Download VLC Media Player 2.0

VideoLAN has released version 2.0 of VLC Media Player. This open source and cross platform media player can play various audio, video and streaming formats without the need to install the appropriate codec. Downloads are available for Windows and Mac OS X, while the source code should also make the program usable on operating systems such as Linux, BSD and Solaris. A version for Android is still in development.

Version 2.0, codenamed ‘Twoflower’, is among other things a lot faster on systems equipped with a multi-core processor. Furthermore, it supports more media formats, subtitles are displayed in better quality, and there is experimental support for Blu-ray discs. In addition, several hundred bugs have been fixed. The changelog for version 2.0 looks like this:

Video

• Rewritten video output core and modules, allowing subpicture blending in GPU.
• Shader support in the OpenGL output, for colorspace conversion, including 10bits.
• New video outputs for Windows 7, Android, iOS and OS/2.
• New debanding, grain, denoising and anti-flickering filters.
• New deinterlacing filter, including an Inverse Telecine algorithm.

audio

• New resamplers for higher quality audio.
• New dynamic range compressor and karaoke filters.
• Simplification of the audio core for faster processing.
• New audio outputs for iOS, Android and OS/2.

formats

• Multi-threaded decoding for H.264, MPEG-4/Xvid and WebM.
• Support for 10bit codecs, WMV image and some other codecs.
• Rewritten support for images, including jpeg, png, xcf, bmp…
• Important changes in RealVideo and Real Format support.
• CrystalHD cards and Android OpenMAX support for hardware decoding.

Input and Devices

• Experimental support for BluRay discs:
  • Menus are deactivated in this release (will come soon).
  • AACS and BD+ DRM libraries and keys are not shipped, for legal reasons.
• Support for SDI capture cards and QTKit devices.
• Support for new adaptive streaming protocols, like HLS and DASH.

For Mac Users

• Completely new, single-window interface:
  • Available in 2 colors: Lion gray and QTX black.
  • Extensions support and better Lion integration.
• Support for all QTKit devices through qtcapture and qtsound modules.
• Continued support for X 10.5 and PPC users (1080p and ProRes on Dual-G5!).

For Anime Fans

• Vastly improved MKV demuxer.
• Rewritten linked segments and ordered chapter files support.
• Correct support for FLAC, RV and Hi10p in MKV.
• Rewritten seeking support in cue files.
• Various ASS subtitle improvements.

For professional Users

• Support for ProRes 422 and 4444, AVC/Intra.
• Support for Jpeg-2000 and DNxHD/VC-3 in 10bits.
• Support for EBU subtitles (stl) and EIA-608.
• SDI and HD-SDI card support for input on Linux.
• New Dirac/VC-2 encoder, faster than the previous one.

For Developers

• libVLC, libVLCcore and libcompat have switched from GPL to LGPLv2.1+.
• New libVLC examples are available: media player, photobooth and mediainfo clones.
• New JSON requests on the web interface to control running VLC instances.
• Implementation of the MPRIS2 interface to control media players.
• VLC’s web plugins have been rewritten for better integration and stability in all browsers.