VLC media player has now been downloaded over 5 billion times across desktop and mobile devices, with the most recent release clocking up 335 million downloads on its own!
Jean-Baptiste Kempf, president of VideoLAN, the non-profit organisation who develops VLC (and related tech), shared the monumental milestone in a natter with Lowpass newsletter editor Janko Roettgers.
In the same chat Kempf also provided a bit of information on what we can expect in VLC 4.0 when it’s finally released (date TBC), and that a version of VLC for Apple Vision Pro exists (though they’re not committing to releasing it formally due to the Vision Pro’s low user-base).
VLC was first released in 2001 and is one the most successful and recognisable open-source desktop apps of all time. VLC is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, various BSDs, Solaris, and even OS/2 and QNX.
Despite the shift in our media consumption habits towards on-demand and streaming services, VLC, often referred to as the ‘Swiss army knife’ of media players because of its capability to play nearly any media format, is still gaining in popularity.
Therefore, people continue to utilize “local” media, including downloaded video and audio files along with physical formats such as CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Rays. I have written an article on how to play Blu-Rays in VLC on Ubuntu with accessible disc menus, something other workarounds lack.
Even so, VideoLAN’s developers do not want the player to become complacent with its well-earned reputation.
VLC 4.0 Includes UI Revamp
VLC must continuously meet the expectations and demands of its users in order to maintain its relevance in the market of modern media applications.
When launching the VLC 3.x, users are greeted with a blank interface. Therefore, the developers of VLC 4.x are designing a content-focused default page that enables users to browse through their media library in a visual manner. Upon setup, this interface will give users an overview of their media library as soon as they launch the application.
In recognition that not everyone has immediate access to the media they want to watch, the developers are planning to integrate access to FAST channels. This means users can launch VLC and begin watching their chosen media with a simple click, circumventing the need to input stream URLs and so forth.
However, it is uncertain how many of these changes will be included in the final release. Kempf, one of the developers, suggests that many of the user interface changes currently being examined in the nightly builds of VLC might be withdrawn before the official launch.
Try VLC 4.0 Nightly Builds on Ubuntu
You can try VLC nightly builds (for what will eventually become v4.0) in Ubuntu by downloading a VLC nightly snap package from the VideoLAN website, which are generated daily. If your internet connection is slow or capped do be aware that these snaps are around ~700MB in size.
A VLC master daily PPA is also available, albeit automated and not maintained by VideoLAN devs. This builds packages from the VLC Git for most support versions of Ubuntu. Do note that packages regularly fail to build, and VLC ask you don’t file bug reports for issues in the PPA builds.
Curious about what was on the horizon, I installed a nightly build of VLC on Ubuntu. As is standard for any nightly construct, the overall experience had its drawbacks. It was beset with bugs, frequently crashed, and the player had difficulty maintaining video and audio synchronization, which is unusual for VLC.
The redesigned UI of VLC is eye-catching but it appeared quite unfinished on Linux. When I was able to play a video with the app, the content was rendered outside the main application window and without window controls, leaving me with no choice but to quit VLC in order to close it.
I also experimented with the latest VLC nightly build on macOS. It had a much more refined appearance than on Linux, and it allowed video playback within the app window rather than outside of it. However, this version was also susceptible to frequent crashes and demonstrated a number of bugs in the new integrated media discovery view.
As this is all WIP code — there’s no fixed release date for VLC 4.0 at the time of writing — those issues are to be expected.
Still, the future of VLC is looking very good.