About VLC Media Player

Windows Media Player and iTunes are the most popular media players available for home computing, but the VLC media player is beginning to rank as one of the best media players available---and it's free. The VLC media player features a simple design and setup, but the program can do so much more than just play music or video files. This is one of the most advanced video players and is essential for anyone who plays or edits videos using a computer.

Identification

The basic VLC media player setup looks like a small VCR panel. The VLC logo has always been an orange and white traffic cone, and the icon sits in the top corner of the screen. There is a time-line track bar that be clicked and dragged to portions of the media files, a volume bar, navigation buttons and a button to toggle to the full-screen view. The program also has a menu bar featuring "Audio," "Video" and "Playback" options. Customized wallpapers can also be installed that allow the VLC player to change its look according to your own preferences.

Features

The VLC Media Player, does exactly what it says, plays media files. While it is mainly used for videos, the program plays almost any audio file; a playlist for a mix of both can be made for the program. The program can also capture video on your desktop for tutorial videos or just for general fun. The program also recognizes connected firewire devices and can stream live video streams through any firewire port on the computer.

Benefits

One of the main benefits of the VLC media player is its ability to play nearly any video file. While downloading video files, you normally cannot check whether you are dealing with a real or a fake file, but any portion of a video file can be played within the VLC media file. The free program can be downloaded from VLC official website. The program is also adaptable to multiple computers and can be booted on any jump drive.

Formats

Among the many formats the VLC media player can read, some of the more popular ones include AVI, MPEG, MPEG4, FLV, MOV, WMV, AIFF, VOB and OGG. The program is compatible with multiple operating systems, and these files can be read from any operating system through the VLC media player.

DVD Playback

One of the best things about the VLC media player is its DVD playback ability. DVDs plays back crisp and clear via the VLC media player options. Further, any region DVD can play within the program, so that means you can purchase DVDs from multiple countries and play them in the VLC media player without a problem. You can also load customized subtitles and play the video as the wallpaper on your computer screen.