{"slug": "vlc-media-player", "name": "VLC media player", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Free, open-source, cross-platform media player from VideoLAN that plays most audio and video formats.", "recommenders": 36, "commenters": 90, "warners": 23, "score": 18.012, "rising": -10.45, "first": "2025-11-02", "latest": "2026-10-23", "why": "HN commenters recommend VLC as a free, go-to player for everyday media playback and for watching IPTV and internet radio streams.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 39, "neutral": 30, "compare": 2, "warn": 23}, "spark": [7, 7, 8, 2, 1, 4, 2, 6, 1, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["General playback", "Streams and radio"], "caveat": "Clunky UX", "short_quote": "On my phone I found VLC [2] to be the best app since it has so many features.", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": "videolan.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.videolan.org/vlc/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["VLC", "VLC media player", "VLC Media Player"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters recommend VLC as a free, go-to player for everyday media playback", "cites": [{"id": 777750305, "item_id": 48609394, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48609394", "by": "functionmouse", "date": "2026-06-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend VLC for most people", "excerpt": "mpv is really good but a little light on the GUI; I recommend VLC for most people", "context": "", "use_case": "Video player", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 New Media Player Uses 3.5x More RAM, Charges for Popular Video Codecs"}, {"id": 778661427, "item_id": 48666339, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48666339", "by": "flatline", "date": "2026-06-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "VLC still rules the day for general media playback", "excerpt": "Thanks for checking it out! The Alice link is a generated m4b, so it\u2019s sample output that you could likely play back directly in your browser, although that may not have the cover display or chapter listing. I recommend Apple Books or Plappa on iOS, or Audiobookshelf on Android. For desktop, VLC still rules the day for general media playback, but Audibly is a Windows app that has good reviews. There are many public d", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop media playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: eBook to audiobook narration with realistic AI voices"}, {"id": 773492356, "item_id": 48343272, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48343272", "by": "fithisux", "date": "2026-05-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "MPClassic or VLC worked fine", "excerpt": "There are many open source alternatives/upgrades to M$$$ products. No reason to keep using them. Literally none. I have been a happy exclusive only user of OO/LibeOffice since 2004. Some times I needed to use MSOffice for a paper. It was always problematic. I haven't use VS since 2007. I migrated to gcc. Never had a problem. SQLServer? Only for demo and at work just to pull or save data. Postgres always saved the day", "context": "", "use_case": "media player", "switched_from": "Windows Media Player", "story": "Microsoft degrades functionality of perpetually-licensed offline products"}, {"id": 793022883, "item_id": 49563930, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563930", "by": "flaburgan", "date": "2026-09-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "put as many free software as I can (Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, VLC, Gimp...)", "excerpt": "I removed my dual boot in 2009, so the last windows I used on a personal computer was Vista. I switched my close family (parents and even my grand mother) to Linux years ago, nevertheless I still am the tech-savyy go-to person for other people and I am completely disconnected from what's going on the Windows world. Is an antivirus still needed there? Are there some good tools that should always be installed on a comp", "context": "Linux user, tech go-to person for family", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "O&O ShutUp10 \u2013 The antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11"}]}, {"text": " and for watching IPTV and internet radio streams.", "cites": [{"id": 785834656, "item_id": 49114666, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49114666", "by": "weberer", "date": "2026-07-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You can watch them through most media players like VLC without having to download anything shady.", "excerpt": "There are a ton of legitimately free IPTV streams. You can watch them through most media players like VLC without having to download anything shady. https://github.com/iptv-org/iptv", "context": "", "use_case": "Playing IPTV streams", "switched_from": "", "story": "Read This Before You Buy That TV Streaming Stick"}, {"id": 761152528, "item_id": 47572033, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47572033", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-03-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can watch them in VLC through CTRL+N", "excerpt": "honestly if you pay to pirate, you kinda deserve it (same with the Plex share and Kodi guys), I have so many IPTV streams available for free, there is no time for me to watch them all, I can watch F1 from like 3-4 different streams, same with MotoGP, NLHTV, NBATV, I had olympics from like 10 different TV channels including Spanish (Teledeporte), Hungarian (M4 Sport), Serbian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Chinese, Czech, Slo", "context": "", "use_case": "Watching IPTV streams", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sky Wins Irish Court Order to Unmask 300 Pirate IPTV Users via Revolut Bank"}, {"id": 762657168, "item_id": 47666073, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47666073", "by": "8bitsrule", "date": "2026-04-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "build up a list of hundreds of net radio stations in VLC", "excerpt": "Impossible to recommend without knowing what works for you. For a one-stop-shop, try SOMA.FM (https://somafm.com/) for a great variety of well-vetted choons in multople genres. After that, one can build up a list of hundreds of net radio stations in VLC and find one that works for you -today-.", "context": "", "use_case": "Internet radio playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Music for Programming"}, {"id": 779152368, "item_id": 48697023, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697023", "by": "Symbiote", "date": "2026-06-27", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "vlc 'https://lsn.lv/bbcradio.m3u8", "excerpt": "BBC Radio 4 can be streamed here, including internationally: https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/live/bbc_radio_fourfm Or mplayer 'https://a.files.bbci.co.uk/ms6/live/3441A116-B12E-4D2F-ACA8-C1984642FA4B/audio/simulcast/dash/nonuk/pc_hd_abr_v2/aks/bbc_radio_fourfm.mpd' vlc 'https://lsn.lv/bbcradio.m3u8?station=bbc_radio_fourfm%22&bitrate=320000%22' (Links from https://garfnet.org.uk/cms/tables/radio-frequencies/internet-r", "context": "", "use_case": "Stream BBC Radio 4", "switched_from": "", "story": "The BBC switches off its oldest service"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is a clunky interface,", "cites": [{"id": 801971696, "item_id": 50123231, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50123231", "by": "mahboi", "date": "2026-10-16", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I use VLC, which everyone swears is perfect for this but it's actually super clunky.", "excerpt": "It's older than Tahoe. You can search a word and it'll find pictures containing that object. Not LLM, just vision. Music could be a lot worse. I learned what it's like playing local music on a Samsung phone recently. Had to use ADB to copy files in because Android File Transfer is deprecated. The phone has no Music equivalent, so I use VLC, which everyone swears is perfect for this but it's actually super clunky. Mea", "context": "", "use_case": "playing local music on Android", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple