Yesterday on the Daily Mac App, we showed you how to bestow QuickTime Player with the ability to play a multitude of formats and codecs, but sometimes even Perian won't cut it, and that's where you can turn to VLC to get the job done.
VLC is a free, open-source, cross-platform multimedia player that we've covered extensively in the past, and for good reason. It'll play almost everything under the sun without requiring any additional codec packs or plug-ins. That means you can literally throw just about any media file you can find at it and marvel as it plays back in a fast and smooth fashion. No fuss -- it just works.
If you like to delve into a myriad of settings and features, VLC comes up trumps. From being able to set playback delay for audio, ironing out those sync issues, to spitting out AC3 or DTS through an optical cable, it's all there in the preferences.
VLC resembles the iTunes Mini Player and, for the most part, the UI is usable and gets out of your way. When you're playing video, you get a familiar disappearing media playback control bar that sinks into the background when not in use leaving you with your media.
VLC is available free from the VideoLAN website, and it's an absolute must download if you ever play non-Apple approved media formats on your Mac.
There are quite a few decent alternatives to VLC available on the Mac. If you've got a favorite, shout out in the comments and tell us why you prefer it over other options.
TUAW's Daily Mac App: VLC originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/06/17/tuaws-daily-mac-app-vlc/
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