VLC Media Player, also known as the VideoLan Customer Media Player, has come a long fashion from its humble beginnings. The app now boasts things similar Chromecast support and 360-degree video views. This versatile niggling open-source player can handle any media file that you throw at it.

VLC Media Thespian has been downloaded iii.v billion times. Perhaps the secret to its longevity is its modular blueprint, allowing it to play grab-up with media players du jour, adding new features as required to stay relevant. In that location are a few "hugger-mugger" features under the hood that we're going to explore in this article.

1. Use VLC as a Video Downloader for YouTube

There are several capable free downloaders available for YouTube. Few know this, but VLC actually has this feature built-in. It'due south not a one-click downloader, but it works.

  1. Click on Media > Open up Network stream.
  2. Paste the YouTube URL and click the Play button in the role player.
  3. VLC Media Histrion starts streaming the video.
  4. At present, click Tools > Codec Data.
  5. At the bottom of the window, you volition encounter a Location box. Copy the long URL in the box and paste this into your browser's address bar.
  6. The browser will now start playing the video file. Y'all tin can download the video file to your desktop past right-clicking on the video and selecting Salvage Video As. You tin can likewise cull to record the video.

2. Convert Videos to Any Format

Converting a video to another format is another of our favorite VLC hidden features.

  1. From the toolbar, click on Media > Catechumen / Save.
  2. In the Open up Media dialog box, click on the Add push button and choose the media file that you want to convert. Then, click on the Catechumen / Save dropdown and choose Catechumen.
  3. Click the dropdown menu for Contour and select the file format that you would like to convert your file into.
  4. Click on Scan and select a location to salve the converted file. So, click Beginning.

3. VLC every bit a Graphic Equalizer for Your Music

You may be using VLC equally a video histrion exclusively, but VLC is actually a cross-platform, standalone media player, boasting fully-fledged sound effects and playlist support. VLC not only displays cover art; it likewise offers a pretty good graphic equalizer to kick.

You can call it up with the shortcut keystrokes Ctrl + East (Or go to Tools > Effects and Filters > Sound Effects). Adjust the audio quality of your media file with the available presets, or fine-tune information technology with the Blaster, Compressor, and Spatializer tabs.

4. Activate Audio Normalization to Protect Your Ears

Your general sound settings are located under Preferences. One of the all-time features in VLC is called Audio Normalization. This setting helps y'all accommodate the volume of whatsoever media by a fixed amount and improve the audio quality.

Go to Tools > Preferences > Audio and enable Normalize Volume To. The value y'all set here adjusts the decibel levels of dialogue, music, explosions, gunshots, and any other loud noise in the file. Restart VLC after enabling the setting to lock information technology in.

five. Play Internet Radio and Podcasts in VLC

Ane of VLC's most underrated features is definitely its ability to detect and play cyberspace radio stations. The VLC Player can fill all your audio needs: it's able not merely to stream radio, but likewise to play podcasts likewise.

  1. Launch VLC and open the Playlist sidebar with Ctrl + L. Make sure that the Playlist view manner is set to Listing (go to View > Playlist View Manner > Listing).
  2. Under Net, y'all can browse through the 2 radio servers—Jamendo and Icecast—and choose a station past clicking on it. Reggae fusion, everyone?
  3. If your favorite net radio station is not on the list, use the station's URL to stream it via VLC. Go to Media > Open up Network Stream. Enter the URL and printing Play to listen in.

Y'all tin manage your favorite podcasts via the same Playlist interface. To play podcasts in VLC:

  1. Get to Playlist, and, under the Cyberspace department, select Podcasts.
  2. As soon as your cursor is hovering over the Podcasts department, click the plus sign.
  3. Copy and paste the RSS feed URL of the podcast that yous want to listen to and click on OK. The podcast volition be added to the sidebar and you can option whatever episode that you like.

six. Loop a Section of a Video or Audio File

Most media players can loop an entire video or a soundtrack. With VLC, y'all tin can loop a specific department of a media file, too.

  1. Open up the video or audio file with VLC. Get to View > Avant-garde Controls.
  2. At present, a few more buttons will be displayed higher up the normal play and stop controls.
  3. To kickoff the loop from a specific part of the video, move the playhead to the office of the media where the loop should kickoff (Point A).
  4. Click the loop push button once. The "A" mark on the button will turn crimson. To end the loop, take the video to the endpoint and click on the aforementioned button again. You will see both the A and B points of the button are blood-red.
  5. Now, play the video and the section will loop. Click the loop button once again if you lot want to switch it off.

7. Add Features With VLC Add-Ons and VLC Extensions

For everyday use, VLC'due south default suite of features only might exist enough. If you're looking for enhanced functionality, though, at that place'south an unabridged catalog of add-ons that you lot can install alongside the program. Call up, VLC has a huge open-source community backside it. They've created extensions, skins, playlist parsers, and other tools for users everywhere.

These extensions are more "secret" features that tin can exist added to the actor, such equally tools that will help you search for subtitles, for instance.

  1. Visit the VLC add together-ons folio and browse through what's available.
  2. Click the Download button on each add-on page and download the ZIP file. Extract the file. (VLC add-ons utilize the LUA extension.)
  3. Place the LUA files in this Windows directory: 
                  C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\vlc\lua\extensions binder.
  4. Restart VLC. You tin can access all of your installed extensions from the View menu.

Some of the all-time VLC extensions include:

  • VLCSub
  • Resume Media
  • Moments' Tracker
  • Intro and Credits Skipper
  • TuneIn Radio
  • Info Crawler
  • SyncPlay

VLC Is Total of Cool Features to Attempt

In that location's no question that VLC Media Player is one of the best tools out there. It can handle nearly every video file you might imagine and information technology's chock-full of cracking features to boot.

Customizing your VLC experience has never been easier or more exciting. No matter what you lot have to practise on VLC Histrion, wherever there'due south a will, you'll certainly find a way.

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Emma Garofalo (379 Articles Published)

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