routed a graphite pipe through the iPhone Duo's hinge to dissipate heat"}, {"id": 777762017, "item_id": 48610126, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48610126", "by": "magicalhippo", "date": "2026-06-20", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "dislike the VLC UX", "excerpt": "Well there's an old kid in town, MPC-HC is still being maintained[1] to the great joy for us who dislike the VLC UX. [1]: https://github.com/clsid2/mpc-hc/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 New Media Player Uses 3.5x More RAM, Charges for Popular Video Codecs"}, {"id": 775831393, "item_id": 48489462, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48489462", "by": "al_borland", "date": "2026-06-11", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Now it adds those videos to a media library for some reason. I never want this and I never found a way to turn it off.", "excerpt": "But that\u2019s all I want it to do\u2026 play the video. Now it adds those videos to a media library for some reason. I never want this and I never found a way to turn it off. I moved to IINA to finally get back to a video Swiss Army knife that just plays video and doesn\u2019t force me into an experience I don\u2019t want\u2026 after tweaking a bunch of settings. A miss Perian, the codec pack for QuickTime, which gave QuickTime and QuickLo", "context": "", "use_case": "video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sweet Jeebus, macOS 27 Golden Gate Removes the Dumb Icons from Menu Items"}]}, {"text": " with some also reporting playback glitches on Linux and heavy battery drain on iPhone.", "cites": [{"id": 784670978, "item_id": 49041936, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041936", "by": "MiddleEndian", "date": "2026-07-24", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "VLC can cause the UI to lock up because of some XWayland nonsense", "excerpt": "I use KDE on Bazzite. It has a couple killer UI features over Windows. It can label bluetooth devices (so I can have blue dualsense controller, pink dualsense controller, white dualsense controller, etc.). No clue why this doesn't work in Windows lol. Also the super/win + arrow keys are more predictable, super pgdn is minimize and super pgup is maximize, so I never find myself accidentally minimizing windows when try", "context": "", "use_case": "video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 779256899, "item_id": 48703556, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703556", "by": "ProllyInfamous", "date": "2026-06-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "VLC sucks on the MacPro4,1 in Ubuntu (skipping around tears the video, leaving it to lag badly)", "excerpt": "The only \"bummer\" with the 4,1 is: in order to get a bootscreen, you need to either \"hack it\" with Open Core Legacy Patcher (OCLP) -or- purchase a modified-firmware GPU from macvidcards.com (I run his custom VEGA56/firmware, personally; it's faster than most Apple Silicon for Ollama3.1 [about 74 tokens/second]) -or- use a stock Apple GPU with an additional GPU plugged into main display. With OCLP you can run Linux us", "context": "", "use_case": "video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide"}, {"id": 794167010, "item_id": 49635438, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49635438", "by": "drewg123", "date": "2026-09-09", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Others (VLC, HBO) leave the screen on and burn battery at 2x-3x the rate", "excerpt": "3+ year old XREAL Air AR Glasses. I bought them to code more effectively on my laptop at my then girlfriend (now wife)'s house. The display was too pixely and distracting for me to code on. However, its plenty good enough for videos. For videos I mostly use it with my phone (16 pro). Some apps are great (Netflix, AppleTV) and are smart enough to turn off the iPhone screen. Others (VLC, HBO) leave the screen on and bu", "context": "", "use_case": "watching video with AR glasses", "switched_from": "", "story": "iPhone Duo"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "General playback", "summary": "Recommended as the default player for most people, and one that plays nearly any valid video file.", "quotes": [{"id": 777750305, "item_id": 48609394, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48609394", "by": "functionmouse", "date": "2026-06-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend VLC for most people", "excerpt": "mpv is really good but a little light on the GUI; I recommend VLC for most people", "context": "", "use_case": "Video player", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 New Media Player Uses 3.5x More RAM, Charges for Popular Video Codecs"}, {"id": 778661427, "item_id": 48666339, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48666339", "by": "flatline", "date": "2026-06-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "VLC still rules the day for general media playback", "excerpt": "Thanks for checking it out! The Alice link is a generated m4b, so it\u2019s sample output that you could likely play back directly in your browser, although that may not have the cover display or chapter listing. I recommend Apple Books or Plappa on iOS, or Audiobookshelf on Android. For desktop, VLC still rules the day for general media playback, but Audibly is a Windows app that has good reviews. There are many public d", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop media playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: eBook to audiobook narration with realistic AI voices"}, {"id": 764465878, "item_id": 47779117, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47779117", "by": "pino83", "date": "2026-04-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "VLC starts so quickly, and can read any remotely valid video file.", "excerpt": "Well, I explicitly said that I dislike Gnome for that. Sure, there are switches that are fine for actual customization, in order to actually adapt to personal preferences instead of work around technical weaknesses. I love how configurable Plasma is. When I read further, about your scrollbar example, I wasn't sure if I would consider that a good example for your point or for my point... ^^ Anyways... Maybe it's a cor", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16"}]}, {"label": "Streams and radio", "summary": "Plays free IPTV streams and internet radio, including long lists of saved stations.", "quotes": [{"id": 785834656, "item_id": 49114666, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49114666", "by": "weberer", "date": "2026-07-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You can watch them through most media players like VLC without having to download anything shady.", "excerpt": "There are a ton of legitimately free IPTV streams. You can watch them through most media players like VLC without having to download anything shady. https://github.com/iptv-org/iptv", "context": "", "use_case": "Playing IPTV streams", "switched_from": "", "story": "Read This Before You Buy That TV Streaming Stick"}, {"id": 761152528, "item_id": 47572033, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47572033", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-03-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can watch them in VLC through CTRL+N", "excerpt": "honestly if you pay to pirate, you kinda deserve it (same with the Plex share and Kodi guys), I have so many IPTV streams available for free, there is no time for me to watch them all, I can watch F1 from like 3-4 different streams, same with MotoGP, NLHTV, NBATV, I had olympics from like 10 different TV channels including Spanish (Teledeporte), Hungarian (M4 Sport), Serbian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Chinese, Czech, Slo", "context": "", "use_case": "Watching IPTV streams", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sky Wins Irish Court Order to Unmask 300 Pirate IPTV Users via Revolut Bank"}, {"id": 762657168, "item_id": 47666073, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47666073", "by": "8bitsrule", "date": "2026-04-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "build up a list of hundreds of net radio stations in VLC", "excerpt": "Impossible to recommend without knowing what works for you. For a one-stop-shop, try SOMA.FM (https://somafm.com/) for a great variety of well-vetted choons in multople genres. After that, one can build up a list of hundreds of net radio stations in VLC and find one that works for you -today-.", "context": "", "use_case": "Internet radio playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Music for Programming"}]}, {"label": "Cross-platform", "summary": "Runs on desktop, mobile, Android TV and Apple TV.", "quotes": [{"id": 743611089, "item_id": 46475693, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46475693", "by": "wildpeaks", "date": "2026-01-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "VLC works on both desktop and mobile.", "excerpt": "I never stopped, Bandcamp sells DRM-free files (especially on \"Bandcamp Fridays\" once a month when more of the money goes to the artist, unlike Spotify and other streaming services), and VLC works on both desktop and mobile. https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/bandcamp-fridays", "context": "", "use_case": "Playing MP3s", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?"