10 Reasons why you should start using VLC media player

Introduction:

There are many media players out there. Some of the popular open source media players are VLC media player and MPlayer, MPC. The main reasons I love about VLC Player that its more than just a video player. It can convert, it can stream, it can record, it can rip CD’s DVDs and Blu Ray and much much more. It truly is the Swiss army knife for Video / Audio. And all of this for free!

10 Reasons why you should start using VLC media player

• It’s open source software. Which means you are free to use the player in any circumstance, it’s safe and you can modify the source. You can also port VLC Media Player and modify it and redistribute it, as long as you give the original developer your modifications back and give them the credit they deserve.
•  VLC supports a wide variety of audio and video codecs:
  For example the following Video Codecs:
  MPEG-1/2, DivX® (1/2/3/4/5/6), MPEG-4 ASP, XviD, 3ivX D4, H.261, H.263 / H.263i, H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC, Cinepak, Theora, Dirac / VC-2, MJPEG (A/B), WMV 1/2, WMV 3 / WMV-9 / VC-1, Sorenson 1/3, DV, On2 VP3/VP5/VP6, Indeo Video v3 (IV32), Real Video (1/2/3/4).
  And the following Audio Codecs:
  MPEG Layer 1/2, MP3 – MPEG Layer 3, AAC – MPEG-4 part3, Vorbis, AC3 – A/52, E-AC-3, MLP / TrueHD 3, DTS, WMA 1/2, WMA 3, FLAC, ALAC, Speex, Musepack / MPC, ATRAC 3, Wavpack, Mod, TrueAudio, APE, Real Audio, Alaw/µlaw, AMR (3GPP), MIDI, LPCM, ADPCM, QCELP, DV Audio, QDM2/QDMC, MACE.
  As of 2017 VLC media player supports all video formats.
• Another reason I love VLC media player is that you don’t need to download and install codec packs anymore that clutter your system and cause issues, like file version conflicts.
• It plays all video files and audio files flawlessly without looking for the right codecs or download a separate video player to play just that 1 file..
• The documentation is great, with tons of howto’s and has a great team of developers that are actively developing VLC media player. Also has many fan pages for example VLC Media Player Help, Guides and Tutorials. Together with a great community
•  It saves you from installing multiple tools like converters, file splitter, or streaming, ripping tools. It is an all-in-one tool, keeping your system clean from clutter.
• VLC media player has many hidden features, there is a powerful extensive add-on system that supports everything from skins to extensions
  

  To install extensions you can download the .lua files and place them in the C:\users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\vlc\lua\extensions folder. You might have to create the \lua\extensions folder. Click the following link to download add-ons / skins / extensions. http://addons.videolan.org/

  

• VLC can be controlled from the keyboard only, with an extensive amount of keyboard shortcuts.
  Here is the list of all the keyboard Shortcuts.

  File OperationsCTRL + O : Open a single  file
  CTRL + SHIFT + O : Open multiple files
  CTRL + F : Open folder
  CTRL + D : Open disk
  CTRL + N : Open network stream
  CTRL + C : Open capture device
  CTRL + V : Open location copied in the clipboard
  CTRL + R : Convert and save file
  CTRL + S : Stream your media locally or on the internet

  Program Operations

  CTRL + Q or ALT + F4 or ALT + Q : Quit
  CTRL + E : Open the adjustment and effects menu
  CTRL + SHIFT + W : VLM Configuration
  CTRL + M : Open the message screen
  CTRL + P : Open the preferences menu
  F1 : Help
  SHIFT + F1 : About

  Playing Operations

  SPACE : Play and Pause a file
  N : Next Track
  P : Previous Track
  F or F11 or Mouse Double Click : Full screen mode on and off
  CTRL + H : Switch minimal interface on and off
  T : Show current and remaining time information
  CTRL + T : Go to a specific time of a playing media
  P : Go and play from the start of a file
  S : Stop movie
  Esc : Full screen exit
  E : Switch to next frame
  L : Loop off, one or all
  R : Random on and off

  Subtitles

  G : Decrease subtitle delay
  H : Increase subtitle delay
  V : Cycle through subtitles

  Playing Speed

  [ : Decrease playing speed
  ] : Increase playing speed
  = : Normal playing speed

  Quick Forward and Backward

  SHIFT + RIGHT ARROW : 3 seconds forward
  SHIFT + LEFT ARROW : 3 seconds backward
  ALT + RIGHT ARROW : 10 seconds forward
  ALT + LEFT ARROW : 10 seconds backward
  CTRL + RIGHT ARROW : 1 minute forward
  CTRL + LEFT ARROW : 1 minute backward

  Display Options

  A: Cycle aspect ratio
  C : Cycle through crop display area
  Z : Cycle through zoom mode
  D : De-interlace On and Off
  O : Switch to original size of the video
  W : Wallpaper mode on (with DirectX output)

  Sound and Audio Operations

  CTRL + UP ARROW or Mouse Scroll Up : Volume Up
  CTRL + DOWN ARROW or Mouse Scroll Down : Volume Down
  J : Decrease audio delay
  K : Increase audio delay
  B : Cycle through available audio tracks
  M : Mute sound on and off
  Shift + A : Cycle through audio devices

  Media Information

  CTRL + I : View and edit media information like title, artist, album
  CTRL + J : View codec information like your media dimensions, audio and video codecs

  Playlist Operations

  CTRL + L : Switch to playlist or back to media
  CTRL + Y : Save current playlist to a file
  CTRL + B : Create, delete and clear bookmarks menu.

  Disc Operations

  Shift + B : Next title
  Shift + O : Previous title
  Shift + N : Next chapter
  Shift + P : Previous chapter
  Shift + M : Disk Menu
  Shift + H : History forward
  Shift + G : History back

  Miscellaneous

  Shift + R : Start and stop recording
  Shift + S : Take snapshot
  ALT + C : Crop from bottom
  ALT+ SHIFT + C : Uncrop from bottom
  ALT + D : Crop from left
  ALT + SHIFT + D : Uncrop from left
  ALT + F : Crop from right
  ALT + SHIFT + F : Uncrop from right
  ALT + R : Crop from top
  ALT + SHIFT + R : Uncrop from top

  File Menu Operations

  ALT + M : Open media menu
  ALT + L : Open playback menu
  ALT + A : Open audio menu
  ALT + V : Open video menu
  ALT + S : Open subtitle menu
  ALT + O : Open tools menu
  ALT + I : Open view menu
  ALT + H : Open help menu

   

• VLC can also download YouTube videos with a extension called youtube-dl.
• It is cross platform, you can use it on your Android smartphone or iOS device, on your Windows or Linux desktop PC or Mac.  VLC media player also is the default media player of Kubuntu Linux as of version 17:10.

Conclusion:

VLC has many more features, I haven’t discussed in this article / howto. It has many great streaming features, hence the name VideoLanClient.  I’ll get into further detail about it in a new revision of this article. I hope you find this post helpful. Don’t forget to leave your comments below.