Manage updates with the Download AppCNET Editors' note: The VLC Media Player source code is also available.
CNET Editors' review
VLC Media Player is a longtime open-source favorite, and the latest version offers fixes and feature enhancements for the Mac version that make it a must download. It's not the only option for free video playback, but it's one of the best, and it's often the go-to media player for Mac users who can't seem to play a specific media file.
VLC Media player offers a number of tools and customization options to manage and watch video. Users 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.
This version comes with improvements to the interface, support for MxPEG files and streaming, and more. Along with minor tweaks, 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. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.
The default interface was improved in recent updates, but integrated skinning can make it even better. Behavior can still be a bit unpredictable depending on the quality of the skin, but 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, making it a great option for Mac users having trouble playing certain file types.
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:
- Fixes some regressions of the 2.0.x branch of VLC.
- support for Matroska v4 files.
- fixes for MKV, Ogg, AVI, WMV, HTTPS and subtitles support. Fixes FLAC 6.1/7.1, ALAC, and Intel HD 2000/3000 GPU decoding on Windows are also present.
- improves the Mac OS X, the D-Bus and MPRIS2 interfaces.
- new compiler for Windows version, done by the MinGW-w64 project.
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All versions:
4.2 starsout of 325 votes
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Current version:
0 stars Be the first to review this product -
My rating:
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"It plays everything"
Version: VLC Media Player 2.0.5
Pros
Very good playback quality.
Cons
Previous version was better.
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"Works better than QuickTime Player and RealPlayer."
Version: VLC Media Player 2.0.4
Pros
Works great. Easy to use.
Cons
Third party software. May have a conflict with Skype.
Summary
I keep Skype closed most of the time now especially when VLC is playing a video.
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"the best player"
Version: VLC Media Player 2.0.3
Pros
The best player I have
Cons
none from me
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"Got VLC to record streaming video - it failed"
Version: VLC Media Player 2.0.3
Pros
For me, none.
Cons
Trying to record streaming video. Followed the directions, such as they were, in help. All the stupid thing did was take an image of the screen, then that image took an image of the screen, then another and another ad infinitum, showing me frame within frame within frame vanishing to a dot - but nothing recorded.
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"Great player"
Version: VLC Media Player 2.0.3
Pros
Works without codecs
Cons
doesnt have playlists
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"It's free, but choppy on Mountain Lion"
Version: VLC Media Player 2.0.3
Pros
It free, it will play TS Video on my Mac Pro (mid-2010) where the OS X Mountain Lion included DVD Player and Quicktime will not.
Cons
The problem with VLC is that the video is choppy. Watching "Resident Evil, Afterlife" on a Windows Home Server, in the opening scenes, the camera zooms out from a location on a city street up into sky and beyond while rotating. The rotation is notably choppy. Thought this might be the hardware, so I tried different machines, an older G5 PPC and a tricked out Windows gaming rig, but it still displayed the choppiness. I was ready to chalk it up to a crappy rip, using low quality rip settings, until I downloaded xvmc. The video played perfect. It could be a setting in VLC that I need to investigate, but it should word on TS video right out of the box without a lot of configuration.
Summary
Very good app for playing a plethora of video and audio file types.
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"Completely useful"
Version: VLC Media Player 2.0.3
Pros
playing various videos
Cons
no, in my personal opinion.
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"Very powerful player"
Version: VLC Media Player 2.0.3
Pros
Universal player for all videos
Cons
The interface is a little bit not user friendly.
Summary
I use it every day and it works perfectly.
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"Works as advertised, excellent playback quality."
Version: VLC Media Player 2.0.3
Pros
See above, to avoid the horse's rear requirements of this rating programj
Cons
None noticed so far
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"Best open source video player out there. But..."
Version: VLC Media Player 2.0.3
Pros
Can't review because of the con.
Cons
Doesn't support cloning in Mac OS X.
Summary
Until it supports cloning, I can't really review it.