}, {"id": 773491616, "item_id": 48343226, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48343226", "by": "breve", "date": "2026-05-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My 10 year old iPhone 7 can play 1080p AV1 video in software for more than 200 minutes with VLC.", "excerpt": "My 10 year old iPhone 7 can play 1080p AV1 video in software for more than 200 minutes with VLC. The iPhone 7 was released a year and a half before AV1 was. So I think it's a safe bet the current Apple TV devices are capable of playing AV1 video in software. There's a VLC release for Apple TV: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-appletv.html https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vlc-media-player/id650377962?platform=tv", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The AV2 Video Standard Has Released (Final v1.0 Specification)"}, {"id": 743947249, "item_id": 46496703, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46496703", "by": "sipofwater", "date": "2026-01-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "VLC for Android, Android TV and ChromeOS, \"Network browsing for distant filesystems", "excerpt": "\"[GUIDE] How to share directories on the phone running Android via NFS as non-root user\" by bnsmb: https://xdaforums.com/t/guide-how-to-share-directories-on-the-phone-running-android-via-nfs-as-non-root-user.4756743/ (xdaforums.com/t/guide-how-to-share-directories-on-the-phone-running-android-via-nfs-as-non-root-user.4756743/) via \"Testing: Termux, proot-distro, Network File System (NFS)\" at https://gist.github.com/N", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "NAS file sharing: Why I use both NFS and SMB protocols (2025)"}]}, {"label": "Free essential", "summary": "Listed among the free apps people install first on new machines.", "quotes": [{"id": 793022883, "item_id": 49563930, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563930", "by": "flaburgan", "date": "2026-09-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "put as many free software as I can (Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, VLC, Gimp...)", "excerpt": "I removed my dual boot in 2009, so the last windows I used on a personal computer was Vista. I switched my close family (parents and even my grand mother) to Linux years ago, nevertheless I still am the tech-savyy go-to person for other people and I am completely disconnected from what's going on the Windows world. Is an antivirus still needed there? Are there some good tools that should always be installed on a comp", "context": "Linux user, tech go-to person for family", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "O&O ShutUp10 \u2013 The antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11"}, {"id": 778308004, "item_id": 48644250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644250", "by": "CobaltFire", "date": "2026-06-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "VLC (https://www.videolan.org/)", "excerpt": "Heres my list: Transnomino (https://www.transnomino.com/) StillColor (https://github.com/aiaf/Stillcolor) SublimeText (https://www.sublimetext.com/) Homebrew (https://brew.sh/) VLC (https://www.videolan.org/) Macs Fan Control (https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control) Rectangle (https://rectangleapp.com/) NetBird (https://netbird.io/) Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/) Honestly its not huge and most are probably obvious", "context": "", "use_case": "media playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 778345642, "item_id": 48646602, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48646602", "by": "k310", "date": "2026-06-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Ones I actually use.", "excerpt": "Ublock-origin with Firefox, Audacity, Batch Photo Resizer, calibre, cardflow, Diffraction, Ejimo and Ultra Character Map (try finding emojis without them), Libre Office, Paprika Recipe Manager, Samurai Safe, SeaMonkey (who else edits HTML?) GIMP, Darktable, RawTherapee, Super Photo Upscaler, Sublime Text, VLC, Clearview (and why isn't epub supported natively?), PhotoSync (share photos with all platforms), GhostText f", "context": "", "use_case": "media player", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}]}, {"label": "Network shares", "summary": "Plays files directly from SMB and other network shares with little setup.", "quotes": [{"id": 744259120, "item_id": 46516195, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46516195", "by": "eisa01", "date": "2026-01-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I currently just use VLC with a SMB share. Works quite well", "excerpt": "It is in the pipeline at least: https://github.com/jellyfin/Swiftfin/discussions/1294 As my needs are quite simple, I currently just use VLC with a SMB share. Works quite well, VLC is able to play standard .mkvs just fine! http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-appletv.html", "context": "", "use_case": "Playing SMB share media", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of the Fin 2026-01-06 \u2013 Jellyfin"}, {"id": 743947249, "item_id": 46496703, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46496703", "by": "sipofwater", "date": "2026-01-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "VLC for Android, Android TV and ChromeOS, \"Network browsing for distant filesystems", "excerpt": "\"[GUIDE] How to share directories on the phone running Android via NFS as non-root user\" by bnsmb: https://xdaforums.com/t/guide-how-to-share-directories-on-the-phone-running-android-via-nfs-as-non-root-user.4756743/ (xdaforums.com/t/guide-how-to-share-directories-on-the-phone-running-android-via-nfs-as-non-root-user.4756743/) via \"Testing: Termux, proot-distro, Network File System (NFS)\" at https://gist.github.com/N", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "NAS file sharing: Why I use both NFS and SMB protocols (2025)"}]}, {"label": "Codec support", "summary": "Decodes AV1 in software well, even on an old iPhone 7, and plays standard MKVs.", "quotes": [{"id": 773491616, "item_id": 48343226, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48343226", "by": "breve", "date": "2026-05-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My 10 year old iPhone 7 can play 1080p AV1 video in software for more than 200 minutes with VLC.", "excerpt": "My 10 year old iPhone 7 can play 1080p AV1 video in software for more than 200 minutes with VLC. The iPhone 7 was released a year and a half before AV1 was. So I think it's a safe bet the current Apple TV devices are capable of playing AV1 video in software. There's a VLC release for Apple TV: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-appletv.html https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vlc-media-player/id650377962?platform=tv", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The AV2 Video Standard Has Released (Final v1.0 Specification)"}, {"id": 762015777, "item_id": 47625986, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47625986", "by": "breve", "date": "2026-04-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Try it with VLC.", "excerpt": "My laptop has hardware AV1 encoding and decoding. My TV has AV1 decoding. My phone has AV1 decoding. None of these devices are particularly new. And don't underestimate dav1d (https://www.videolan.org/projects/dav1d.html). You can comfortably play AV1 video in software on your phone. Try it with VLC.