Introduction

Welcome to mediaplayerclassic.org (“we,” “us,” or “our”). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you visit our website dedicated to Media Player Classic — Home Cinema (MPC-HC), the free and open-source video player for Windows.

This policy applies to all pages, content, and services provided through mediaplayerclassic.org. By accessing or using our website, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with our data practices described here, please discontinue use of the website.

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Information We Collect

We collect limited information to operate the website, improve user experience, and display relevant advertising. The data we collect falls into three categories:

Information You Voluntarily Provide

We only collect personal information that you actively and voluntarily submit through our website:

• Contact Form Submissions: When you use our contact page, you may provide your name, email address, and message content. This information is used solely to respond to your inquiry.
• Comments or Feedback: If you leave comments on any page, the name, email, and content you provide are stored to display and manage that comment.

We do not require user account registration. There is no sign-up process, no login system, and no e-commerce functionality on this website. We do not collect payment information, social security numbers, government IDs, or any other sensitive personal identifiers.

Information Collected Automatically

When you visit mediaplayerclassic.org, certain technical data is collected automatically by our servers, analytics tools, and content delivery network:

• IP Address: Your Internet Protocol address, which may be anonymized by our analytics provider.
• Browser and Device Data: Browser type and version, operating system, device type (desktop, tablet, mobile), and screen resolution.
• Usage Data: Pages visited, time spent on each page, referring URL (the website that directed you here), and exit pages.
• Geographic Location: Approximate location derived from your IP address (country and region level only — not street-level precision).
• Connection Details: Internet service provider, connection speed category, and language preferences set in your browser.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies. Cookies are small text files placed on your device that help us analyze website traffic and personalize your experience. The cookies used on mediaplayerclassic.org include:

You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect site functionality and your browsing experience.

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How We Use Your Information

The information we collect is used for the following purposes:

• Respond to Inquiries: To reply to messages submitted through our contact form regarding MPC-HC download questions, site issues, or general feedback.
• Improve Website Content: To understand which MPC-HC-related pages and resources are most useful, so we can create better guides, FAQs, and download instructions.
• Analyze Traffic Patterns: To monitor how visitors find and navigate the site, which helps us optimize page structure, loading speed, and content placement.
• Display Advertisements: To serve contextually relevant ads through Google AdSense, which supports the ongoing operation and maintenance of this free resource.
• Ensure Security: To detect and prevent spam, malicious traffic, DDoS attacks, and other security threats through Cloudflare and WordPress security measures.
• Legal Compliance: To fulfill any legal obligations, respond to lawful requests, or protect our rights as permitted by applicable law.

We do not use your information to build personal profiles, make automated decisions about you, or sell your data to third parties.

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Third-Party Services

To operate mediaplayerclassic.org effectively, we rely on the following third-party services. Each operates under its own privacy policy, and we encourage you to review them:

Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand website traffic and user behavior. GA4 collects data such as page views, session duration, traffic sources, and approximate geographic location. GA4 uses first-party cookies and may process data on Google’s servers. IP anonymization is enabled by default in GA4.

For more details, see Google’s Privacy Policy. You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on.

Google AdSense

We display advertisements through Google AdSense to support the costs of running this website. AdSense may use cookies and web beacons to serve ads based on your prior visits to mediaplayerclassic.org and other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on browsing history.

You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings or the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.

Cloudflare CDN

Our website is served through Cloudflare’s content delivery network (CDN), which provides caching, performance optimization, and DDoS protection. Cloudflare may process your IP address, browser details, and request data to route traffic efficiently and block malicious requests. Cloudflare operates as a data processor on our behalf.

See Cloudflare’s Privacy Policy for details.

WordPress

This website runs on WordPress, which may set essential cookies for site functionality (session management, CSRF protection, and comment handling). WordPress itself does not collect personal data beyond what is needed for core operations. Plugins installed on the site may set additional cookies as described in this policy.

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Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, rent, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes. Your data may only be shared in the following limited circumstances:

• Service Providers: We share data with the third-party services listed above (Google Analytics, Google AdSense, Cloudflare) strictly for the purposes described in this policy. These providers act as data processors and are contractually obligated to handle your data responsibly.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, court order, subpoena, or other legal process, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.
• Business Transfers: In the unlikely event that mediaplayerclassic.org is acquired, merged, or transferred to another entity, user data associated with the website may be transferred as part of that transaction. You would be notified of any such change.

We do not share your contact form submissions with any third party. Messages sent through our contact page remain between you and the website operator.

