Free and open source “OG” media player VLC surpasses 5 billion downloads!
VLC, the popular video player software, has reached a major milestone by surpassing five billion downloads, reported by the Lowpass newsletter. The VideoLAN project, which develops and maintains VLC, has recorded these downloads since February 2005.
The majority of downloads, about 4.4 billion, are for the Windows platform, followed by 369 million for macOS, 245 million for Android, 71 million for iOS, and 6.7 million for the source archive. Interestingly, the data does not include VLC downloads for Linux, as most Linux users obtain the software through their distribution’s standard repositories.
The most popular version of VLC is 3.0.16, which has been downloaded an impressive 416 million times. The latest release, 3.0.20, has been downloaded 381 million times, while version 3.0.19 has been downloaded 50 million times, and version 3.0.0 has been downloaded 6 million times.
In addition to the impressive download numbers, the VideoLAN project has plans to create a version of VLC compiled into the WebAssembly format. This would allow the player to be embedded on websites, making it easier for users to play videos directly from the web.
Moreover, as per the communication to the Lowpass team, the team is also working on an app for Apple Vision Pro device as well!
Furthermore, the team is working on VLC 4.0, which will feature a significant rewrite of the basic part of the player. The new version will have a new interface focused on content, and it will replace the basic player window with a library view. VLC 4.0 will also provide integration with streaming platforms and support for online broadcasts and FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television) channels. This means that users will be able to watch movies and TV shows for free, with the content being monetized through advertising.
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