A long-loved Mac player. A different idea of the picture.
Movist is an established Mac-only player that lets you choose between the QuickTime and FFmpeg decoders for each codec. Stoic makes those decisions for you and shows what it decided.
A long-standing Mac player with per-codec decoder choice, subtitle options and a loyal following, available on the Mac App Store.
Movist has been around for years and Stoic is new. If you like choosing decoders yourself, Movist gives you that control and Stoic deliberately does not.
Choose Movist if you want to pick decoders yourself. Choose Stoic for automatic, display-aware HDR and Dolby Vision with live diagnostics.
| Capability | Stoic Player | Movist |
|---|---|---|
| Decoder choice | Chosen automatically, with the decoder shown in the inspector | QuickTime or FFmpeg per codec, switchable on the fly |
| Dolby Vision | Profiles 5 and 8.x, reshaped frame by frame | Listed as supported |
| Display awareness | Headroom and refresh rate re-checked when they change | HDR tone mapping |
| Technical transparency | Live format, colour, scene peak, headroom and dropped-frame data | Standard playback information |
| Review tools | A–B loop, frame step, notes, clip export and HDR stills | General playback tools |
| Maturity | Version 1.0, released September 2026 | Many years of releases |
Want the Mac-first playback workflow?
One purchase, no subscription. Your licence works on up to three Apple silicon Macs running macOS 26 or later, with every Stoic update included.