diff --git a/src/main/external-player.js b/src/main/external-player.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0f4648f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/external-player.js
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+module.exports = {
+  spawn,
+  kill,
+  checkInstall
+}
+
+var cp = require('child_process')
+var vlcCommand = require('vlc-command')
+
+var log = require('./log')
+var windows = require('./windows')
+
+// holds a ChildProcess while we're playing a video in an external player, null otherwise
+var proc
+
+function checkInstall (path, cb) {
+  // check for VLC if external player has not been specified by the user
+  // otherwise assume the player is installed
+  if (path == null) return vlcCommand((err) => cb(!err))
+  process.nextTick(() => cb(true))
+}
+
+function spawn (path, url, title) {
+  if (path != null) return spawnExternal(path, [url])
+
+  // Try to find and use VLC if external player is not specified
+  vlcCommand(function (err, vlcPath) {
+    if (err) return windows.main.dispatch('externalPlayerNotFound')
+    var args = ['--play-and-exit', '--video-on-top', '--no-video-title-show', '--quiet', `--meta-title=${title}`, url]
+    spawnExternal(vlcPath, args)
+  })
+}
+
+function kill () {
+  if (!proc) return
+  log('Killing external player, pid ' + proc.pid)
+  proc.kill('SIGKILL') // kill -9
+  proc = null
+}
+
+function spawnExternal (path, args) {
+  log('Running external media player:', path + ' ' + args.join(' '))
+
+  proc = cp.spawn(path, args)
+
+  // If it works, close the modal after a second
+  var closeModalTimeout = setTimeout(() =>
+    windows.main.dispatch('exitModal'), 1000)
+
+  proc.on('close', function (code) {
+    clearTimeout(closeModalTimeout)
+    if (!proc) return // Killed
+    log('External player exited with code ', code)
+    if (code === 0) {
+      windows.main.dispatch('backToList')
+    } else {
+      windows.main.dispatch('externalPlayerNotFound')
+    }
+    proc = null
+  })
+
+  proc.on('error', function (e) {
+    log('External player error', e)
+  })
+}
diff --git a/src/main/ipc.js b/src/main/ipc.js
index c5b5db87..ec6f4b1b 100644
--- a/src/main/ipc.js
+++ b/src/main/ipc.js
@@ -14,16 +14,13 @@ var menu = require('./menu')
 var powerSaveBlocker = require('./power-save-blocker')
 var shell = require('./shell')
 var shortcuts = require('./shortcuts')
-var vlc = require('./vlc')
+var externalPlayer = require('./external-player')
 var windows = require('./windows')
 var thumbar = require('./thumbar')
 
 // Messages from the main process, to be sent once the WebTorrent process starts
 var messageQueueMainToWebTorrent = []
 
-// holds a ChildProcess while we're playing a video in VLC, null otherwise
-var vlcProcess
-
 function init () {
   var ipc = electron.ipcMain
 
@@ -115,52 +112,17 @@ function init () {
   ipc.on('setAllowNav', (e, ...args) => menu.setAllowNav(...args))
 
   /**
-   * VLC
-   * TODO: Move most of this code to vlc.js
+   * External Media Player
    */
 
-  ipc.on('checkForVLC', function (e) {
-    vlc.checkForVLC(function (isInstalled) {
-      windows.main.send('checkForVLC', isInstalled)
+  ipc.on('checkForExternalPlayer', function (e, path) {
+    externalPlayer.checkInstall(path, function (isInstalled) {
+      windows.main.send('checkForExternalPlayer', isInstalled)
     })
   })
 
-  ipc.on('vlcPlay', function (e, url, title) {
-    var args = ['--play-and-exit', '--video-on-top', '--no-video-title-show', '--quiet', `--meta-title=${title}`, url]
-    log('Running vlc ' + args.join(' '))
-
-    vlc.spawn(args, function (err, proc) {
-      if (err) return windows.main.dispatch('vlcNotFound')
-      vlcProcess = proc
-
-      // If it works, close the modal after a second
-      var closeModalTimeout = setTimeout(() =>
-        windows.main.dispatch('exitModal'), 1000)
-
-      vlcProcess.on('close', function (code) {
-        clearTimeout(closeModalTimeout)
-        if (!vlcProcess) return // Killed
-        log('VLC exited with code ', code)
-        if (code === 0) {
-          windows.main.dispatch('backToList')
-        } else {
-          windows.main.dispatch('vlcNotFound')
-        }
-        vlcProcess = null
-      })
-
-      vlcProcess.on('error', function (e) {
-        log('VLC error', e)
-      })
-    })
-  })
-
-  ipc.on('vlcQuit', function () {
-    if (!vlcProcess) return
-    log('Killing VLC, pid ' + vlcProcess.pid)
-    vlcProcess.kill('SIGKILL') // kill -9
-    vlcProcess = null
-  })
+  ipc.on('openExternalPlayer', (e, ...args) => externalPlayer.spawn(...args))
+  ipc.on('quitExternalPlayer', () => externalPlayer.kill())
 
