VLC playback Features

     
Input formats
Video formats
Audio formats
Subtitle/Tag formats
A/V outputs
A/V filters
Interfaces
Miscellaneous
Windows Mac OS X Linux BeOS FreeBSD OpenBSD Familiar Linux
Input media UDP/RTP UnicastYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
UDP/RTP MulticastYes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
HTTP / FTPYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
MMSYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
TCP/RTP UnicastYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
DCCP/RTP UnicastNo No Yes No No Untested
File Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
DVD Video 1Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes -
Video CD / VCD Yes Yes Yes No Yes -
SVCD 2Partial Partial Partial No Partial -
Audio CD (no DTS-CD)Yes Yes Yes No Yes -
DVB (Satellite,
Digital TV, Cable TV)
Yes No Yes Yes No -
MPEG encoder 3Yes No Yes No No -
Video acquisition Yes Direct Show part iSight, EyeTV 4 Yes V4L, V4L2 No No UntestedV4L, V4L2
 
Input formats MPEG (ES,PS,TS,PVA,MP3)Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
AVIYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ASF / WMV / WMAYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
MP4 / MOV / 3GPYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
OGG / OGM / AnnodexYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Matroska (MKV)Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
RealPartial Partial Partial Partial Partial Partial
WAV (incuding DTS)Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Raw Audio: DTS, AAC, AC3/A52Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Raw DVYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
FLACYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
FLV (Flash)Yes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
MXFYes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
NutYes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
Standard MIDI / SMFUntested Yes Untested Untested Untested Untested
Creative™ VoiceYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
  1. DVD decryption is done through the libdvdcss library.
  2. VLC on GNU/Linux, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows has playback control support via libcdio and libvcdinfo. On other platforms, SVCD support varies depending on the availability of these libraries. (Volunteers for adding support are always welcome.). Handling still frames (often used in menus) and switching between different video formats is problematic.
  3. VLC for GNU/Linux supports V4L2 compatible encoding cards as well as two kinds of MPEG-2 encoding cards: Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250/350 and Visiontech Kfir.
  4. Starting with version 0.9.0, VLC supports iSight capturing and processing on Mac OS X 10.5 or later (video only). This is unsupported on 10.4. Additionally, on 10.4 or later, VLC is able to grab video and audio from EyeTV applications and therefore all EyeTV-compatible capture devices. The user needs to install a plugin to EyeTV.app in order to use this features. Guidance is provide in the User Interface.
Windows Mac OS X Linux BeOS FreeBSD OpenBSD Familiar Linux
MPEG-1/2Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
DIVX (1/2/3)Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
MPEG-4 ASP, DivX 4/5/6, XviD, 3ivX D4Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
H.261Yes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
H.263 / H.263iYes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
H.264 / MPEG-4 AVCYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
CinepakYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
TheoraYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Dirac / VC-2Yes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
MJPEG (A/B)Yes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
WMV 1/2Yes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
WMV 3 / WMV-9 / VC-1 Yes 1, 2 Yes 1 Yes 1, 2 Yes 1 Yes 1 No
Sorenson 1/3 (Quicktime)Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
DV (Digital Video)Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
On2 VP3/VP5/VP6Yes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
Indeo Video v3 (IV32)Yes Yes Partial Yes Partial Yes
Indeo Video 4/5 (IV41, IV51)No No No No No No
Real Video 1/2Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Real Video 3/4Yes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
  1. WMV-3 / WMV-9 / VC-1 playback is provided through the FFmpeg-library starting with VLC 0.8.6.
  2. Windows DMO codecs can be used by VLC on 32-bit x86 platforms and allow WMV-3/WMA-3 decoding. This feature is untested on Intel-based Macs.
Windows Mac OS X Linux BeOS FreeBSD OpenBSD Familiar Linux
MPEG Layer 1/2Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
MP3 - MPEG Layer 3Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
AAC - MPEG-4 part3Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
VorbisYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
AC3 - A/52 (Dolby Digital)Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus) 3 No No No No No No
MLP / TrueHD 3No No No No No No
DTSYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
WMA 1/2Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
WMA 3 Yes 1 No 1 Yes 1 No No No
FLACYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ALACYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SpeexYes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
Musepack / MPCYes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
ATRAC 3Yes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
WavpackYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mod (.s3m, .it, .mod)Yes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
TrueAudio (TTA)Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
APE (Monkey Audio)Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Real Audio 2Partial Partial Partial Untested Partial No
Alaw/µlawYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
AMR (3GPP)Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
MIDIUntested Untested Yes Untested Untested Untested
LPCMYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ADPCMYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Untested
QCELPNo No No No No No
DV AudioYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
QDM2/QDMC (QuickTime)Yes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
MACEYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
  1. Windows DMO codecs can be used by VLC on 32-bit x86 platforms and allow WMV-3/WMA-3 decoding. This feature is untested on Intel-based Macs.
  2. Real Audio playback is provided through the FFmpeg-library which does only support a limited number of RA derivatives.
  3. E-AC-3, MLP and QCELP codecs will be added in VLC version 1.0
Windows Mac OS X Linux BeOS FreeBSD OpenBSD Familiar Linux
Subtitles DVD 1Partial Partial Partial Partial Partial -
Text files (MicroDVD,
SubRIP, SubViewer, SSA1-5, SAMI, VPlayer)
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Untested
Closed captionsNo Yes Yes No Untested Untested
VobsubYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Untested
Universal Subtitle Format (USF)Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Untested
SVCD / CVDYes Untested Yes Untested Yes Untested
DVBYes Yes Yes Yes Yes -
OGMYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Untested
CMMLYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Untested
KateYes Yes Yes Untested Yes Untested
 
