My Experience with Screenbox: Feedback and Suggestions

[Ekmekov]

Screenbox Feels Like the Media Player Windows 11 Deserves

Hello,

For a long time, I have been searching for a worthy replacement for the Windows 11 Media Player.

My goal was not simply to find another media player. I wanted something that could handle both audio and video files well, integrate naturally into the Windows ecosystem, and genuinely feel like part of Windows 11.

Many media players offer excellent functionality, but visually they often feel disconnected from the operating system. Some look outdated, while others feel like standalone tools rather than applications designed to live inside the Windows experience.

Screenbox is the first player I have found that truly feels at home in Windows 11.

What impressed me most is that Screenbox feels designed by someone who actually uses media players every day. It manages to stay modern, clean and visually integrated with Windows while still offering practical features that many applications overlook.

I especially like:

• The modern Fluent-style interface
• The music experience and immersive audio view
• Playlist management
• IPTV playlist support
• Volume Boost
• Gesture controls
• The overall balance between simplicity and functionality

The application honestly feels like something Microsoft itself could have shipped as the next generation Media Player.

After spending some time with it, I would like to share a few suggestions.

Seek Gestures

The horizontal swipe-to-seek feature is powerful, but on desktop it sometimes feels a little too sensitive. Small mouse movements can result in relatively large seek jumps.

Possible alternatives inspired by modern video platforms:

• Optional double-click on the left side = rewind 5 seconds
• Optional double-click on the right side = forward 5 seconds
• The center area could preserve the current behavior: single-click for play/pause and double-click for fullscreen, while the left and right areas could be used for quick seeking (e.g. 5-second rewind/forward actions, similar to YouTube's double-click seeking behavior)
• Configurable seek interval (5s, 10s, 30s, etc.)

This may feel more precise and predictable for desktop users than drag-based seeking.

Persistent Aspect Ratio

It would be very useful to have a default aspect ratio option.

For example:

• Remember last used aspect ratio
• Always use selected aspect ratio
• Global default aspect ratio

Currently users may need to adjust the aspect ratio repeatedly when watching certain video collections.

Application Icon

The application itself feels modern and polished, but in my opinion the current icon does not fully reflect the quality of the product.

A more modern Fluent-style icon could better match the Windows design language and better represent the excellent user experience that the application already provides.

One possible direction could be:

• A simplified Fluent-style icon
• Rounded Windows 11 design language
• A clean play symbol integrated into a screen or media shape
• Fewer legacy-style visual elements
• Better visual consistency with modern Windows applications

Thank you for creating such a great application and for making it available for free and open source.

Screenbox is one of the very few media players that genuinely feels designed with real users in mind.

Best regards

[United600]

The horizontal swipe-to-seek feature is powerful, but on desktop it sometimes feels a little too sensitive. Small mouse movements can result in relatively large seek jumps.

In version 0.19.0, we improved both the slide and mouse wheel seek gestures, are they still too sensitive for you? That version also introduced the "swipe" gesture option, which might suit your needs, just disable "Slide horizontally to seek" to enable it.

Optional double-click on the left side = rewind 5 seconds
Optional double-click on the right side = forward 5 seconds
The center area could preserve the current behavior: single-click for play/pause and double-click for fullscreen, while the left and right areas could be used for quick seeking (e.g. 5-second rewind/forward actions, similar to YouTube's double-click seeking behavior)

I briefly experimented with "zones" for the gestures, but it didn't end up being the right solution. We can always revisit it later if there's enough interest.

Configurable seek interval (5s, 10s, 30s, etc.)

Implemented here, and coming in the next update.

It would be very useful to have a default aspect ratio option.

I'm not against it, but without someone else driving it, it'll remain on the backlog. Perhaps adding a shortcut to toggle between a set of aspect ratios would be simpler to add.

The application itself feels modern and polished, but in my opinion the current icon does not fully reflect the quality of the product.

Yeah, it's on the backlog. We updated the original icon based on early feedback, but I was never a fan of the current color scheme or, to a lesser extent, the layout. It still feels unfinished and lacks "detail", but it's been hard to find the time, and motivation, to polish it.

A more modern Fluent-style icon could better match the Windows design language and better represent the excellent user experience that the application already provides.

I'd say it is Fluent, but needs polish since it's missing shadows and gradients.

Thank you for creating such a great application and for making it available for free and open source.

Thanks for your kind words and feedback.