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Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy:

• Contact Form Data: Retained for up to 12 months after your inquiry has been resolved, then permanently deleted.
• Analytics Data: Google Analytics 4 data retention is set to 14 months. After this period, user-level and event-level data is automatically deleted by Google.
• Server Logs: Web server access logs that may contain IP addresses are retained for up to 90 days for security monitoring, then purged.
• Cookies: Cookie lifespans vary by type. Essential cookies expire at the end of your browser session or within 24 hours. Analytics and advertising cookies may persist for up to 2 years unless you clear them manually.

If you request deletion of your personal data, we will remove it within 30 days of receiving a verifiable request, except where retention is required by law.

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Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location, you may have specific legal rights regarding your personal information. We are committed to respecting these rights regardless of where you live.

For European Visitors (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have the following rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• Right of Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Right to Erasure: Request deletion of your personal data (“right to be forgotten”).
• Right to Restrict Processing: Request that we limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to Data Portability: Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format and transfer it to another service.
• Right to Object: Object to the processing of your data for direct marketing or legitimate interest purposes.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on your consent (for example, cookie consent).

The legal bases for our data processing include: your consent (for cookies and analytics), our legitimate interests (for site security and improvement), and contractual necessity (for responding to contact form inquiries).

For California Residents (CCPA / CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

• Right to Know: Request information about the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you.
• Right to Delete: Request deletion of personal information we have collected from you.
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale: We do not sell your personal information. However, some advertising cookies may constitute a “sale” or “sharing” under CCPA definitions. You can opt out of personalized ads through your browser or the opt-out links provided in Section 4.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights.

How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise any of the rights described above, please contact us through our contact page. We will verify your identity and respond to your request within 30 days (or within the timeframe required by applicable law). There is no fee for making a request.

Managing Cookies

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to block or delete cookies, set preferences for certain websites, or browse in a private/incognito mode. Here are links to cookie management instructions for major browsers:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari

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Children’s Privacy

mediaplayerclassic.org is not directed at children under the age of 13 (or under 16 in the EEA). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided personal information through our contact form or other means, please contact us immediately, and we will take steps to delete that information within 48 hours.

The MPC-HC media player itself is a general-purpose software application. Our website provides download information and guides intended for a general adult audience.

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Security

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect the personal information collected through mediaplayerclassic.org. Our security practices include:

• SSL/TLS Encryption: All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted using HTTPS (TLS 1.2+), ensuring that your connection is secure.
• Cloudflare Protection: Our CDN provider (Cloudflare) offers enterprise-grade DDoS mitigation, Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules, and bot detection to prevent malicious traffic from reaching the server.
• Server Security: Our hosting infrastructure uses firewalls, regular software updates, and access controls to protect stored data.
• Minimal Data Collection: We follow the principle of data minimization — we only collect what is necessary to operate the website and respond to your inquiries.

While we strive to protect your information, no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, but we continuously review and improve our practices to maintain a high standard of data protection.

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International Data Transfers

mediaplayerclassic.org is hosted on servers managed by DigitalOcean, and our third-party service providers (Google, Cloudflare) operate globally. Your data may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in countries outside your own, including the United States and other jurisdictions where data protection laws may differ from those in your country of residence.

When your data is transferred internationally, we rely on the following safeguards:

• Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs): Our third-party providers (Google, Cloudflare) use EU-approved Standard Contractual Clauses to ensure adequate data protection for transfers from the EEA.
• Data Processing Agreements: We maintain data processing agreements with our service providers that require them to protect your data in accordance with applicable privacy laws.
• Adequacy Decisions: Where available, transfers are made to countries that the European Commission has recognized as providing adequate data protection.

By using mediaplayerclassic.org, you acknowledge and consent to the transfer of your data to these jurisdictions as described in this policy.

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Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our data practices, legal requirements, or the services we use. When we make changes:

• The “Effective Date” at the top of this page will be updated to reflect the date of the most recent revision.
• Material changes (such as new third-party services or significant changes in data collection) will be highlighted with a notice on the website for a reasonable period.
• Continued use of mediaplayerclassic.org after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your data. For reference, this MPC-HC download resource website has maintained a privacy policy since its launch, and all updates are made in good faith to improve transparency.

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Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, or if you wish to exercise any of your privacy rights described above, please reach out to us:

We aim to respond to all privacy-related inquiries within 30 days of receipt. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (for EEA/UK residents) or the appropriate regulatory body in your jurisdiction.