Did you ever experience the situation where you have attempted to play an audio or video file on your computer and the format is not recognized and it will simply not play? As a result you become frustrated and start expending time, downloading plugins, codecs, etc. that often causes more harm than good.
The fix for this is VideoLan (aka: VLC). VideoLan is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework, that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols. To get a rundown of what formats VLC will play [click here] .
The “cool factor” to VLC is that you can also download a portable version to carry with you on your flash drive or as a quick fix in the event your regular media player will not play the file. I have been using VLC now for several years; and, as a result Windows Media Player has become a thing of the past. It is not as glamorous as Media Player, but, who needs glamour. You can, however, download skins [ HERE ] if you want to change the default appearance of VLC to something more glamorous…
post to jaanix
Rick,
Great write up on a top drawer program. And it’s portable too!
TechPaul,
I agree with VLC being top drawer. It is my “go to” program for my multi-media files.
Rick
Good one, but not automatic choice as for me. It is somewhat sluggish and such. I mostly keep VLC for rare files where Media Player Classic can’t see additional audio streams.
By the way that ZIP distribution is more accurately “works without installation” rather than completely portable. It will leave stuff in user profile folder. PortableApps offer VLC packaged with their wrapper which should be better with such leftovers.
I didn’t know that VLC was called VideoLan.
It is for all these reasons one of my favorite media player. I use it in both my Windows and Linux platform.
Nice article, thanks!