VideoLAN VLC: The BEST Media Player for Your PC

On of the frustrating things to experience on a PC is not being able to play a music or video file because the format is not supported by the player you have (e.g., Windows Media Player). Well, don't fret, there is a piece of software available that is truly universal. It is the VLC media player from VideoLAN. I have yet to feed it a file that it couldn't run, and perhaps the best part is that it is completely free.

The VLC player has the codecs for all formats. As I have not been able to do so, I would challenge anyone and everyone to provide a format that VLC cannot run. I doubt you'd be able to, at least not with legitimate formats.

The player can play both music and video files. All you have to do is drag the files onto the unassuming interface. You can also load the files the traditional way by using the interface's menus. All of these files just play without any hitch. It's refreshing to have a piece of software that works so well.

In addition to individual files, the VLC player can also play CDs and DVDs. You can watch an entire movie using the VLC player. The player allows you to access different video and audio tracks. In addition to the disk, you can also play the contents of ripped disks (e.g., VOB video files ripped from a DVD). This again is a tribute to the fact that the VLC player can play any format.

The software can be obtained free from various sources including the VideoLAN site: http://www.videolan.org. Versions for both the PC and Macintosh are available.