   // Capture all events
   var oldEmit = ipc.emit
diff --git a/src/main/vlc.js b/src/main/vlc.js
deleted file mode 100644
index b2ff659b..00000000
--- a/src/main/vlc.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-module.exports = {
-  checkForVLC,
-  spawn
-}
-
-var cp = require('child_process')
-var vlcCommand = require('vlc-command')
-
-// Finds if VLC is installed on Mac, Windows, or Linux.
-// Calls back with true or false: whether VLC was detected
-function checkForVLC (cb) {
-  vlcCommand((err) => cb(!err))
-}
-
-// Spawns VLC with child_process.spawn() to return a ChildProcess object
-// Calls back with (err, childProcess)
-function spawn (args, cb) {
-  vlcCommand(function (err, vlcPath) {
-    if (err) return cb(err)
-    cb(null, cp.spawn(vlcPath, args))
-  })
-}
diff --git a/src/renderer/controllers/media-controller.js b/src/renderer/controllers/media-controller.js
index 1de07781..a3821683 100644
--- a/src/renderer/controllers/media-controller.js
+++ b/src/renderer/controllers/media-controller.js
@@ -22,12 +22,12 @@ module.exports = class MediaController {
     if (state.location.url() === 'player') {
       state.playing.result = 'error'
       state.playing.location = 'error'
-      ipcRenderer.send('checkForVLC')
-      ipcRenderer.once('checkForVLC', function (e, isInstalled) {
+      ipcRenderer.send('checkForExternalPlayer', state.saved.prefs.externalPlayerPath)
+      ipcRenderer.once('checkForExternalPlayer', function (e, isInstalled) {
         state.modal = {
           id: 'unsupported-media-modal',
           error: error,
-          vlcInstalled: isInstalled
+          externalPlayerInstalled: isInstalled
         }
       })
     }
@@ -42,15 +42,16 @@ module.exports = class MediaController {
     this.state.playing.mouseStationarySince = new Date().getTime()
   }
 
-  vlcPlay () {
-    ipcRenderer.send('vlcPlay', this.state.server.localURL, this.state.window.title)
-    this.state.playing.location = 'vlc'
+  openExternalPlayer () {
+    var state = this.state
+    ipcRenderer.send('openExternalPlayer', state.saved.prefs.externalPlayerPath, state.server.localURL, state.window.title)
+    state.playing.location = 'external'
   }
 
-  vlcNotFound () {
+  externalPlayerNotFound () {
     var modal = this.state.modal
     if (modal && modal.id === 'unsupported-media-modal') {
-      modal.vlcNotFound = true
+      modal.externalPlayerNotFound = true
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/renderer/controllers/playback-controller.js b/src/renderer/controllers/playback-controller.js
index 397b0e12..f68115e9 100644
--- a/src/renderer/controllers/playback-controller.js
+++ b/src/renderer/controllers/playback-controller.js
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ const State = require('../lib/state')
 const ipcRenderer = electron.ipcRenderer
 
 // Controls playback of torrents and files within torrents
-// both local (<video>,<audio>,VLC) and remote (cast)
+// both local (<video>,<audio>,external player) and remote (cast)
 module.exports = class PlaybackController {
   constructor (state, config, update) {
     this.state = state
@@ -242,8 +242,8 @@ module.exports = class PlaybackController {
       }
 
       // play in VLC if set as default player (Preferences / Playback / Play in VLC)
-      if (this.state.saved.prefs.playInVlc) {
-        dispatch('vlcPlay')
+      if (this.state.saved.prefs.openExternalPlayer) {
+        dispatch('openExternalPlayer')
         this.update()
         cb()
         return
@@ -266,8 +266,8 @@ module.exports = class PlaybackController {
     if (isCasting(state)) {
       Cast.stop()
     }
-    if (state.playing.location === 'vlc') {
-      ipcRenderer.send('vlcQuit')
+    if (state.playing.location === 'external') {
+      ipcRenderer.send('quitExternalPlayer')
     }
 
