VLC Media Player

Latest in our Saturday Software Review series

Some may already know VLC as the media player that is free, fast, and will play basically anything you throw at it. Even those that do may not realize that it is also a powerful media conversion, streaming, and video capture package.

Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, Mobile
Cost: Free
Summary: Play back almost all media types, convert audio/video formats, capture from devices, stream, and re-stream media.



The best thing about VLC is that it does basically everything. And it does this in a small package that isn´t cluttered with a bunch of confusing shiny things that look good but end up making things more difficult to use like so many media players. That´s probably why it´s used by so many people on so many platforms.

Where it really starts to excel though is when one begins to take VLC beyond just being a media player. We have had success using VLC as a media converter that surpasses some very expensive commercial media conversion utilities. We are also using it as an effective media capture and streaming platform for some of our Axis Networked Webcams as well as re-streaming and capture from various other devices.

For many of you the above may draw a blank look, but that´s fine - VLC is anything but bloated and will still playback almost any media you throw at it - including DVDs and certainly ever video file and encoder format we have tried.

It´s free, it´s fast, and it´s truly the only game in town for anyone that wants the best media player out there.

---