VLC media player

VLC (short for VideoLAN Client) media player is a freeware player allowing video playback and listening to music in various formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, DVD, MP3, OGG etc.)

The main strength of the program, however, does not lay in playing files stored on a hard drive or a CD. It is found in remote multimedia transmission (via Internet or Local Area Network) using different streaming protocols. That is why VLC media player is one of the best solutions for e.g. watching Internet TV in different standards. The player also supports different subtitle display formats, though this functionality is not well rounded yet.

Since version 1.0.1, VLC can decode audio signal from a Blu-ray Linear PCM or Dolby Digital Plus track. In addition, Real Video (versions 3.0 and 4.0) and WMA decoders (versions 3.0 and 4.0) were improved. There is also Dirac, MLP and RealVideo format support in MKV containers. VLC is able to manage digital satellite TV tuners (DVB-S). Experimental Blu-Ray carrier and AVCHD material operation has been added.

Corrections to the new version have been introduced in terms of 5.1 and 7.1 system audio track decoding and operating on RealMedia files. Linux version users must draw their attention to the removal of Esound and aRts server plug-ins from the project and the added PulseAudio server surround sound support. Integration with GTK and Qt libraries has been improved.