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "H.264 Streaming Fees: What Changed, Who's Affected, and What It Means"}, {"id": 744259120, "item_id": 46516195, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46516195", "by": "eisa01", "date": "2026-01-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I currently just use VLC with a SMB share. Works quite well", "excerpt": "It is in the pipeline at least: https://github.com/jellyfin/Swiftfin/discussions/1294 As my needs are quite simple, I currently just use VLC with a SMB share. Works quite well, VLC is able to play standard .mkvs just fine! http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-appletv.html", "context": "", "use_case": "Playing SMB share media", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of the Fin 2026-01-06 \u2013 Jellyfin"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Clunky UX", "summary": "Some find the interface clunky and prefer alternatives such as MPC-HC or IINA.", "quotes": [{"id": 801971696, "item_id": 50123231, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50123231", "by": "mahboi", "date": "2026-10-16", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I use VLC, which everyone swears is perfect for this but it's actually super clunky.", "excerpt": "It's older than Tahoe. You can search a word and it'll find pictures containing that object. Not LLM, just vision. Music could be a lot worse. I learned what it's like playing local music on a Samsung phone recently. Had to use ADB to copy files in because Android File Transfer is deprecated. The phone has no Music equivalent, so I use VLC, which everyone swears is perfect for this but it's actually super clunky. Mea", "context": "", "use_case": "playing local music on Android", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple routed a graphite pipe through the iPhone Duo's hinge to dissipate heat"}, {"id": 777762017, "item_id": 48610126, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48610126", "by": "magicalhippo", "date": "2026-06-20", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "dislike the VLC UX", "excerpt": "Well there's an old kid in town, MPC-HC is still being maintained[1] to the great joy for us who dislike the VLC UX. [1]: https://github.com/clsid2/mpc-hc/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 New Media Player Uses 3.5x More RAM, Charges for Popular Video Codecs"}, {"id": 775831393, "item_id": 48489462, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48489462", "by": "al_borland", "date": "2026-06-11", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Now it adds those videos to a media library for some reason. I never want this and I never found a way to turn it off.", "excerpt": "But that\u2019s all I want it to do\u2026 play the video. Now it adds those videos to a media library for some reason. I never want this and I never found a way to turn it off. I moved to IINA to finally get back to a video Swiss Army knife that just plays video and doesn\u2019t force me into an experience I don\u2019t want\u2026 after tweaking a bunch of settings. A miss Perian, the codec pack for QuickTime, which gave QuickTime and QuickLo", "context": "", "use_case": "video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sweet Jeebus, macOS 27 Golden Gate Removes the Dumb Icons from Menu Items"}]}, {"label": "Forced media library", "summary": "One user says it adds played videos to a media library and found no way to turn this off.", "quotes": [{"id": 775831393, "item_id": 48489462, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48489462", "by": "al_borland", "date": "2026-06-11", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Now it adds those videos to a media library for some reason. I never want this and I never found a way to turn it off.", "excerpt": "But that\u2019s all I want it to do\u2026 play the video. Now it adds those videos to a media library for some reason. I never want this and I never found a way to turn it off. I moved to IINA to finally get back to a video Swiss Army knife that just plays video and doesn\u2019t force me into an experience I don\u2019t want\u2026 after tweaking a bunch of settings. A miss Perian, the codec pack for QuickTime, which gave QuickTime and QuickLo", "context": "", "use_case": "video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sweet Jeebus, macOS 27 Golden Gate Removes the Dumb Icons from Menu Items"}]}, {"label": "Linux glitches", "summary": "Users report UI lockups under XWayland and video tearing and lag on Ubuntu.", "quotes": [{"id": 784670978, "item_id": 49041936, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041936", "by": "MiddleEndian", "date": "2026-07-24", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "VLC can cause the UI to lock up because of some XWayland nonsense", "excerpt": "I use KDE on Bazzite. It has a couple killer UI features over Windows. It can label bluetooth devices (so I can have blue dualsense controller, pink dualsense controller, white dualsense controller, etc.). No clue why this doesn't work in Windows lol. Also the super/win + arrow keys are more predictable, super pgdn is minimize and super pgup is maximize, so I never find myself accidentally minimizing windows when try", "context": "", "use_case": "video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 779256899, "item_id": 48703556, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703556", "by": "ProllyInfamous", "date": "2026-06-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "VLC sucks on the MacPro4,1 in Ubuntu (skipping around tears the video, leaving it to lag badly)", "excerpt": "The only \"bummer\" with the 4,1 is: in order to get a bootscreen, you need to either \"hack it\" with Open Core Legacy Patcher (OCLP) -or- purchase a modified-firmware GPU from macvidcards.com (I run his custom VEGA56/firmware, personally; it's faster than most Apple Silicon for Ollama3.1 [about 74 tokens/second]) -or- use a stock Apple GPU with an additional GPU plugged into main display. With OCLP you can run Linux us", "context": "", "use_case": "video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide"}]}, {"label": "iPhone battery", "summary": "On iPhone it keeps the screen on during external-display playback and drains battery faster.", "quotes": [{"id": 794167010, "item_id": 49635438, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49635438", "by": "drewg123", "date": "2026-09-09", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Others (VLC, HBO) leave the screen on and burn battery at 2x-3x the rate", "excerpt": "3+ year old XREAL Air AR Glasses. I bought them to code more effectively on my laptop at my then girlfriend (now wife)'s house. The display was too pixely and distracting for me to code on. However, its plenty good enough for videos. For videos I mostly use it with my phone (16 pro). Some apps are great (Netflix, AppleTV) and are smart enough to turn off the iPhone screen. Others (VLC, HBO) leave the screen on and bu", "context": "", "use_case": "watching video with AR glasses", "switched_from": "", "story": "iPhone Duo"}]}, {"label": "Frame stepping", "summary": "It cannot seek back one frame, unlike MPC and mpv.", "quotes": [{"id": 743502320, "item_id": 46468895, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46468895", "by": "eviks", "date": "2026-01-02", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "why you can't seek 1 frame back", "excerpt": "So? Here is the post where VLC dev explains why you can't seek 1 frame back (you can do that in MPC and mpv) https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=126609&start=25", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "What You Need to Know Before Touching a Video File"}]}, {"label": "Share browsing", "summary": "Browsing an SMB share in VLC was confusing for one family, who switched