     // Save volume (this session only, not in state.saved)
diff --git a/src/renderer/lib/migrations.js b/src/renderer/lib/migrations.js
index b284f4c6..3b9bd03b 100644
--- a/src/renderer/lib/migrations.js
+++ b/src/renderer/lib/migrations.js
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ function run (state) {
     migrate_0_11_0(state.saved)
   }
 
+  if (semver.lt(version, '0.12.0')) {
+    migrate_0_12_0(state.saved)
+  }
+
   // Config is now on the new version
   state.saved.version = config.APP_VERSION
 }
@@ -104,3 +108,10 @@ function migrate_0_11_0 (saved) {
     saved.prefs.isFileHandler = true
   }
 }
+
+function migrate_0_12_0 (saved) {
+  if (saved.prefs.openExternalPlayer == null && saved.prefs.playInVlc != null) {
+    saved.prefs.openExternalPlayer = saved.prefs.playInVlc
+  }
+  delete saved.prefs.playInVlc
+}
diff --git a/src/renderer/lib/state.js b/src/renderer/lib/state.js
index 04350337..da231086 100644
--- a/src/renderer/lib/state.js
+++ b/src/renderer/lib/state.js
@@ -100,7 +100,10 @@ function setupSavedState (cb) {
 
   var saved = {
     prefs: {
-      downloadPath: config.DEFAULT_DOWNLOAD_PATH
+      downloadPath: config.DEFAULT_DOWNLOAD_PATH,
+      isFileHandler: false,
+      openExternalPlayer: false,
+      externalPlayerPath: null
     },
     torrents: config.DEFAULT_TORRENTS.map(createTorrentObject),
     version: config.APP_VERSION /* make sure we can upgrade gracefully later */
diff --git a/src/renderer/main.js b/src/renderer/main.js
index 15fd2183..7482e06d 100644
--- a/src/renderer/main.js
+++ b/src/renderer/main.js
@@ -198,14 +198,14 @@ const dispatchHandlers = {
   'checkForSubtitles': () => controllers.subtitles.checkForSubtitles(),
   'addSubtitles': (files, autoSelect) => controllers.subtitles.addSubtitles(files, autoSelect),
 
-  // Local media: <video>, <audio>, VLC
+  // Local media: <video>, <audio>, external players
   'mediaStalled': () => controllers.media.mediaStalled(),
   'mediaError': (err) => controllers.media.mediaError(err),
   'mediaSuccess': () => controllers.media.mediaSuccess(),
   'mediaTimeUpdate': () => controllers.media.mediaTimeUpdate(),
   'mediaMouseMoved': () => controllers.media.mediaMouseMoved(),
-  'vlcPlay': () => controllers.media.vlcPlay(),
-  'vlcNotFound': () => controllers.media.vlcNotFound(),
+  'openExternalPlayer': () => controllers.media.openExternalPlayer(),
+  'externalPlayerNotFound': () => controllers.media.externalPlayerNotFound(),
 
   // Remote casting: Chromecast, Airplay, etc
   'toggleCastMenu': (deviceType) => lazyLoadCast().toggleMenu(deviceType),
diff --git a/src/renderer/views/player.js b/src/renderer/views/player.js
index 3b1ead5f..94ce3ac5 100644
--- a/src/renderer/views/player.js
+++ b/src/renderer/views/player.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ const React = require('react')
 const Bitfield = require('bitfield')
 const prettyBytes = require('prettier-bytes')
 const zeroFill = require('zero-fill')
+const path = require('path')
 
 const TorrentSummary = require('../lib/torrent-summary')
 const {dispatch, dispatcher} = require('../lib/dispatcher')
@@ -281,9 +282,12 @@ function renderCastScreen (state) {
     castIcon = 'tv'
     castType = 'DLNA'
     isCast = true
-  } else if (state.playing.location === 'vlc') {
+  } else if (state.playing.location === 'external') {
+    // TODO: get the player name in a more reliable way
+    var playerPath = state.saved.prefs.externalPlayerPath
+    var playerName = playerPath ? path.basename(playerPath).split('.')[0] : 'VLC'
     castIcon = 'tv'
-    castType = 'VLC'
+    castType = playerName
     isCast = false
   } else if (state.playing.location === 'error') {
     castIcon = 'error_outline'
diff --git a/src/renderer/views/preferences.js b/src/renderer/views/preferences.js
index 594d803d..b309feb0 100644
--- a/src/renderer/views/preferences.js
+++ b/src/renderer/views/preferences.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 const React = require('react')
 const remote = require('electron').remote
 const dialog = remote.dialog
+const path = require('path')
 
 const {dispatch} = require('../lib/dispatcher')
 