Tags ID3 tagsYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Untested
APEv2Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Untested
Vorbis commentYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Untested
  1. Full color for YUV-type chromas is not handled, only the gray-scale value. Subtitle transparency is not fully supported for all chromas. Some chromas are not handled at all.
Windows Mac OS X Linux BeOS FreeBSD OpenBSD Familiar Linux
Video Outputs Native Direct3D
DirectX
GDI
OpenGL Yes Yes Yes Qte/X11
X11- Untested Yes - Yes Yes
XVideo- - Yes - Yes Yes
SDLYes No Yes Untested Yes Yes
FrameBuffer- - Yes - - Untested
ASCII ArtYes Yes Yes Untested Yes No
 
Audio Outputs Native DirectX
WaveOut
Yes OSS
ALSA
Yes OSS Yes
S/PDIF DirectX
WaveOut
Yes OSS
ALSA
No Untested -
Multi-channel DirectX
WaveOut
Yes OSS
ALSA
No Untested No
SDL Yes Source Only Yes Untested Yes Source Only
PulseAudio- - Yes - Untested Untested
PortAudioYes Untested Untested - Untested Untested
JACK- Untested Yes - Untested Untested
Windows Mac OS X Linux BeOS FreeBSD OpenBSD Familiar Linux
Video Filters DeinterlaceYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
CroppingYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Image wallYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Image adjustYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Rotate/MirrorYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Logo overlayYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
MagnificationYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Image distortionYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
BluescreenYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
RSS/Atom feedsYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
 
Audio Filters Visualization effectsYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
EqualizerYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Windows Mac OS X Linux BeOS FreeBSD OpenBSD Familiar Linux
Default Qt4 Cocoa Qt4 Native Qt4 GPE
Qt4Yes Untested Yes - Untested -
SkinsYes No Yes No Untested -
WebYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
TelnetYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Command lineYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
InfraredNo No Yes No No No
Windows Mac OS X Linux BeOS FreeBSD OpenBSD Familiar Linux
SAP/SDP announcesYes Yes Yes No Yes No
Bonjour protocolNo Yes Yes Untested Untested Untested
Mozilla/Firefox pluginYes Yes Yes No Yes No
ActiveX pluginYes - - - - -
SVCD MenusPartial No Partial No Partial No
LocalizationYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
CD-Text 1Yes No Yes No Partial -
CDDB CD infoYes Yes Yes No Partial -
IGMPv3 2Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
IPv6 2Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
MLDv2 2Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
CPU acceleration 3 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
  1. CD-Text information provided via libcdio. This service is available on all platforms supported by the library.
  2. Depending on the operating system's support.
  3. Supported CPU extensions are MMX, MMXEXT, SSE, SSE2 and 3D Now! on x86 processors, and AltiVec on G4/G5 processors.
 
 
  • Yes = Yes
  • Partial = Partial
  • No = No
  • Untested = Untested
 

Streaming

See the Streaming features page