VLC media player

Encyclopedia : V : VL : VLC : VLC media player

VLC media player (initially VideoLAN Client) is a media player from the VideoLAN project. It supports many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, VCDs and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. It employs the libavcodec codec library from the FFmpeg project to handle many of the formats it supports, and uses the libdvdcss DVD decryption library to handle playback of encrypted DVDs. VLC also has the ability to convert many formats of media from one type to another.

It is one of the most platform-independent players available, with versions for Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, BSD, Pocket PC, and Solaris.

On Windows, Linux, and some other platforms, VLC provides a Mozilla/Firefox plugin, which lets people view some QuickTime and Windows Media files embedded in websites without using Microsoft or Apple products.

Starting with version 0.8.2, VLC also provides an ActiveX plugin, which lets people view some QuickTime and Windows Media files embedded in websites when browsing with Internet Explorer.

VLC is also known for its unusual ability to play video files from compressed WinRAR archives saving the need to unpack (extract) the files from the rars. Also, it has the ability to let the user view the video content of incomplete, unfinished video downloads before they've been fully downloaded to the hard drive.

Notably, the codec pack built into VLC is so comprehensive that in cases, such as OGG Vorbis, DVD Video and DivX playback, it is the only application that can play the video and audio files "out of the box", without downloading a codec pack, something that makes it unique. In some cases, even, it is the only player with native support on a system.

See also

1. redirect

• List of media players
• Comparison of media players

External links

• [Official Website]
• *[Portable VLC Media Player] (for Mac OS X)
• *[Portable VLC Media Player] (for Windows)
• [List of supported features]
• [The origins of the strange cone logo]
• [#videolan] (IRC channel)

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