Darshan Player — Free Open-Source Media Player for Windows
Darshan Player is a fast, open-source desktop media player for Windows built with C# and WPF. Designed for Indian audiences — smooth playback of local videos, Hindi/regional audio tracks, and subtitle auto-loading out of the box.
> Download v1.2.0 →
Table of Contents
Features
Playback
- Hardware-accelerated video playback via LibVLC (MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, WMV, FLV, WebM, TS, M2TS, 3GP, and more)
- Audio formats: MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, OGG, M4A
- Variable playback speed: 0.25× to 4× with ComboBox or keyboard
- Frame-by-frame stepping (when paused)
- A-B loop repeat between two points
Subtitles
- Auto-loads subtitle file from same folder as video (SRT, ASS, SSA, VTT, SUB)
- External subtitle load via menu
- Subtitle delay adjustment
- Multiple subtitle track switching in controls bar
Audio & Tracks
- Multi-audio track switching directly in controls bar
- Audio delay adjustment
- Volume 0–100 with mouse wheel
Playlist
- Drag-and-drop files and folders
- Shuffle (Ctrl+S) and Repeat modes — None / One / All (R key)
- M3U / M3U8 save and load
- Sort by name or duration; filter by keyword
- Watch history — remembers resume position per file
Window & UI
- True fullscreen covering entire monitor (no taskbar gap)
- Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mini player
- Taskbar progress bar and thumbnail play/pause/skip buttons
- Zoom / video scale (portrait reels, 9:16 content)
- Session restore — resumes last position on relaunch
Windows Integration
- Appears in Open with for every supported video and audio format
- Listed in Settings ▸ Apps ▸ Default apps — pick Darshan Player as your default there, or use Set as default player… in the app (Windows always asks you to confirm; the app never changes your defaults on its own)
- Add to Darshan Player playlist on media files, Play with Darshan Player on folders (under Show more options on Windows 11)
- Start Menu and Desktop shortcuts, and
Win+R → DarshanPlayer
- Recent files in the taskbar and Start Menu jump list
- One window: files opened from Explorer go to the running player — select several and the first plays while the rest queue (can be turned off in Settings)
- Everything is per-user (no admin prompt) and removed cleanly on uninstall, without touching other players' registrations
Auto-Update
- Silent background updates via Velopack (v1.1.0 onward)
- In-app updates download over HTTPS with no browser and no SmartScreen prompt (the first install of an unsigned build can still show one)
- Notification shown when update is ready; applies on next restart
- Download icon in the title bar opens the releases page for a manual update
Screenshots
> Screenshots coming soon. Star the repo to follow updates.
Download & Install
Option 1 — Installer (Recommended)
- Download
DarshanPlayer-win-Setup.exe from Releases
- Run it — no admin rights needed; it installs for your user and launches the player
- Optional: choose Set as default player… in the menu to open Windows Default apps
System requirements: Windows 10 (1903+) or Windows 11, 64-bit
> No .NET runtime needed — installer is fully self-contained.
Option 2 — Portable
Download the .zip from Releases, extract, run DarshanPlayer.exe directly.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Playback
| Key | Action |
|---|
| Space | Play / Pause |
| S | Stop |
| ← / → | Seek backward / forward |
, / . | Previous / next frame (paused) |
[ / ] | Slow down / speed up |
\ | Reset speed to 1× |
| N / P | Next / previous track |
Audio & subtitles
| Key | Action |
|---|
| ↑ / ↓ | Volume up / down |
| M | Mute |
| H / J | Subtitle delay −100ms / +100ms |
| Ctrl+H | Reset subtitle delay |
| Ctrl+E | Audio & equalizer panel |
View
| Key | Action |
|---|
| F / F11 | Toggle fullscreen |
| Escape | Exit fullscreen |
| Z | Cycle aspect ratio |
+ / - | Zoom in / out |
* | Reset zoom to auto-fit |
| I | Toggle media info |
| Ctrl+L | Toggle playlist |
Playlist & loops
| Key | Action |
|---|
| R | Cycle repeat (None → One → All) |
| Ctrl+← / Ctrl+→ | Previous / next chapter |
| Ctrl+S | Toggle shuffle |
| A / B | Set A-B loop start / end |
| Ctrl+A | Clear A-B loop |
| Ctrl+R | Set A-B loop point |
| Ctrl+Shift+S | Take screenshot |
Built With
Getting Started (Developers)
Prerequisites
- Windows 10/11 64-bit
- .NET 10 SDK
- Visual Studio 2022+ or Rider
Clone & Run
git clone https://github.com/Ujjwal-08/DarshanPlayer.git
cd DarshanPlayer
dotnet restore
dotnet run --project DarshanPlayer.csproj
Build Release
dotnet publish DarshanPlayer.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained -o publish
Create Installer
Requires Inno Setup 6 and Velopack CLI:
# Velopack package (for auto-update delta)
vpk pack --packId DarshanPlayer --packVersion 1.1.0 --packDir publish --mainExe DarshanPlayer.exe --outputDir Releases
# Inno Setup installer
& "C:\Program Files (x86)\Inno Setup 6\ISCC.exe" Installer.iss
Roadmap
Contributing
Contributions welcome — bug reports, translations, UI improvements, new features.
- Fork the repo
- Create feature branch:
git checkout -b feature/your-feature
- Commit:
git commit -m "Add your feature"
- Push:
git push origin feature/your-feature
- Open a Pull Request
Please check open issues before starting new work.
Support
If Darshan Player is useful to you:
- Star the repository
- Report bugs via Issues
- Share with others
Donate
Business / Custom Builds
Email: help@chapterchase.com
License
Distributed under the Unlicense — public domain, no restrictions.
See LICENSE for details.
Contact
Maintainer: Ujjwal Dadhich
Email: help@chapterchase.com
Repository: https://github.com/Ujjwal-08/DarshanPlayer