videolan/vlc

Free

VLC media player - All pull requests are ignored, please use MRs on https://code.videolan.org/videolan/vlc

FreeFree tier

Inputs: video, audioOutputs: video, audio

Type

Open Source

Founded

2001

Company

VideoLAN

Visit Website GitHub (38 stars)

About videolan/vlc

VLC is a libre and open source media player and multimedia engine developed by the VideoLAN project, started at École Centrale Paris and relicensed under GPLv2 in February 2001. It is designed to play almost any multimedia file, disc, stream, or device, and can also convert, encode, stream, and manipulate streams into numerous formats. VLC runs on a wide range of platforms including Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux, BSD, Android (including Android TV and Android Auto), iOS (including AppleTV and iPadOS), Haiku, and OS/2. The underlying engine, libVLC, can be embedded into third-party applications. VLC is community-maintained with no paid developers and has been downloaded billions of times.

Key Features

Plays virtually all multimedia files, discs, streams, and devices

Converts, encodes, streams, and manipulates media into numerous formats

libVLC embeddable engine for third-party applications

Cross-platform support: Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, Android, iOS, and more

Completely free and open source under GPLv2+ (LGPLv2+ for libVLC)

Community-driven with billions of downloads worldwide

Pros & Cons

Pros

Free and open source with no ads or spyware
Supports an extremely wide range of file formats and codecs
Cross-platform availability on almost every major operating system
Lightweight and fast performance
Embeddable engine for developers (libVLC)

Cons

Not all platforms receive equal maintenance due to limited community resources
User interface can feel dated compared to modern media players

Best For

Playing any media file or disc on any deviceConverting and encoding media between formatsStreaming media over networks or to devicesEmbedding media playback capabilities into other applications via libVLC

FAQ

What is VLC?

VLC is a libre and open source media player and multimedia engine that can play most multimedia files, discs, streams, and devices, as well as convert and stream media.

Is VLC free to use?

Yes, VLC is completely free. It is released under the GPLv2 (or later) license for the player and LGPLv2 (or later) for the libVLC engine.

What platforms does VLC support?

VLC supports Windows (7+), macOS (10.10+), GNU/Linux, BSD, Android (4.2+ including Android TV and Android Auto), iOS (9+ including AppleTV and iPadOS), Haiku, OS/2, and others.

How can I contribute to VLC?

Contributions are made via Merge Requests on the VideoLAN GitLab repository. Help is needed in coding, packaging, documentation, design, support, and community management.