VLC
The VLC software distinguishes itself from other media players through its robust support of a wide range of video and audio formats. It is a good choice for playing movies from most DVDs or CDs, and it runs on Linux and other common operating systems. It is the third most popular software package downloaded from sourceforge.net.
The name of the software is sometimes hard to remember, as there are various similar abbreviations for commonly used programs, such as VNC, or CVS.
So it helps to know how the name is derived. VLC are the initials of "VideoLAN Client", where LAN stand for "Local Area Network". There used to be Server and Client components to play multi-media content over a local area network. Later most of the functionality has been consolidated in the client component, which was then renamed "VLC Media Player".
VLC comes with a comprehensive set of decoding and encoding libraries, also known as "codecs". VLC uses libraries from the FFmpeg software package, which is an open source project focused on providing a complete cross-platform solution for audio and video streaming, converting, and recording. In particular, the libavcodec library is used to handle most common video and audio codecs and file formats, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, and ogg. As far as muxers (multiplexers), demuxers, and protocols are concerned, VLC developers have implemented custom solutions. FFmpeg is also a key ingredient in various open source video editors.
Using the libdvdcss DVD library, VLC was the first media player capable of decoding and playing encrypted DVDs on Linux.
The design of the VLC software is highly modular to accommodate the numerous different usages of the system. It can be used in GUI mode, where it offers a range of graphical user interfaces, display options, and skins to control the software, it can controlled through console commands, for example, to direct streaming services, or it can be incorporated into other software. The modular design makes it easy to add new user interfaces as well as new modules for new codecs or file formats.
Supported video formats include DV, MJPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, RealVideo, Cinepak, VC-1, VP5, VP6, VP8, Dirac, H.263, HuffYUV, Indeo 3, Sorenson, WMV, and Theora.
Supported audio formats include DV Audio, XM, MP3, RealAudio, Vorbis, WMA, WavPack, AAC, ALAC, QDM2/QDMC, Screamtracker, AMR, FLAC, MACE, and DTS.
Aided by the modular design of the software, VLC can be incorporated into newly developed software through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to many common programming languages. The core of the system, libVLC, can be accessed through C, C++, and C# APIs. The JavaScript API helps for example with ActiveX and Firefox integration. The Java API makes VLC accessible from the most commonly used programming language. Delphia, Pascal, C#, Objective-C interfaces are available as well.
Alternatives of VLC on Linux include the video players Mplayer and XINE, which plays CDs, DVDs, VCDs, as well as AVI, WMV, MP3, and MOV formats.
VLC was originally developed by École Centrale Paris students. It was rewritten from scratch in 1998 and continuously developed until the official release of version 1.0.0 in July of 2009. The release of version 2.0.0 was announced on February 18, 2012.
The VLC Media Player is available under the GNU General Public License and can be downloaded from the project web site.
If you are not only interested in playing videos but also in creating videos and live performances, there is software specifically designed such applications, called VJ tools, although VLC can provide some of these functions as well.
The name of the software is sometimes hard to remember, as there are various similar abbreviations for commonly used programs, such as VNC, or CVS.
So it helps to know how the name is derived. VLC are the initials of "VideoLAN Client", where LAN stand for "Local Area Network". There used to be Server and Client components to play multi-media content over a local area network. Later most of the functionality has been consolidated in the client component, which was then renamed "VLC Media Player".
VLC comes with a comprehensive set of decoding and encoding libraries, also known as "codecs". VLC uses libraries from the FFmpeg software package, which is an open source project focused on providing a complete cross-platform solution for audio and video streaming, converting, and recording. In particular, the libavcodec library is used to handle most common video and audio codecs and file formats, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, and ogg. As far as muxers (multiplexers), demuxers, and protocols are concerned, VLC developers have implemented custom solutions. FFmpeg is also a key ingredient in various open source video editors.
Using the libdvdcss DVD library, VLC was the first media player capable of decoding and playing encrypted DVDs on Linux.
The design of the VLC software is highly modular to accommodate the numerous different usages of the system. It can be used in GUI mode, where it offers a range of graphical user interfaces, display options, and skins to control the software, it can controlled through console commands, for example, to direct streaming services, or it can be incorporated into other software. The modular design makes it easy to add new user interfaces as well as new modules for new codecs or file formats.
Supported video formats include DV, MJPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, RealVideo, Cinepak, VC-1, VP5, VP6, VP8, Dirac, H.263, HuffYUV, Indeo 3, Sorenson, WMV, and Theora.
Supported audio formats include DV Audio, XM, MP3, RealAudio, Vorbis, WMA, WavPack, AAC, ALAC, QDM2/QDMC, Screamtracker, AMR, FLAC, MACE, and DTS.
Aided by the modular design of the software, VLC can be incorporated into newly developed software through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to many common programming languages. The core of the system, libVLC, can be accessed through C, C++, and C# APIs. The JavaScript API helps for example with ActiveX and Firefox integration. The Java API makes VLC accessible from the most commonly used programming language. Delphia, Pascal, C#, Objective-C interfaces are available as well.
Alternatives of VLC on Linux include the video players Mplayer and XINE, which plays CDs, DVDs, VCDs, as well as AVI, WMV, MP3, and MOV formats.
VLC was originally developed by École Centrale Paris students. It was rewritten from scratch in 1998 and continuously developed until the official release of version 1.0.0 in July of 2009. The release of version 2.0.0 was announced on February 18, 2012.
The VLC Media Player is available under the GNU General Public License and can be downloaded from the project web site.
If you are not only interested in playing videos but also in creating videos and live performances, there is software specifically designed such applications, called VJ tools, although VLC can provide some of these functions as well.