VLC Media Player is the most popular & robust multi format, free media player available. The open source media player was publically released in 2001 by nonprofit organization VideoLAN Project. VLC Media Player quickly became very popular thanks to its versatile multi-format playback capabilities. It was aided by compatibility & codec issues which rendered competitor media players like QuickTime, Windows & Actual Media Player useless to plenty of popular video & music file formats. The simple, basic UI & giant array of customization options have enforced VLC Media Player�s position at the top of the free media players.
Simple to Use
VLC plays any video or music file format you can find. At its launch this was a revolution compared to the default media players most people were using that often crashed or displayed �codecs missing� error messages when trying to play media files. VLC can play MPEG, AVI, RMBV, FLV, QuickTime, WMV, MP4 as well as a shed load of other media file formats. For a full list of compatible file formats click here. Not only can VLC Media Player handle lots of different formats, VLC can also playback partial or incomplete media files so you can preview downloads before they finish.
Advanced Options
VLC�s UI is definitely a case of function over beauty. The basic look does however make the player simple to make use of. Basically drag & drop files to play or open them using files & folders then use the classic media navigation buttons to play, pause, cease, skip, edit playback speed, change the volume, brightness, etc. A giant variety of skins & customization options mean the standard appearance shouldn�t be to prevent you choosing VLC as your default media player.
Don�t let VLC Media Player�s simple interface fool you, within the playback, audio, video, tools & view tabs are a giant variety of player options. You can play with synchronization settings including a graphic equalizer with multiple pre-sets, overlays, special effects, AtmoLight video effects, audio spatializer & customizable range compression settings. You may even add subtitles to videos by adding the SRT file to the video�s folder.
Summary
VLC Media Player is basically the most versatile, stable & high quality free media player available. It's rightly dominated the free media player market for over ten years now & looks like it may for another ten years thanks to the constant development & improvement by VideoLAN Org.Download
