Three routes: the browser (no install), VLC (anaglyph only), or a real stereo player. Which one works depends on your output device, not on the file.
Nothing to install: drop the file on the browser player and pick the layout — it splits the eyes and plays. Works the same on Windows and macOS.
A side-by-side file holds both eyes in one frame. To see depth, something has to split the frame into two views and deliver each view to one eye. On a normal monitor that means either anaglyph glasses, a passive/active 3D display, or a headset. Which tool you need depends entirely on the output device — not on the file.
Open the browser player, drop the file, choose Half SBS or Full SBS. It splits the eyes and renders them side by side, wiggle, or red/cyan. On a laptop screen the red/cyan and wiggle modes need no extra hardware; if you are sending it to a headset or glasses, this is also the shortest path.
Stock VLC does not have a real stereoscopic output: it can show the SBS frame as one wide picture, or convert it to red/cyan anaglyph. The anaglyph route is the official one:
If you need true dual-eye output (each eye gets its own image, for a 3D TV, projector or VR headset), VLC is the wrong tool — see the next option.
Bino 3D is the long-standing free player for Windows, macOS and Linux that actually does stereo output: set the input to left/right, half width (for half-SBS) or left/right, full width (full-SBS), then choose the output that matches your hardware — anaglyph, interleaved, side-by-side to a 3D display, or a VR headset.
Some other desktop players expose stereo options too, but menu names and supported outputs differ per build and per version; check the player's own documentation rather than trusting a tutorial written for an older release.
Half-SBS and Full-SBS are different inputs, not different quality settings. Feed a Half-SBS file to a player told it is Full-SBS and you get fat, stretched faces; feed Full-SBS as Half and it looks squeezed thin. Pick the one that matches how the file was written — the width tells you: 3840×1080 is Full-SBS, 1920×1080 with two squeezed halves is Half-SBS.