Free programs for Windows download for free

VLC Media Player has a wide range of tools for working with media content. It is convenient, intuitive and can replace several programs at once. VLC media Player, or simply VLC as it is commonly called, is a free cross-platform media player with extensive capabilities.

As one of the most popular video players in the world, it not only plays video and audio files in almost any format, but also has many additional tools for working with multimedia content.

At first glance, it is easy to mistake it for an ordinary, unremarkable video player, since it has a familiar interface and a simple menu. However, this impression is deceptive. In fact, it is a tireless workhorse, capable of a lot of things and having a wide range of settings.

Why choose VLC Player

The main advantage of VLC is its versatility. Let's take a closer look at what this concept means in relation to this player.

1. It is capable of reproducing:

• Disks.
• Video and audio files (even incomplete or damaged).
• External devices.
• Network flows.
• Webcam image.

1. It is practically “omnivorous”, since it can play many formats, without the need to install codecs.
2. It works on all modern computer and mobile platforms:

• Microsoft Windows.
• Mac OS X.
• Windows Phone.
• Linux.
• iOS.
• Android.

1. It is suitable for viewing and broadcasting network streams. With it you can:

• Watch TV channels.
• Listen to Internet radio.
• Watch IPTV.
• Act as a source of video or audio broadcast.

In addition, it is completely free, and there are no advertisements in the media player. However, if you wish, you can make a small donation on the official website for the development of the project.

In addition, it is capable of playing damaged (so-called “broken”) and incompletely downloaded files, which most other players do not handle well.

⇡#Watching YouTube videos

It is well known that in order to view the content presented on the YouTube server, you need a browser with the Adobe Flash plugin installed or HTML5 support. If you don’t have an appropriate web browser at hand, the notorious VLC player can resolve the deadlock. The technique is simple: press Ctrl+N, copy the URL of the online video you like into the form for entering and click on the “Play” button. If you have a mediocre Internet channel, it would be a good idea to open a tab with additional parameters and adjust the amount of cache memory used when playing YouTube content. This kind of foresight will help you avoid annoying pauses during video playback.

Where to download VLS

The installation file can be downloaded from the official website.

When you click on the “ Download VLC ” button, the version for the Windows operating system will be downloaded. You can select another platform by clicking on the arrow next to the button.

Or you can scroll to the very bottom of the page, where there are links to all official downloads of the program.

Creating and viewing a playlist

After downloading m3u to your computer, you can begin setting up playback.

Follow the instructions to learn how to set up IPTV broadcasting:

• Open the player;
• Select the “ Media ” tab and click on the field to open the document in the PC file system;

• In the new window, select the previously downloaded playlist file;

• Next, a list of IPTV TV channels will open in the VLC window;

Select the desired element, and its broadcast will immediately begin in the main player window:

Program interface for Windows

It has a simple and intuitive interface. However, the uncomplicated appearance hides a rich set of functions.

If you go to the “Audio” and “Video” menu items, it may seem that there are very few settings. In fact, there are more than enough of them, but they are located in the “Tools” menu item.

For example, to activate the equalizer, you need to check the corresponding checkbox, after which the sound can be adjusted to your taste. Video settings are located here in the corresponding tab.

The control panel is easy to customize.

If you want to make the player interface more interesting and convenient, you can download skins on the developer’s website (only for Windows and Linux/Unix).
The choice is quite large, but even if you don’t like anything, you can create a unique skin yourself using VLC Skin Editor. Interface on Android

The video Player interface on a mobile device looks like this.

Anyone, even a complete novice user, can easily understand how the application works. The menu is Russified and intuitive.

Solving problems with VLC streaming

Playing with the Settings: VLC has a ton of different switches to improve your video
If you're having trouble with your VLC media player while video streaming, there are a few simple tricks you should try. For example, you can eliminate annoying slowdowns with one simple action.

During playback, press the key combination “Ctrl” + “N” and in the window that appears, check the box next to the “Show additional parameters” line. There at the bottom, increase the "caching" number. This will increase the cache and VLC will load the stream in a longer time interval.

Comparison with competitors

The player in question is a good choice for those who need a universal program that plays any video and audio format, and who appreciate ease of control.

⇡#Organization of streaming audio/video broadcasting

And this task can be handled using VLC. In order to use the player as a server for streaming multimedia content, you need to make a number of program settings, guided by this (in English) or this (in Russian) instructions. In particular, you will need to decide on the broadcast source, select the network protocol that will be used for online broadcasting, set the settings for transcoding data into a suitable format, and activate the transmission of the media stream to client machines. Since multimedia broadcasts impose very strict requirements on the bandwidth of communication channels, before deploying a video server, it would be correct to make sure that the Internet connection you are using is capable of withstanding a powerful flow of outgoing traffic.

⇡#Saving streaming content to a file

Since we are talking about organizing online broadcasting using VLC, it would be logical to mention the player’s ability to not only distribute content over the network, but also save streaming content broadcast by someone to disk, automatically converting it to the most preferred format. This operation is carried out by analogy with the method described above for viewing YouTube videos, with the only exception that after entering the URL you need to click not “Play”, but “Convert”. A window will open with settings for saving the input stream and parameters of the codecs that will be used to convert the data. After cleaning them up, you can, keeping in mind copyrights and copyrights, begin to “rob” the audio/video stream.

⇡#Assembling video puzzles

For those who like to while away their free time solving various kinds of puzzles and logic puzzles, VLC can also serve them well. No tricks or shamanic dances with a tambourine - just open a window with graphic effects, check the box next to the “Puzzle” item and get from the playing video a mosaic broken into many fragments, which must be assembled into a single whole. The difficulty of the game can be adjusted by increasing the rows and columns that make up the puzzle. Control is carried out by deftly moving elements with the mouse.

⇡#View photos

While designed for working with multimedia data, VLC copes well with other tasks. Thanks to built-in support for JPG, PNG, XCF, GIF, TIFF, LBM, PCX and Targa (TGA) graphic formats, the player can be used as a simple image viewer that perfectly complements the program's capabilities listed above.

It is hoped that the note we published will serve as good food for thought for all VLC users and, perhaps, will force someone to radically reconsider their attitude towards opensource solutions, which are often head and shoulders above commercial products. Both in terms of the quality of implementation, and in terms of the functionality carefully laid out by the developers.

⇡#Remote player control

Another documented but rarely used feature of VLC is the ability to remotely manipulate the program via a web interface. The beauty of it is that any computing device connected to a local network with an Internet browser on board, be it a smartphone or tablet, can act as a remote control. Those interested can personally see the flexibility of this tool by activating the remote control interface in the player settings and connecting to it through a browser. “Over the air” you can control almost all the main functions of the application: adjust the volume, control file playback and playlist, manipulate equalizer settings and other VLC parameters.