@@ -34,24 +35,11 @@ function renderPlaybackSection (state) {
     description: '',
     icon: 'settings'
   }, [
-    renderPlayInVlcSelector(state)
+    renderOpenExternalPlayerSelector(state),
+    renderExternalPlayerSelector(state)
   ])
 }
 
-function renderPlayInVlcSelector (state) {
-  return renderCheckbox({
-    key: 'play-in-vlc',
-    label: 'Play in VLC',
-    description: 'Media will play in VLC',
-    property: 'playInVlc',
-    value: state.saved.prefs.playInVlc
-  },
-  state.unsaved.prefs.playInVlc,
-  function (value) {
-    dispatch('updatePreferences', 'playInVlc', value)
-  })
-}
-
 function renderDownloadPathSelector (state) {
   return renderFileSelector({
     key: 'download-path',
@@ -92,6 +80,41 @@ function renderFileHandlers (state) {
   }
 }
 
+function renderExternalPlayerSelector (state) {
+  return renderFileSelector({
+    label: 'External Media Player',
+    description: 'Progam that will be used to play media externally',
+    property: 'externalPlayerPath',
+    options: {
+      title: 'Select media player executable',
+      properties: [ 'openFile' ]
+    }
+  },
+  state.unsaved.prefs.externalPlayerPath || '<VLC>',
+  function (filePath) {
+    if (path.extname(filePath) === '.app') {
+      // Get executable in packaged mac app
+      var name = path.basename(filePath, '.app')
+      filePath += '/Contents/MacOS/' + name
+    }
+    dispatch('updatePreferences', 'externalPlayerPath', filePath)
+  })
+}
+
+function renderOpenExternalPlayerSelector (state) {
+  return renderCheckbox({
+    key: 'open-external-player',
+    label: 'Play in External Player',
+    description: 'Media will play in external player',
+    property: 'openExternalPlayer',
+    value: state.saved.prefs.openExternalPlayer
+  },
+  state.unsaved.prefs.openExternalPlayer,
+  function (value) {
+    dispatch('updatePreferences', 'openExternalPlayer', value)
+  })
+}
+
 // Renders a prefs section.
 // - definition should be {icon, title, description}
 // - controls should be an array of vdom elements
diff --git a/src/renderer/views/unsupported-media-modal.js b/src/renderer/views/unsupported-media-modal.js
index 52654c32..ad379b62 100644
--- a/src/renderer/views/unsupported-media-modal.js
+++ b/src/renderer/views/unsupported-media-modal.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 const React = require('react')
 const electron = require('electron')
+const path = require('path')
 
 const {dispatcher} = require('../lib/dispatcher')
 
@@ -10,11 +11,15 @@ module.exports = class UnsupportedMediaModal extends React.Component {
     var message = (err && err.getMessage)
       ? err.getMessage()
       : err
-    var actionButton = state.modal.vlcInstalled
-      ? (<button className='button-raised' onClick={dispatcher('vlcPlay')}>Play in VLC</button>)
+    var playerPath = state.saved.prefs.externalPlayerPath
+    var playerName = playerPath
+      ? path.basename(playerPath).split('.')[0]
+      : 'VLC'
+    var actionButton = state.modal.externalPlayerInstalled
+      ? (<button className='button-raised' onClick={dispatcher('openExternalPlayer')}>Play in {playerName}</button>)
       : (<button className='button-raised' onClick={() => this.onInstall}>Install VLC</button>)
-    var vlcMessage = state.modal.vlcNotFound
-      ? 'Couldn\'t run VLC. Please make sure it\'s installed.'
+    var playerMessage = state.modal.externalPlayerNotFound
+      ? 'Couldn\'t run external player. Please make sure it\'s installed.'
       : ''
     return (
       <div>
@@ -24,7 +29,7 @@ module.exports = class UnsupportedMediaModal extends React.Component {
           <button className='button-flat' onClick={dispatcher('backToList')}>Cancel</button>
           {actionButton}
         </p>
-        <p className='error-text'>{vlcMessage}</p>
+        <p className='error-text'>{playerMessage}</p>
       </div>
     )
   }
@@ -34,6 +39,6 @@ module.exports = class UnsupportedMediaModal extends React.Component {
 
     // TODO: dcposch send a dispatch rather than modifying state directly
     var state = this.props.state
-    state.modal.vlcInstalled = true // Assume they'll install it successfully
+    state.modal.externalPlayerInstalled = true // Assume they'll install it successfully
   }
 }