- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000
- Date added: October 31, 2009
- Total Downloads: 17,768,911
- Downloads last week: 174,636
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 1891 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on July 09, 2009
VLC Media Player is a long-time open-source favorite, and the latest version is also the first to be out of beta development. It's not the only option for free video playback, but it's one of the best, and the feature updates in version 1 make it well worth the upgrade.
Users can now get frame-by-frame advancement, granular speed controls allowing for on-the-fly slower or faster playback, and live recording of streaming video. The toolbars are fully customizable, so you can have only the buttons you need in the interface, there's AirTunes streaming, and there's better integration in Gtk environments. Along with the improvements, VLC continues to offer robust support for a wide range of video and audio formats, including OGG, MP2, MP3, MP4, DivX, HD codecs like AES3, Raw Dirac, and even support for playing back zipped files. The default interface is still a stripped down player that belies VLC's functionality and features. Skinning can fix that quickly, but behavior can still be a bit unpredictable depending on the quality of the skin. VLC's open-source foundation and community ensures that it evolves quickly and often, with new features and fixes released frequently. Overall, VLC Media Player is a must-have application for its ability to open just about any type of video file you throw at it. Watch the CNET video review of VLC Media Player:
Publisher's description
From VideoLAN Project :VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, MP3, and OGG, as well as for DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It also can be used as a server for unicast or multicast streams in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.
What's new in this version:
Version 1.0.3 includes new deinterlacers modules based on yadif and yadif(x2) algorithms and fixes downmixing of particual 4.0 AC-3 audio tracks.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 4.2 stars out of 1891 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 49 user reviewsSee all 49 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
Version: VLC Media Player 1.0.3
Pros: Plays any format I have.
Cons: I prefer the controls and options of GOM. It also will play any format and the controls are superior to the ones VLC offers. Just my opinion and preferences.
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Version: VLC Media Player 1.0.3
"Good player that will play just about anything"
Pros: Wil lay any video format, including .mov, .rm, .flv etc.
Cons: No fast forward button, unlike older versions
Summary: I've been using VLC for several years. It is far better than any other media player that I've come across.
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Version: VLC Media Player 1.0.3
Pros: I love that this software can play dvd's. It also maximizes some video formats that can only play at a small scale.
Cons: Aesthetics
Summary: I love it because you do not have to pay for an expensive dvd software to play dvd's it's free!
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Version: VLC Media Player 1.0.3
Pros: Can play videos other players can not play because of missing codecs or corruption issues.
Cons: something new to get familiar with as opposed to Windows Media Player
Summary: Such a versatile player that I've made it my default for most video file formats.
(at least for now) -
Version: VLC Media Player 1.0.3
"If I could marry a piece of software I'd propose."
Pros: Brilliant and free. Can handle any file. Can fix broken files. Podcasts, Streaming and Shout. Defaults the appearance of your environment, gives options on interface and skinnable. Handsome and handy, consider me monogamous, I've no reason to stray.
Cons: It's crashed a few times using the Shoutcast feature when loading. It would be nice if it did that less but I think I can live with that.
Summary: VLC will spoil you. Grab it. NOW.
Loads immediately. Can play (and fix) any file. Can handle Pod, SAP, Shout and Streaming. Snapshots. Audio capture. And that's just off the top of my head. Been using it for two years now. Happy as a c... read more >> - See all 49 user reviews Write review
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