to Jellyfin.", "quotes": [{"id": 744241955, "item_id": 46515122, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46515122", "by": "bombcar", "date": "2026-01-06", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "For awhile I was VLC off a ram SMB share but that was confusing even to me sometimes.", "excerpt": "I used a SMB share with Infuse for awhile and it worked well, but adding Jellyfin in the middle made it much easier for the kids/wife to understand how to find things. (For awhile I was VLC off a ram SMB share but that was confusing even to me sometimes.)", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of the Fin 2026-01-06 \u2013 Jellyfin"}]}], "who": [{"by": "flaburgan", "context": "Linux user, tech go-to person for family", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563930", "date": "2026-09-04"}, {"by": "ColdStream", "context": "Android user, avoids streaming", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49341809", "date": "2026-08-17"}, {"by": "pugio", "context": "parent with a baby", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48800997", "date": "2026-07-05"}, {"by": "UomoNeroNero", "context": "multi-monitor desktop user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46888097", "date": "2026-02-04"}, {"by": "pmontra", "context": "uses a tablet as smart TV", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46255843", "date": "2025-12-13"}], "tags": ["for IPTV and web radio", "for Apple TV", "for Android", "for local music files", "for network shares"], "use_cases": ["video playback", "media playback", "media player", "video player", "playing mp3s", "playing local music on android"], "compared": [{"slug": "mpv", "name": "mpv", "co": 11, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 4}, {"slug": "mpc-hc", "name": "MPC-HC", "co": 7, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "haruna", "name": "Haruna", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 2}, {"slug": "kodi", "name": "Kodi", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "libreoffice", "name": "LibreOffice", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "iina", "name": "IINA", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "jellyfin", "name": "Jellyfin", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ffmpeg", "name": "FFmpeg", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46404321", "title": "What You Need to Know Before Touching a Video File", "mentions": 13}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45850751", "title": "VLC's Jean-Baptiste Kempf Receives the European SFS Award 2025", "mentions": 7}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46406311", "title": "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46514282", "title": "State of the Fin 2026-01-06 \u2013 Jellyfin", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45898407", "title": "Yt-dlp: External JavaScript runtime now required for full YouTube support", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49332812", "title": "Using an old Android phone as a music player", "mentions": 2}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 3, "warn": 7, "recommend": 7}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 4, "recommend": 7, "compare": 1}, "2026-01": {"warn": 9, "recommend": 8, "neutral": 4}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 3, "recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 2}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 2}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 6, "warn": 3}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 4, "warn": 2, "compare": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 3}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 3, "recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 2, "warn": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 803465952, "item_id": 50216622, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50216622", "by": "dijit", "date": "2026-10-23", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "that\u2019s why VLC can\u2019t play blu-rays", "excerpt": "BD+ and AACS are literally that though, that\u2019s why VLC can\u2019t play blu-rays. > NB: Most commercial Blu-Ray are protected by AACS or BD+ technologies and this library is not enough to playback those discs. https://www.videolan.org/developers/libbluray.html clicking into the libaacs and libbd+ yields: > NB: this project doesn't offer any key or certificate that could be used to decode encrypted copyrighted material.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sony Retires Its Last 4K Blu-ray Player in Japan, PS5 Is All That's Left"}, {"id": 801971696, "item_id": 50123231, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50123231", "by": "mahboi", "date": "2026-10-16", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I use VLC, which everyone swears is perfect for this but it's actually super clunky.", "excerpt": "It's older than Tahoe. You can search a word and it'll find pictures containing that object. Not LLM, just vision. Music could be a lot worse. I learned what it's like playing local music on a Samsung phone recently. Had to use ADB to copy files in because Android File Transfer is deprecated. The phone has no Music equivalent, so I use VLC, which everyone swears is perfect for this but it's actually super clunky. Mea", "context": "", "use_case": "playing local music on Android", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple routed a graphite pipe through the iPhone Duo's hinge to dissipate heat"}, {"id": 798824928, "item_id": 49926558, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49926558", "by": "rsync", "date": "2026-10-01", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "no software installed except for VLC", "excerpt": "I use and maintain an \"ipod\" in the form of an old pixel 3 with 128 GB of memory that has no SIM card and no software installed except for VLC. It stays in airplane mode. It has a real headphone jack.", "context": "", "use_case": "music playback on old phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sudo \u2013 A dedicated music player designed around listening to music"}, {"id": 797768018, "item_id": 49860501, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49860501", "by": "ciefa", "date": "2026-09-26", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "VLC to play downloaded videos", "excerpt": "Nowadays I use Morphe for Youtube and Reddit. Seal Plus for downloading and VLC to play downloaded videos. NewPipe was so buggy for me in the past, I've avoided it. Did it get better? Any reason to use it over Morphe?", "context": "", "use_case": "playing downloaded videos", "switched_from": "", "story": "PipePipe: NewPipe hard fork implementing SponsorBlock"}, {"id": 795802432, "item_id": 49737652, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49737652", "by": "qingcharles", "date": "2026-09-17", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use it regularly in say, VLC", "excerpt": "The software has to start clipping the audio above \"100%\", but I use it regularly in say, VLC, because I might want the volume slightly higher without increasing my whole system volume just to hear a quiet section. I rarely notice any degradation at 150%.", "context": "", "use_case": "media playback with volume boost", "switched_from": "", "story": "Performance Improvements in .NET 11"}, {"id": 794167010, "item_id": 49635438, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49635438", "by": "drewg123", "date": "2026-09-09", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Others (VLC, HBO) leave the screen on and burn battery at 2x-3x the rate", "excerpt": "3+ year old XREAL Air AR Glasses. I bought them to code more effectively on my laptop at my then girlfriend (now wife)'s house. The display was too pixely and distracting for me to code on. However, its plenty good enough for videos. For videos I mostly use it with my phone (16 pro). Some apps are great (Netflix, AppleTV) and are smart enough to turn off the iPhone screen. Others (VLC, HBO) leave the screen on and bu", "context": "", "use_case": "watching video with AR glasses", "switched_from": "", "story": "iPhone Duo"}, {"id": 793022883, "item_id": 