VLC Media Player Full Review and Alternatives

VLC Media Player

4.5/5

Overview

VideoLAN’s VLC Media Player is a free and open-source multimedia player program that is available on all platforms. To be specific, VLC can be used on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Unix, iOS, and more platforms, without any limitations.

And while this program is popular for its media player capabilities (plays everything including files, discs, devices, streams, and devices), it also boasts video and audio conversion capabilities. With this media player and converter, you are open to all the required codecs like MPEG-2, MP3, MPEG-4, MKV, WMV, H.264, WebM, among others, and therefore no need for extra codec packs.

VLC Media Player is aimed at providing a reliable video and audio converter tool housed in a fully-fledged media player. The output delivered is quite satisfactory and before we can dig deeper to learn more about the features at your disposal, here are some of the pros and cons;

Pros & Cons of VLC Media Player

Pros
  • Free and open-source
  • Works on all platforms
  • Offers video and audio stream download options
  • Provides customizable conversion profiles
  • Allows you to preview the output during conversion
  • Features popular codecs
Cons
  • Lacks video editing capabilities

How to Use VLC Media Player

Key Features in VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player has been one of the top multimedia playback software and a special one too that goes the extra mile to offer a built-in video and audio converter. Of course, this program is laden with a plethora of features that make it fit in the converter tool category. Some of the highlight features are as follows;

  • VLC Media Player is available on all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc) without any form of limitations.
  • Allows you to convert interlaced video formats like 720i, 1080i, among others, that are concomitant to TVs.

vlc_interlaced_video_format

  • Offers editable conversion profiles to rid you of the need to tinker with a ton of options that you may not be familiar with. This means that you can undertake a conversion task without any prior knowledge of how to create or edit a profile.

vlc_conversion_profile

  • VLC allows you to create new conversion profiles from scratch to match the exact kind of audio or video output you need.
  • Offers the ability to convert media files while keeping the size intact; dumping raw input. This helps to cut down on the amount of time needed to convert from one format to another.

vlc_download_video

  • Allows you to download video and audio streams from online sites like YouTube without the need to seek an external fully-fledged video and audio downloader software.
  • Supports a ton of formats and codecs like H.264. H.263, MPEG, MKV, MP3, just to mention a few.
  • Offers hotkeys to help quicken various tasks like opening the converting interface, among others.
  • VLC Media Player allows you to adjust various audio and video parameters like the codec, aspect ratio, frame rate, resolution, quality, chroma format, audio channels, sample rate, bitrate, and more. This way, you get to personalize the output to your needs.

vlc_parameters

  • Enables you to add subtitles to a video, for instance, a DVD movie, file with ease.

vlc_subtitle

  • Allows you to tailor the video or audio output to specific devices like iPods and Android devices. This goes a long way to eliminate any playback incompatibilities that are bound to occur if the output is not delivered in the right format.

vlc_target_devices

  • VLC Media Player offers video and audio clipping options to extract just the media sections you need instead of unnecessarily converting the entire file.

vlc_clip-videos

Supported Formats

VLC supports a pretty large list of video and audio formats to give you that feeling of the ultimate comprehensiveness. You get the chance to work on almost all the common media formats hassle-free. Some of the formats that you are opened up to include;

Category

Formats

Video

MPEG-1/2, DivX, MPEG-4, XviD, 3ivX D4, H.261, H.263/H.263i, H.264, AVC, Cinepak, Theora, Dirac/VC-2, MJPEG, WMV, Sorenson, DV, On2 VP3/VP5/VP6, Indeo Video, Real Video, DVD, SVCD, CVD, DVB, OGM, CMML, Kate

Audio

MPEG Layer, MP3, AAC, Vorbis, AC3, E-AC-3, MLP/TrueHD>3, DTS, WMA, 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

Pricing

VideoLan presents VLC Media Player as open-source software and is, therefore, free to download, install and use without any limitations or trial periods.

Conclusion

VideoLAN’s VLC Media Player is an amazing video and audio converter software on top of functioning as a comprehensive media player. The program is free, open-source, supports all platforms, lets you work with various formats, and most of all deliver exemplary output in every conversion task. Therefore, you need not struggle to search for a video/audio converter when VLC Media Player can offer all that inside the player we have all come to appreciate.

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