VLC: The Media Playback Guru’s One Tool

If you have ever messed around with any kind of downloadable media then you have experienced just how many different types and different formats there are. And no matter which operating system you have, whether you use Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows, you have probably run into some problems trying to open a certain media format. Each operating system has its own shortcomings. All can open mp3 files, but Windows doesn’t have spectacular support for mov or m4v files which OS X natively uses, and OS X doesn’t support wmv files. There are many ways to overcome these boundaries. On Windows you can always install QuickTime from Apple to run some files, and on OS X you can install Perian which adds a lot of codecs to QuickTime X. But many users do not want to install a bunch of extra things, either this or they do not know how to install extra things like this. So here comes the imminent question: How can I play any media format easily? As it turns out, the answer is three letters: VLC.

VLC is a free, open source program that has the ability to provide near-flawless playback of nearly every single media format. Be it video, pictures, or some ungodly combination of both, VLC has a codec for it. It is a great fallback for anyone who downloads a lot of videos off of the Internet. VLC comes in every flavor imaginable, meaning that it can be downloaded for Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. To download this amazing application for your choice of operating system head here!