49563930, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563930", "by": "flaburgan", "date": "2026-09-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "put as many free software as I can (Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, VLC, Gimp...)", "excerpt": "I removed my dual boot in 2009, so the last windows I used on a personal computer was Vista. I switched my close family (parents and even my grand mother) to Linux years ago, nevertheless I still am the tech-savyy go-to person for other people and I am completely disconnected from what's going on the Windows world. Is an antivirus still needed there? Are there some good tools that should always be installed on a comp", "context": "Linux user, tech go-to person for family", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "O&O ShutUp10 \u2013 The antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11"}, {"id": 792462082, "item_id": 49528880, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49528880", "by": "wowczarek", "date": "2026-09-01", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "you can watch your scope with VLC or your OS's built-in camera app", "excerpt": "I went through a similar process recently with an HP/Agilent 54845A scope (1.5 Ghz, 8 Gsa combined) - a great tool if you need reasonably fast rise times and a reasonably fine time base resolution - the only issue is that it has an abysmally low sample memory for today's standards, so you get to see the trigger and \"just a bit more\". Well the other issue is that it pushes a lot of air... Like a lot, jumbo jet a lot. ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Refurbishing a Tektronix TDS7104 Oscilloscope"}, {"id": 790308016, "item_id": 49394251, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49394251", "by": "ck2", "date": "2026-08-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I just use VLC but I just play long sets", "excerpt": "I just use VLC but I just play long sets not individual tracks Now if Winamp was available for Android so I could use the Enhancer plugin... https://winampplugins.co.uk/enhancer/enhancer.html I've never found a sound processor that can make music sound so amazing somehow", "context": "", "use_case": "Playing long music sets", "switched_from": "", "story": "Using an old Android phone as a music player"}, {"id": 790293809, "item_id": 49393363, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49393363", "by": "yjftsjthsd-h", "date": "2026-08-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I just use VLC", "excerpt": "I'd also very strongly recommend F-Droid. TBH I can't really speak to the quality of music apps on it - I just use VLC - but it doesn't require an account and it has lots of good apps.", "context": "", "use_case": "music playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Using an old Android phone as a music player"}, {"id": 789468944, "item_id": 49341809, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49341809", "by": "ColdStream", "date": "2026-08-17", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Only offline files via VLC.", "excerpt": "That is a fair take. Personally, I use my android basically an iPod. Only offline files via VLC. Never hopped on the streaming bandwagon for anything but the most throw away stuff. Yes, I kept all my DVD's from decades back.", "context": "Android user, avoids streaming", "use_case": "offline music playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't enjoy the Internet any more"}, {"id": 785834656, "item_id": 49114666, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49114666", "by": "weberer", "date": "2026-07-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You can watch them through most media players like VLC without having to download anything shady.", "excerpt": "There are a ton of legitimately free IPTV streams. You can watch them through most media players like VLC without having to download anything shady. https://github.com/iptv-org/iptv", "context": "", "use_case": "Playing IPTV streams", "switched_from": "", "story": "Read This Before You Buy That TV Streaming Stick"}, {"id": 785169760, "item_id": 49073110, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49073110", "by": "lukeschlather", "date": "2026-07-27", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "There was no oversight. The EU told Apple the CTC did not comply with the law. Apple's new scheme still seems bad but I don't think this is the end of it. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_3433", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "VLC for Unity now supported on Linux"}, {"id": 785097936, "item_id": 49068621, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49068621", "by": "csande17", "date": "2026-07-27", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "presumably you'd mainly want to use VLC for wider range of supported codecs", "excerpt": "Unity includes its own video player implementation ( https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/Video.html ), so presumably you'd mainly want to use VLC for wider range of supported codecs?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "VLC for Unity now supported on Linux"}, {"id": 784670978, "item_id": 49041936, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49041936", "by": "MiddleEndian", "date": "2026-07-24", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "VLC can cause the UI to lock up because of some XWayland nonsense", "excerpt": "I use KDE on Bazzite. It has a couple killer UI features over Windows. It can label bluetooth devices (so I can have blue dualsense controller, pink dualsense controller, white dualsense controller, etc.). No clue why this doesn't work in Windows lol. Also the super/win + arrow keys are more predictable, super pgdn is minimize and super pgup is maximize, so I never find myself accidentally minimizing windows when try", "context": "", "use_case": "video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nothing works and everyone is euphoric"}, {"id": 784499856, "item_id": 49031241, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031241", "by": "Hamuko", "date": "2026-07-23", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I would never use an app that used VLC for playback.", "excerpt": "a) It's not official, or even recommended at https://jellyfin.org/downloads/clients b) I would never use an app that used VLC for playback.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Corporate Creep of Plex: Why it may be time to move to Jellyfin"}, {"id": 784090417, "item_id": 49005651, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49005651", "by": "pmontra", "date": "2026-07-22", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "My SO uses it to view movies with VLC and TV via TVHeadend.", "excerpt": "I never sell anything, everything finds a new life. I got a Sony Xperia Compact from maybe 2016. I use it as a bicycle navigator / recorder. Recently it stopped reading SIMs, probably rusty contacts, but all I need is wifi to update OSMAnd and send me the tracks I recorded. I also have a very old tablet, maybe 2014. My SO uses it to view movies with VLC and TV via TVHeadend.", "context": "", "use_case": "playing movies", "switched_from": "", "story": "ScreenWall \u2013 Turn old phones into synced widgets for your space"}, {"id": 783807522, "item_id": 48987970, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48987970", "by": "muppetman", "date": "2026-07-20", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "you have to use VLC to play it", "excerpt": "Because Plex worked amazingly ~5-6 years ago, while Jellyfin was still very early stage. It'd sort of work. So there's a lot of \"Well I'm already using Plex\" inertia. Plus Plex has very lovely, polished clients, you can easily invite people, share your library with others etc etc. Once they got all that of course, then the changes/fees/ads/bloat started. Jellyfin is great, it's all I've ever used. But it's still very", "context": "", "use_case": "playing offline downloaded files", "switched_from": "", "story": "Jellyfin founder Andrew leaves team"}, {"id": 780815953, "item_id": 48800997, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48800997", "by": "pugio", "date": "2026-07-05", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "direct