VLC Media Player is the most popular and robust multi format, free media player available. Its popularity has been aided by compatibility and codec issues which render competitor media players like QuickTime, itunes and RealPlayer useless to many popular video and music file formats. The easy, basic UI and huge array of customization options mean few free media players can match VLC.
Hey hey all you knowledgable know-ers of information. I am wondering if someone can tell me about the WMV3 codec and how to get it for VLC or quicktime on a mac running OS 10.3.3. Mar 21, 2018 You can get it from the VLC site under 'Latest Mac OS X package for 10.4'. Share Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Email Link.
Flexibility
VLC plays almost any video or music file format you can find. At its launch this was a revolution compared to the default media players most people were using that often crashed or displayed “codecs missing” error messages when trying to play media files. VLC can play MPEG, AVI, RMBV, FLV, QuickTime, WMV, MP4 and a shed load of other media file formats. For a full list of compatible file formats please click here. Not only can VLC Media Player handle loads of different formats, VLC can also playback partial or incomplete media files so you can preview downloads before they finish.
Easy to Use
VLC’s UI is definitely a case of function over format. The basic look does however make the player extremely easy to use. Simply drag and drop files to play or open them using files and folders then use the classic media navigation buttons to play, pause, stop, skip, edit playback speed, change the volume, brightness, etc. A huge variety of skins and customization options mean the standard appearance shouldn’t be enough to prevent you choosing VLC as your default media player.
Advanced Options
Don’t let VLC Media Player’s simple interface fool you, within the playback, audio, video, tools and view tabs are a huge variety of player options. You can play with synchronization settings including a graphic equalizer with multiple pre-sets, overlays, special effects, AtmoLight video effects, audio spatializer and customizable range compression settings. You can even add subtitles to videos by adding the SRT file to the video’s folder.
Summary
VLC Media Player is quite simply the most versatile, stable and high quality free media player available. It has rightly dominated the free media player market for over 10 years now and looks like it may for another 10 thanks to the constant development and improvement by VideoLAN Org.
VLC media player for Mac has enjoyed a long time reputation for its great video playing function including playing HD/UHD/4K/5K videos, supporting almost all file formats, streaming, downloading and files conversion. But, as IT industry develops, many burgeoning media players like KMPlayer, 5KPlayer, Potplayer, Divxplayer for Mac now can also reach the height of same capability. The high-ranking status of VLC Mac is indeed trembling.
Undesirables and Inconveniences of VLC Media Player for Mac
Functional Inconveniences of VLC Media Player for Mac:
1. VLC Media Player Mac broken in Mac OSX 10 and above like Mavericks 10.9.2, Yosemite etc. when you try to play MKV files!
Tons of users have already experienced the sudden non-responsive condition of VLC Media Player for Mac, and the reason is still under further investigation, but a possible reason for this may lay in the plug-in VLC uses according to VLC Forum, since VLC Mac requires certain plug-in to read MKV files and other file formats.
5KPlayer, in this regard, designed for iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini or Mac Pro running OS X 10.7 or later, without any plug-in for varied file formats, plays MKV and plays all the other video/music formats like MP4, MOV, AVI, FLV, MP3, etc. effortlessly and smoothly on Mac Mavericks 10.9.2 and Yosemite.
Tons of users have already experienced the sudden non-responsive condition of VLC Media Player for Mac, and the reason is still under further investigation, but a possible reason for this may lay in the plug-in VLC uses according to VLC Forum, since VLC Mac requires certain plug-in to read MKV files and other file formats.
5KPlayer, in this regard, designed for iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini or Mac Pro running OS X 10.7 or later, without any plug-in for varied file formats, plays MKV and plays all the other video/music formats like MP4, MOV, AVI, FLV, MP3, etc. effortlessly and smoothly on Mac Mavericks 10.9.2 and Yosemite.
2. VLC Player for Mac Has Troubles in Video AirPlay
VLC player Mac does have built-in Bonjour protocol, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it supports AirPlay independently. You can achieve VLC video AirPlay in three ways, of which one is unstable and the other two are quite demanding. Comparatively speaking, the AirPlay-enabled 5KPlayer with evident AirPlay icons on its interface, streams video music from Mac to Apple TV, even AirPlay media files from iPhone/ iPad/ Apple Watch to Mac/Apple TV like a cork, directly and independently. It is simple in operations, smooth in streaming and quick in process.
VLC player Mac does have built-in Bonjour protocol, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it supports AirPlay independently. You can achieve VLC video AirPlay in three ways, of which one is unstable and the other two are quite demanding. Comparatively speaking, the AirPlay-enabled 5KPlayer with evident AirPlay icons on its interface, streams video music from Mac to Apple TV, even AirPlay media files from iPhone/ iPad/ Apple Watch to Mac/Apple TV like a cork, directly and independently. It is simple in operations, smooth in streaming and quick in process.
3. VLC Media Player for Mac Suffers Cockamamie and Fussy Download/Converting Procedures
Although VLC Mac is capable of downloading files from online websites and converting them into target formats, the process can be quite cumbersome. For example, it takes 12 steps to simply download a short MPEG-4 video from YouTube and 5 steps to convert it to a MP4 (H264) file. The tricky and overly complicated options really annoy users in the course of getting what they want.
Although VLC Mac is capable of downloading files from online websites and converting them into target formats, the process can be quite cumbersome. For example, it takes 12 steps to simply download a short MPEG-4 video from YouTube and 5 steps to convert it to a MP4 (H264) file. The tricky and overly complicated options really annoy users in the course of getting what they want.
4. VLC Media Player Mac Affected by Security Vulnerability
This is a security issue that we should be altered using VLC for Mac and Windows as well. Malware attack loop holes have been back then detected in subtitles, DEP access violation vulnerability, a write access flaw, and today's LIVE555 RTSP server. The security issue of an open source media player is unavoidable, but we can always do an update.
This is a security issue that we should be altered using VLC for Mac and Windows as well. Malware attack loop holes have been back then detected in subtitles, DEP access violation vulnerability, a write access flaw, and today's LIVE555 RTSP server. The security issue of an open source media player is unavoidable, but we can always do an update.
5KPlayer however, provides the most simplified and user-friendly processes to get videos/music downloaded from over 300 websites and converted easily, which means that you can download instagram videos, YouTube videos, FaceBook videos, and other music videos from VEVO, Vimeo, etc.
Three Steps to Download YouTube Videos/Music with VLC Media Player Alternative for Mac Users:
* Copy the URL of the video from the browser;
* Past the URL in the analyze box and wait for analyzing;
* Click 'Download' button
Two Simple Ways to Convert File Formats with VLC Mac Alternative:
a: * Click the convert button on the videostrip in the Library; *choose the target conversion format;
b: * Click setting icon on the videostrip of download window; * choose the target format you want to convert.
Three Steps to Download YouTube Videos/Music with VLC Media Player Alternative for Mac Users:
* Copy the URL of the video from the browser;
* Past the URL in the analyze box and wait for analyzing;
* Click 'Download' button
Two Simple Ways to Convert File Formats with VLC Mac Alternative:
a: * Click the convert button on the videostrip in the Library; *choose the target conversion format;
b: * Click setting icon on the videostrip of download window; * choose the target format you want to convert.