Vlc Player.co.uk

The free VLC media player began as an effort by a group of students at École Centrale Paris.  The team wanted to develop computer programs that would play and stream video and other media types.  Originally the VideoLAN Project focused on the design of two separate programs: a client-end media player or VideoLAN Client and a server-end streamer named VideoLAN Server.  However since releasing them to the public as freeware, the developers have blended the features of both programs within the client version, and renamed it the VLC media player.

While the core team is based in France, the VideoLAN Project is supported by a larger group of developers in twenty other countries.  Besides the popular VLC media player, the team also develops libraries for decoding and decrypting media files.  These include: a library for accessing DVD content without prior decryption, a Java-based skin generator for VLC media player, a video decoder, and a new application for streaming television broadcasts. 

VLC Media Player

But of course the flagship program of the VideoLAN Project is VLC.   The software made its public debut in February 2001 and has since become known as one of the best media players.  The strengths of VLC lie in its compatibility, portability and freeware/open-source status. 

• - Compatibility. The VLC media player can play virtually all types of audio and video files, as well as open and playback DVD and VCD contents without an external decoder. The software is bundled with lots of decoding and encoding libraries.
• - Portability. One of the true marks of success for the VideoLAN Project is that it has succeeded in making VLC a platform-independent program. There are versions of the software for Macintosh, Windows, Linux and other systems.
• - Open Source. When a software project is open-source or free, it means that programmers other than the original creators can access the software code, analyze it and make improvements to it. Since it is open to everyone, more people join in the project, and program development is rapid.

Some Feature Highlights

The VideoLAN Project created a product with several unique capabilities.  While it does exactly what it is expected to do – play audio and video – it can do more. 

The VLC media player now includes most of the features of its old partner, the VLS.  Even though it is mainly a client program, the player can double as a server for streaming video over a network. 

VLC has the ability to play videos that are either broken, incomplete or unfinished.  It can distort, flip and otherwise distort video scenes, take screenshots and even output videos to ASCII art.   For Internet use, you can downloa plugins for browsers to play online videos.  

The VLC has a modular type of design.  Modular is a kind of programming style that keeps parts of a computer program distinct from the others.  This makes adding support for new formats and interfaces that much easier.  VLC comes in both graphical and text-only user interfaces.  Presently it has over 350 modules. 

The VLC is under constant development.  The VideoLAN Project is also working on other kinds of software, but the VLC media player will surely remain its best-loved production. So get the vlc media player download now and see what you have been missing out on..