with, say, VLC", "excerpt": "AI + hardware has really helped my wife and I get more sleep. I had an esp32-box-3 lying around from a lapsed \"voice agent\" project from a year or two ago. Had a baby. Baby moved to another room, sleep trained. Baby either: 1. wakes up a few times a night, babbles for a bit, goes back to sleep OR 2. baby wakes up and fusses for N (=10) minutes, at which point parents need to go in and settle (that's the sleep trainin", "context": "parent with a baby", "use_case": "playing audio stream", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Age of Personalized Hardware Is Coming"}, {"id": 779256899, "item_id": 48703556, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703556", "by": "ProllyInfamous", "date": "2026-06-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "VLC sucks on the MacPro4,1 in Ubuntu (skipping around tears the video, leaving it to lag badly)", "excerpt": "The only \"bummer\" with the 4,1 is: in order to get a bootscreen, you need to either \"hack it\" with Open Core Legacy Patcher (OCLP) -or- purchase a modified-firmware GPU from macvidcards.com (I run his custom VEGA56/firmware, personally; it's faster than most Apple Silicon for Ollama3.1 [about 74 tokens/second]) -or- use a stock Apple GPU with an additional GPU plugged into main display. With OCLP you can run Linux us", "context": "", "use_case": "video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide"}, {"id": 779152368, "item_id": 48697023, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697023", "by": "Symbiote", "date": "2026-06-27", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "vlc 'https://lsn.lv/bbcradio.m3u8", "excerpt": "BBC Radio 4 can be streamed here, including internationally: https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/live/bbc_radio_fourfm Or mplayer 'https://a.files.bbci.co.uk/ms6/live/3441A116-B12E-4D2F-ACA8-C1984642FA4B/audio/simulcast/dash/nonuk/pc_hd_abr_v2/aks/bbc_radio_fourfm.mpd' vlc 'https://lsn.lv/bbcradio.m3u8?station=bbc_radio_fourfm%22&bitrate=320000%22' (Links from https://garfnet.org.uk/cms/tables/radio-frequencies/internet-r", "context": "", "use_case": "Stream BBC Radio 4", "switched_from": "", "story": "The BBC switches off its oldest service"}, {"id": 778661427, "item_id": 48666339, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48666339", "by": "flatline", "date": "2026-06-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "VLC still rules the day for general media playback", "excerpt": "Thanks for checking it out! The Alice link is a generated m4b, so it\u2019s sample output that you could likely play back directly in your browser, although that may not have the cover display or chapter listing. I recommend Apple Books or Plappa on iOS, or Audiobookshelf on Android. For desktop, VLC still rules the day for general media playback, but Audibly is a Windows app that has good reviews. There are many public d", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop media playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: eBook to audiobook narration with realistic AI voices"}, {"id": 778345642, "item_id": 48646602, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48646602", "by": "k310", "date": "2026-06-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Ones I actually use.", "excerpt": "Ublock-origin with Firefox, Audacity, Batch Photo Resizer, calibre, cardflow, Diffraction, Ejimo and Ultra Character Map (try finding emojis without them), Libre Office, Paprika Recipe Manager, Samurai Safe, SeaMonkey (who else edits HTML?) GIMP, Darktable, RawTherapee, Super Photo Upscaler, Sublime Text, VLC, Clearview (and why isn't epub supported natively?), PhotoSync (share photos with all platforms), GhostText f", "context": "", "use_case": "media player", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 778308004, "item_id": 48644250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644250", "by": "CobaltFire", "date": "2026-06-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "VLC (https://www.videolan.org/)", "excerpt": "Heres my list: Transnomino (https://www.transnomino.com/) StillColor (https://github.com/aiaf/Stillcolor) SublimeText (https://www.sublimetext.com/) Homebrew (https://brew.sh/) VLC (https://www.videolan.org/) Macs Fan Control (https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control) Rectangle (https://rectangleapp.com/) NetBird (https://netbird.io/) Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/) Honestly its not huge and most are probably obvious", "context": "", "use_case": "media playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 777762017, "item_id": 48610126, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48610126", "by": "magicalhippo", "date": "2026-06-20", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "dislike the VLC UX", "excerpt": "Well there's an old kid in town, MPC-HC is still being maintained[1] to the great joy for us who dislike the VLC UX. [1]: https://github.com/clsid2/mpc-hc/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 New Media Player Uses 3.5x More RAM, Charges for Popular Video Codecs"}, {"id": 777750305, "item_id": 48609394, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48609394", "by": "functionmouse", "date": "2026-06-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recommend VLC for most people", "excerpt": "mpv is really good but a little light on the GUI; I recommend VLC for most people", "context": "", "use_case": "Video player", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows 11 New Media Player Uses 3.5x More RAM, Charges for Popular Video Codecs"}, {"id": 775831393, "item_id": 48489462, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48489462", "by": "al_borland", "date": "2026-06-11", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Now it adds those videos to a media library for some reason. I never want this and I never found a way to turn it off.", "excerpt": "But that\u2019s all I want it to do\u2026 play the video. Now it adds those videos to a media library for some reason. I never want this and I never found a way to turn it off. I moved to IINA to finally get back to a video Swiss Army knife that just plays video and doesn\u2019t force me into an experience I don\u2019t want\u2026 after tweaking a bunch of settings. A miss Perian, the codec pack for QuickTime, which gave QuickTime and QuickLo", "context": "", "use_case": "video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sweet Jeebus, macOS 27 Golden Gate Removes the Dumb Icons from Menu Items"}, {"id": 773908928, "item_id": 48369308, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48369308", "by": "alamortsubite", "date": "2026-06-02", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There's an easy fix for that if you use a player like VLC that has an audio compressor", "excerpt": "There's an easy fix for that if you use a player like VLC that has an audio compressor: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-fix-movies-that-are-really-quiet-then-really-lo-5920290", "context": "", "use_case": "Audio compression for movies", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Pirate Bay Remains Resilient, 20 Years After the Raid"}, {"id": 773528849, "item_id": 48345553, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48345553", "by": "breve", "date": "2026-05-31", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "can play 1080p AV1 video in software for over 200 minutes with VLC", "excerpt": "Hardly niche. My laptop isn't new and it has hardware AV1 decoding and encoding. My 10 year old iPhone 7 can play 1080p AV1 video in software for over 200 minutes with VLC. The iPhone 7 was released in 2016, a year and a half before AV1. The dav1d decoder is mighty. Netflix uses AV1: https://netflixtechblog.com/av1-now-powering-30-of-netflix-streaming-02f592242d80 YouTube uses AV1. It's tough to be more mainstream th", "context": "", "use_case": "video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dav2d"}, {"id": 773492356, "item_id": 48343272, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48343272", "by": "fithisux", "date": "2026-05-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "MPClassic