VLC Media Player 0.8.6f

Quick specs
Price: Free
Operating system: Windows Vista, Windows 95, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98
Date added: April 03, 2008
Total Downloads: 14,309,965
Downloads last week: 99,780
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A newer version of VLC Media Player is available.

Download the latest version | Learn more about VLC Media Player 1.0.3

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CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars
Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 1912 votes
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CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: CNET Staff

When it comes to video files, nothing is ever as easy as it should be. Thankfully, VLC Media Player offers a one-stop solution for the file-format problem. The program supports playback of OGG, MP2, MP3, MP4, DivX, DVD, and a whole slew of other file types. In addition, it also can function as a streaming media server. Because of its open-source foundation, VLC Media Player evolves quickly, with new features and fixes released frequently.

Though the interface varies from platform to platform, the sparseness of the Windows version leaves plenty to be desired. The skinned mode perks things up slightly, but the program seems to suffer from unpredictable behavior when skinned. Also, the basic task of opening a file is far more confusing than it should be; the program gives you several options, including the head-scratching Quick Open File. Overall, though, VLC Media Player is a must-have application for its ability to open just about any type of video file you throw at it.

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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. The most prominent additions to version 0.8.6 are probably Windows Media Video 9 and Flash Video. Other important changes are improved H.264 decoding, better Windows Unicode support, and a full-screen.

Version 0.8.6f may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.

What's new in this version:

Version 0.8.6f may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.

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User reviews of VLC Media Player 0.8.6f

Average user rating: 4.2 stars out of 1912 votes
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4 stars

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful

Version: VLC Media Player 0.8.6f

"Seems to deal with any audio/videol file I try it with just fine."

by UKposter on April 10, 2008

Pros: Plays all the file types that I've tried it with fine, pretty easy program to learn to use, a reasonable set of preferences to play with, in summary this is a good all round player, not one that's too flash with no substance, but who needs that when it's the content that you want to see/hear at the best possible quality, both sound and vision come over well using VLC Player.

Cons: One problem I have encountered, not a major one though, is that I can't use the slider to forward .flv files, I seem to be able to do that with all other audio and video file types that I've tried to do this with, but that's just a minor 'con'.

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5 stars

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful

Version: VLC Media Player 0.8.6f

"What more can you want, good at all."

by tucifurlan on April 12, 2008

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5 stars

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful

Version: VLC Media Player 0.8.6f

"PERFECT"

by corkuba on May 23, 2008

Pros: does not do alot but it plays everything. never freezes or slows your computer

Cons: NO CONS

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4 stars

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful

Version: VLC Media Player 0.8.6f

"It works very well"

by shipinn27 on May 15, 2008

Pros: Ease of use

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4 stars

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

Version: VLC Media Player 0.8.6f

"Everything you could want"

by treborrellim3 on April 22, 2008

Pros: The clarity is awesome and the audio is superb.

Cons: Once the video has be enlarged the clarity loses a little but for a freebie it is the best

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