VLC is a media player that plays all video and audio files.

It has been a long time since Microsoft Windows Media Player was the most popular media player. Currently, there is a multitude of media players that outperform Windows Media Player. Despite its popularity, Windows Media Player is not the most advanced media player in its category, so it is good to use another better-developed alternative.

VLC software is a powerful multimedia player which can play video files and music without having to install any additional codec, which makes it perfect for installing and using without any extra configuration. This ease of use has made this multimedia player one of the most popular software within its category. This is not casual because, in addition to its ease of use and the low use of PC resources, it allows this software to be installed on any machine, either actual or older.

This lightweight player supports various input formats such as: DVD Video, SVCD, Digital TV VCD, etc. Emphasizes the ability to play the file directly from the web: HTTP, FTP, UDP, RTP, etc.; this allows us, for example, to enter a Youtube URL and view it from VLC, being able to apply all the features available in this software. For example, we can easily capture an image of a Youtube video thanks to the support of video production through HTTP protocol.

Regarding video and audio formats support, we can say that this program supports almost any multimedia format. We can mention DivX, MPEG 1-2-3, H. 261, MKV, Real Video, MP3, MIDI, DTS, and many others.

This program comes with several features that make it highly recommended. For example, it automatically supports subtitles without configuring anything in the options menu. It also supports multiple audio tracks on videos, so if we're watching a movie that contains different languages' audio tracks, we can change from one language to another with a simple combination of keys or using the mouse.

The simplicity of use of this software does not necessarily imply that it is simple; on the contrary, it has many options that we can configure to suit our tastes. By default, it shows a basic configuration with a few options that we can modify. We can display the advanced settings and see all the available options if we want to.

For those who like to “play” with the image of the videos, this software has some filters and effects that allow us to modify the video in several ways: adjusting hue, brightness, contrast, sepia, color threshold, rotation, etc. One of the effects that draw the most attention is the one that allows us to convert the video image into a puzzle, where each piece of the puzzle is a piece of video, and we will be able to move the pieces to solve the puzzle. Another interesting filter is the one that displays the video in ASCII format, getting a very particular image this way.

Of course, we can also modify audio filters: bass, treble, mids, etc.

Without a doubt, this software, which began as a university project, it has become one of the most widely used media players in the world, and this is due to a large number of integrated features, its ease of use, and the price, which is free. In addition, it can be installed on Windows, Mac, and Linux Computers.