- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 95, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98
- Date added: February 01, 2006
- Total Downloads: 12,746,644
- Downloads last week: 124,766
- See full specifications
A newer version of VLC Media Player is available.
(Download doesn't provide access to previous versions of this program.)
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 1911 votes
See all user reviews
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. 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.
Version 0.8.4a is a bugfix release.
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User reviews of VLC Media Player 0.8.4a
- Average user rating: 4.2 stars out of 1911 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 56 user reviewsSee all 56 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
43 out of 58 people found this review helpful
Version: VLC Media Player 0.8.4a
"Best media player outside of Windows Media Player. Forget Media Player Classic."
Pros: Its free.
Its robust...it will play any video file you feed it.
It comes with a good number of codecs along with the program so you don't have to install those specific ones manually.
It has an uncommon icon (an orange road caution cone)...so you will never have trouble spotting the shortcut in a crowd of shortcuts on your desktop for example.
Cons: On one of my machines it has issues holding a video to the proper aspect ratio. For some reason the video plays, but if I move the VLC window one pixel, the video image stretches the width of my screen. Not sure why.
The scroll bar is fair at best. Unlike the Windows Media Player scroll bar which lets you start and stop at any individual second in the video, VLC's scroll bar doesn't seem to be that precise. It will jump five seconds or so, instead of just one.
The audio controller is fair at best.
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0 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Version: VLC Media Player 0.8.4a
"Great player, but confusing with options"
Pros: This media player plays every video type ever known. It plays them fast and doesn't skip any frames as Windows Media Player does at times.
It also has many features to look for. A screenshot features with a background feature and many more.
Has a small download, easy instal, definitely recommended for a try
Cons: Although it had a few features to it, they were confusing. For instance the screenshot command, I had no clue where to get that screenshot once I took it.
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5 out of 12 people found this review helpful
Version: VLC Media Player 0.8.4a
"An ESSENTIAL Player.....Plays anything for FREE with LOW system resources...."
Pros: An Excellent Player, Plays almost any TYPE of AUDIO/VIDEO file type.
+ Plays "Real Media" files with almost ZERO CPU usage & LOW Memory Usage, Which is Recommandable for any Application.
+ Plays .asx, .mov "Quick Time" type & all the other popular extensions.
+ A Must Software for any computer.
Cons: Bugs in "VLC Media Player 0.8.2a" seems to been fixed.
-Interface is Simple and NEEDS Lots of Imporovements, However there is NO FLAW with FUNCTIONALITY.....Highly Recommandadle PLAYER.
Other Considerations could be WinAmp, Quintessential 4.51, Jet Audio,....
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2 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Version: VLC Media Player 0.8.4a
"simple and amazing!~AND FREE"
Pros: very fast load time--after pc has booted, you can be watching a video file in 10 seconds, i can't do that with my ATI all-in-wonder software
Cons: none
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2 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Version: VLC Media Player 0.8.4a
"A must to play back your video"
Pros: A very nice UI, free, open source app that plays back almost every file type, and since VLC relies on the codecs that are included in the installation, there is no need to download a new codec pack to play back your video files. A must need app to play back your video files.
- See all 56 user reviews Write review
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