio 10 (32 kbit/s - 320 kbit/s), MP3 (32 kbit/s - 320 kbit/s), RealAudio Lossless, WAV (1411 kbit/s), Windows Media Audio (Requires Windows Media Player 10 installed) (64 kbit/s - 192 kbit/s) formats.
- RealPlayer Music Store allows users to locate, preview, and purchase songs, which cost $0.49 to $0.99.
- SuperPass - paid access to premium recorded and live video broadcasts. In the U.S., content like CBS Big Brother 24/7 is provided for a fee of around US$39.99. For Europe (except UK), this includes live broadcasts of BBC World Europe, Al Jazeera English, CNN International Europe,Euronews in seven languages, BBC News recent news clips, MTV UK music clips, and custom content from SportsNews TV, RealTV, Vidzone, and Comedy Time. Costs 17.50 € per month.
- Video Download - version 11 for Windows and OS X allow users to download Flash Video files from sites such as YouTube. MP4 files can be downloaded.
- Media Converter (RealPlayer SP) - allows converting to proper format and transferring video toiPod, cell phones, Xbox, PS3 and other devices
- Video Sharing (SP) - users can post videos to Facebook and Twitter directly from the software
Supported media formats
RealPlayer has used several data formats:- RealMedia formats: RealAudio (*.ra, *.rm), RealVideo (*.rv, *.rm, *.rmvb), RealPix (*.rp), RealText (*.rt), RealMedia Shortcut (*.ram, *.rmm)
- Streaming: RealTime Streaming Protocol (rtsp://), Progressive Networks Streaming Protocols (pna://, pnm://), Microsoft Windows Media Streaming Protocol (mms://),[citation needed] Real Scalable Multicast (*.sdp), Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (*.smil, *.smi)
- Audio: MP3 (*.mp3, *.mp2, *.mp2, *.m3u), CD Audio (*.cda), WAV (*.wav), AAC/aacPlus v1 (*.aac, *.m4a, *.m4b, *.mp4, *.acp, *.m4p), Apple Lossless, AIFF (*.aif, *.aiff), AU Audio Files (*.au), Panasonic AAC (*.acp)
- Video: DVD (*.vob), Video CD (*.dat), MPEG Video (*.mpg, *.mpeg, *.m2v, *.mpe etc.), AVI(*.avi, *.divx), MJPEG video playback from .avi files, Windows Media (*.wma, *.wmv etc.) (requires Windows Media Player 9/10), QuickTime (*.mov, *.qt) (QuickTime Player must be installed), Adobe Systems Flash (*.swf) (Flash or Shockwave Player must be installed), Flash Video (*.flv).
- Playlists (*.rpl, *.xpl, *.pls, *.m3u)
- Graphics: Bitmap (*.bmp), GIF Images (*.gif), JPEG Images (*.jpeg, *.jpg), PNG (*.png)
Formats supported by optional plug-ins
- AT&T A2B (*.a2b, *.mes)[13]
- Adobe Systems SVG (*.svg)[14]
- Audible Audio (*.aa)[15]
- Object Video (*.obv)[16]
- Luidia eBeam (*.wbs)[17]
- Digital Bitcasting[18]
- Envivio (*.mp4)
- EVEN Technologies PSI Video (*.psi, *.fxv)[19]
- LearnKey RealCBT (*.lkv)[20]
- Liquid Audio (*.la, *.lmsff, *.lqt *.lavs *.lar *.la1 )[21]
- Netpodium Quickcast Image (*.npi)[22]
- Nullsoft Streaming Video (*.nsv)
- LiveUpdate! Streaming MIDI files (*.mid, *.midi, *.rmi)
- Camtasia Video (*.camv)[23]
- Ogg Vorbis/Theora (*.ogg, *.ogm)[24]
- RichFX (*.vpg, *.wgs)[25][26]
- Mode2 CDs[27]
- MIMIO Broadcast (*.mbc)[28][29]
- BeHere iVideo 360° Movies (*.bhiv)[30]
- iPIX 360° Movies (*.ipx)[31]
- ScreenWatch (*.scw)[32]
- Vivo Video Files (*.viv)[33]
- MJuice Files (*.mjf)[34]
- Blue Matter (*.bmt, *.bma)[35]
- OZ.COM fluid3d[36]
- IBM EMMS (*.emm)[37]
- On2 VP5 (*.vp5)[38][39]
- On2 VP4 (*.vp4)[40]
- On2 VP3 (*.vp3)[41]
- ImagePower Motion JPEG2000 (*.jp2, *.avi)[42]
- 3GP Mobile Phone Video Files (3gp)[43]
- AMR Narrow Band (*.amr)
- AMR Wide Band (*.amr)
Plug-ins
RealPlayer has a wide variety of plug-ins. Some of the plug-ins are listed at the RealPlayer accessories page, but not all.- Audio Enhancement
- There are four audio "enhancers" available for the latest version of RealPlayer. DFX, iQfx,Volume Logic, and Sanyo 3D Surround.[44] Lake PLS, created by Lake Technologies, works only with RealJukebox, and has limited use. There are some registry tweaks which allow Lake PLS to work with RealPlayer 10. Lake PLS is still available on the RealPlayer website.
- RealPlayer Skin Creators
- RealPlayer has had two skin creator plug-ins: SkinsEditor for RealJukebox -- an easy to use skins creator made by DeYoung software. The second application, RealJukebox Skins Converter, converts Winamp skins into RealPlayer skins.
- Playback Plug-Ins
- Please see section Formats supported by optional plug-ins.
- Radio Tuners
- vTuner Plus[45] is a radio tuner specially created for RealPlayer.
- Visualizations
- The available visualizations from the RealNetworks site are: FrequencywurX, FyrewurX, FlamewurX, XFactor, Spectrl View, FluxWave, Puddle, Paint Drops, Polka dots, StickSterZ 1.0, Circle, On the road, Real Logo, and Hubble Bubble. There are some more visualization plug-ins like Surreal.FX by RealNetworks, G-Force and WhiteCap by SoundSpectrum and SticksterZ 1.1[46]by Eric Metois.
- Firefox Browser Download (Firefox Add-on)
- RealPlayer has a browser download add-on for Firefox (currently v1.0) which allows users to download video from a video player window (pop-up menu above top-right side of video player).
- ScrobRealPlayer
- an audioscrobbler plugin that connects RealPlayer with the Last.FM social music network.
RealPlayer for Windows
RealPlayer SP includes audio CD burning capabilities, DVR-style playback buffering, multimedia search, Internet radio, a jukebox-style file library, an embedded web browser (using Microsoft Internet Explorer), and the ability to convert and transfer media to a wide range of devices: Music players such as iPod and Zune, smartphones such as iPhone and BlackBerry, portable gaming devices such as Sony PSP, and console gaming systems such as Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii. Since version 11, RealPlayer SP has gained Flash Video support, DVD, SVCD, VCD burning (120-minute) and video recording (DRM is supported).As of 2011 RealPlayer Enterprise is a licensed product for enterprise applications which can be customized and remotely administered by RealPlayer Enterprise Manager.[47] The free Realplayer Enterprise Education Edition has been removed.[48] Both versions of Realplayer Enterprise are lightweight, ad-free versions of RealPlayer, missing most consumer features and most plug-in support. The RealSched.exe update reminder can be disabled in two steps, and it is not reinstalled upon running the player.