or VLC worked fine", "excerpt": "There are many open source alternatives/upgrades to M$$$ products. No reason to keep using them. Literally none. I have been a happy exclusive only user of OO/LibeOffice since 2004. Some times I needed to use MSOffice for a paper. It was always problematic. I haven't use VS since 2007. I migrated to gcc. Never had a problem. SQLServer? Only for demo and at work just to pull or save data. Postgres always saved the day", "context": "", "use_case": "media player", "switched_from": "Windows Media Player", "story": "Microsoft degrades functionality of perpetually-licensed offline products"}, {"id": 773491616, "item_id": 48343226, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48343226", "by": "breve", "date": "2026-05-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My 10 year old iPhone 7 can play 1080p AV1 video in software for more than 200 minutes with VLC.", "excerpt": "My 10 year old iPhone 7 can play 1080p AV1 video in software for more than 200 minutes with VLC. The iPhone 7 was released a year and a half before AV1 was. So I think it's a safe bet the current Apple TV devices are capable of playing AV1 video in software. There's a VLC release for Apple TV: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-appletv.html https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vlc-media-player/id650377962?platform=tv", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The AV2 Video Standard Has Released (Final v1.0 Specification)"}, {"id": 769731440, "item_id": 48108215, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48108215", "by": "s20n", "date": "2026-05-12", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used to stream movies from my desktop over the local network with VLC and the main issue I faced was that I could never get the subtitles to work.", "excerpt": "I used to stream movies from my desktop over the local network with VLC and the main issue I faced was that I could never get the subtitles to work. I took a quick look at this repository and it doesn't look like they support subtitles either.", "context": "", "use_case": "streaming movies over LAN", "switched_from": "", "story": "Rtwatch: Watch videos with friends using WebRTC"}, {"id": 769529345, "item_id": 48095584, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48095584", "by": "afandian", "date": "2026-05-11", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "VLC can do this, but not as simply as I used to be able to", "excerpt": "They removed the speed and pitch adjuster in QuickTime player, some time in the past decade, I forget when. That was a useful feature to me. It's not on the site, and I don't care _quite_ enough to figure out how to add it. That's the problem with built-in software that \"does it all\" and crowds out the market for other software. One day it might not do it all. (VLC can do this, but not as simply as I used to be able ", "context": "", "use_case": "speed and pitch adjustment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Killed by Apple"}, {"id": 766687232, "item_id": 47917952, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47917952", "by": "trinsic2", "date": "2026-04-26", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use VLC for my music.", "excerpt": "I use VLC for my music. Did you know if you uninstall the music app you can't play music though another music app?", "context": "", "use_case": "playing music", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day"}, {"id": 766248099, "item_id": 47890506, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47890506", "by": "majora2007", "date": "2026-04-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Kavita (note: I'm the developer), FMD2, qBittorrent, VLC, Firefox", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are your top open source apps/software?"}, {"id": 764465878, "item_id": 47779117, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47779117", "by": "pino83", "date": "2026-04-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "VLC starts so quickly, and can read any remotely valid video file.", "excerpt": "Well, I explicitly said that I dislike Gnome for that. Sure, there are switches that are fine for actual customization, in order to actually adapt to personal preferences instead of work around technical weaknesses. I love how configurable Plasma is. When I read further, about your scrollbar example, I wasn't sure if I would consider that a good example for your point or for my point... ^^ Anyways... Maybe it's a cor", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16"}, {"id": 763362736, "item_id": 47710171, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47710171", "by": "maayank", "date": "2026-04-09", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "If I use VLC (for example) on AppleTV to play something from my network using SMB or DLNA", "excerpt": "wait. If I use VLC (for example) on AppleTV to play something from my network using SMB or DLNA, I cannot get Dolby Atmos?", "context": "", "use_case": "Network media playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Netflix Prices Went Up Again \u2013 I Bought a DVD Player Instead"}, {"id": 762657168, "item_id": 47666073, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47666073", "by": "8bitsrule", "date": "2026-04-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "build up a list of hundreds of net radio stations in VLC", "excerpt": "Impossible to recommend without knowing what works for you. For a one-stop-shop, try SOMA.FM (https://somafm.com/) for a great variety of well-vetted choons in multople genres. After that, one can build up a list of hundreds of net radio stations in VLC and find one that works for you -today-.", "context": "", "use_case": "Internet radio playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "Music for Programming"}, {"id": 762142033, "item_id": 47633877, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47633877", "by": "breve", "date": "2026-04-03", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Using VLC 3.7.2 (which uses dav1d for decoding AV1)", "excerpt": "> Your \"old iPhone 7\" probably wont even boot up now, let alone play 1080p AV1 video for more than 5 minutes. None of your predictions came true. In fact, you were more than 24 times wrong about it. My 10-year-old iPhone 7 with its 10-year-old battery and a small crack in the screen, hardware which was released before AV1 was released, did boot up. I charged it to 99%. I downloaded a 4 minute music video. It's 1080p2", "context": "", "use_case": "Video playback", "switched_from": "", "story": "H.264 Streaming Fees: What Changed, Who's Affected, and What It Means"}, {"id": 762015777, "item_id": 47625986, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47625986", "by": "breve", "date": "2026-04-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Try it with VLC.", "excerpt": "My laptop has hardware AV1 encoding and decoding. My TV has AV1 decoding. My phone has AV1 decoding. None of these devices are particularly new. And don't underestimate dav1d (https://www.videolan.org/projects/dav1d.html). You can comfortably play AV1 video in software on your phone. Try it with VLC.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "H.264 Streaming Fees: What Changed, Who's Affected, and What It Means"}, {"id": 761152528, "item_id": 47572033, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47572033", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-03-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you can watch them in VLC through CTRL+N", "excerpt": "honestly if you pay to pirate, you kinda deserve it (same with the Plex share and Kodi guys), I have so many IPTV streams available for free, there is no time for me to watch them all, I can watch F1 from like 3-4 different streams, same with MotoGP, NLHTV, NBATV, I had olympics from like 10 different TV channels including Spanish (Teledeporte), Hungarian (M4 Sport), Serbian, Croatian, Lithuanian, Chinese, Czech, Slo", "context": "", "use_case": "Watching IPTV streams", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sky Wins Irish Court Order to Unmask 300 Pirate IPTV Users via Revolut Bank"}]}