VLC For All of Your Media Playback Needs
Written by Alan Tuesday, 31 August 2010 11:00
VLC is a free, open source media player that work with, not just Windows, but Mac OSX and many version of Linux, including some of the most popular such as Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Debian, and Red Hat.
If have a file that won’t play in Windows Media Player then get a copy of VLC instead of looking for some other player that works with certain file types – such as QuickTime. For a complete list of supported file types (which does vary from Windows to Mac to Linux) you can click here.
Once downloaded and installed, VLC is pretty straight-forward. If you have file that you want played, then the simplest thing to do is right-click the file, choose Open With and then choose VLC.
There is no real configuration necessary, but if you are the type who lickes to muck around with this sort of thing, then Tools => Preferences is for you.
You can skin it, set audio and video preferences, turn on sub-titles (if they are available in your file), and change the hot keys you use for such basics as Play, Pause, Stop, Fast Forward, and Rewind.
One particularly cool feature is located under View =>Customize Interface. This is something many apps should consider adding. There’s much to be said for letting users decide what they want to see and not see.
There are many plugins and extensions available as well.
All of these features are great, but they are really only for a few users, because all of the defaults that come with a fresh VLC install are perfect for the average user. This is the probably the best “replacement” for Windows Media Player. Even if you don’t make it your default media player, every Windows users should still have it installed for the occasional oddball file that we all come across from time to time.
Related posts:
- Easy Online Conversion of Media Files
- Rebuilding Windows Media Player Library
- Internet Streaming from Windows Media Player
- Zune Video Podcasts in Media Center
- 3 Free Alternatives To Media Center
