VLC Media Player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, MP3, OGG, ) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. The latest update from VLC includes support for Apple Silicon (Mac M1) and Big Sur, improvements for DASH, RIST, Bluray support, fixes for macOS audio, Windows GPU, crashes and security issues. VideoLAN has upgraded its VLC Media Player software with support for Apple Silicon and macOS Big Sur improvements. In a tweet Monday VideoLAN stated: VLC 3.0.12 is now out! Support for Apple Silicon (Mac M1) and Big Sur, improvements for DASH, RIST, Bluray support, fixes for macOS audio, Windows GPU, crashes and security issues.

When you need to play a video on your Mac, what do you do? Which app do you open? If you’re new to macOS, you might just double-click on the media file and it’s likely that QuickTime Player will start up — good enough for the most common tasks.

Soon though you’re bound to feel QuickTime’s limitations. It might be that you’ve transferred a file from your camera that’s not supported, or you want to watch a foreign movie with external subtitles. All this is difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish with QuickTime Player. You need to upgrade.

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Instead of having one VLC player alternative, get an entire collection. Setapp is a Mac apps subscription that gives you a large choice.

What Makes VLC Player For Mac Good

From the first moments of looking for a better media player, VLC for Mac is going to show up in search results again and again. The app is free, has good ratings, and seems to be universally loved. There’s even a version for your iPhone (and nearly every other operating system in existence). What’s not to like?

The official story of VLC player goes back to 1996, when a few students of École Centrale Paris in France developed the app as their academic project. Back then, they called it VideoLAN Client (VLC for short). As VLC player got more and more recognition and became popular worldwide, the original developers released the code under the open-source license, so that anyone could fix bugs and contribute new features.

By now, VLC player is available on Windows, macOS, iOS, Apple TV, Linux, Android, Chrome OS, and Xbox One. The only question left is how to find a VLC for Mac download.

How to get a VLC download for Mac

Unfortunately, due to some licensing issues, VLC player for Mac isn’t available on the App Store (although the iOS version is). With a simple Google search you’ll find that lots of third-party websites offer you VLC for Mac downloads — but beware! Such download files are often infected with various kinds of malware looking to find an easy way into your computer.

The only option that’s 100% safe is to find a VLC download for Mac on its official website:

1. Go to videolan.org/vlc

2. Click Download VLC

3. Double-click the .dmg file in your Downloads folder

4. Move the VLC icon into Applications

With regards to technical requirements, VLC player is supported by any 64-bit Intel-based Mac that runs macOS 10.7.5 or later (the latest one is 10.15). This covers 99% of Macs in use nowadays. And even if you need to make VLC player work with ancient Macs, older VLC versions are available for download from the official website as well.

To play a video on VLC for Mac:

1. Open VLC

2. Either drag the video you like onto the app’s window or go to File ➙ Open File… ➙ select the video ➙ Open

One of the most beloved VLC media player features is adding and fine-tuning external subtitles. When you’ve downloaded the .srt subtitle file you want to use:

Vlc Media Player Mac Pro

1. In the menu bar of the VLC player, click Subtitles

2. Add Subtitle File… ➙ select the file ➙ Open

3. In the same Subtitles menu you can change the text size, thickness, color as well as the background color

With so much to offer, why would anyone choose any other app for their videos than VLC player? True, while QuickTime Player struggles with nearly every video encounter, VLC for Mac handles all the basics pretty well. But there’s so much more to discover in the land of video-playing features: multiple subtitles, audio extractions, ad-free web playback, AirPlay streaming, etc. Let’s see which VLC alternative for Mac offers it all.

Vlc Media Player

Stream anything anytime with Elmedia Player

If VLC media player for Mac is a shell you can open content in, Elmedia Player is a full-on entertainment center. Get any videos you want anytime, thanks to its streaming functionality. The app is able to download YouTube directly to your Mac or play videos instantly using its web-browser extension, which allows to bypass all the ads.

Moreover, any downloaded videos can then be easily played on your AirPlay-enabled devices — watch a movie on a big screen with Apple TV, for example, without the need for USB drives or awkward cables. And while VLC media player might get stuck playing HD videos on a big screen, Elmedia will sail through them seamlessly with the help of hardware-accelerated decoding.

Play, stream, and download video

Get Elmedia Player, a perfect replacement for VLC, which has a streaming feature and a browser extension for direct downloads.

Elmedia Player, simply put, has everything you’ll ever need not to get bored. Even when videos become too much, you can extract audio files and save them as MP3 for easy on-the-go listening.

Gain full video control with Movist Pro

As good as Elmedia Player is, the ultimate VLC alternative for Mac could be a mighty 4K movie player called Movist Pro.

Movist Pro not only effortlessly decodes any video you come across (with an option to select decoders manually if needed) but also lets you configure the perfect video-watching scenario, including the quality and the size of each file.

If you want to watch a high-dynamic-range (HDR) video, but your screen doesn’t support it, the colors will show up dull and faded. Movist Pro features a built-in HDR tone-mapping technology that automatically adjusts colors to what they are supposed to be.

Vlc Media Player Mac Big Sur Mac

While nearly every VLC alternative for Mac lacks powerful subtitle management that VLC is known for, Movist Pro takes it a step further with support for multiple subtitles at once — invaluable when you’re trying to learn a new language or watching a movie with a bunch of international friends.

Finally, using the Movist Pro Safari extension, you can watch any video right from your browser window, with any of the above personal settings already specified.

How to start with Movist Pro? One step only: simply drag and drop your video onto the app and enjoy.

The best VLC alternative for Mac

So while some might argue that VLC media player for Mac is still good, the truth is — lots has changed since 1996. New entrants like Elmedia Player with its built-in downloader and ad-free streaming, or Movist Pro with multiple-subtitle support and HDR improvement are winning the market. The one you choose should quite frankly depend on the features you’re going to use the most.

Best of all, you don’t need to go all in and buy Elmedia Player or Movist Pro to see how they work. Both apps are available to you on a free seven-day trial from Setapp — a platform with over 150 Mac apps, where each one is the best for a particular task, whether it’s budgeting, retouching, or just getting things done. What might you be watching tonight?

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

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by Christine Smith • 2021-04-22 09:33:49 • Proven solutions

How do I stream from VLC to my Smart TV?

If you have a similar question like above or Does VLC support casting videos to TV? Then you can find the answers in this article. The VLC media player can be used on any device today because it is available for multiple platforms. The VLC media player is a free and easy-to-use media player and allows you to stream your videos from your device to TV. Using a VLC stream to TV is available on a local network. Read more to learn how to use VLC cast to TV on Windows/Mac and the best alternative to VLC to cast videos to TV with only four simple steps.

1. Stream Video from VLC to TV on Windows

VLC is an open-source software to play videos, and it allows you to stream videos from VLC to TV on Windows as well. VLC can play videos on your devices using your local home network or internet too. You can use the VLC web interface as a remote control to control your playing videos from anywhere at your home. Keep in mind that you need a high-speed internet connection to stream videos over the internet. Without the internet, you can't stream videos.

Step 1: Launch VLC on your Windows PC and choose the Stream option from the Media menu.

Step 2: Now Open media popup window will open in front of you, and now you can stream media from all available options. First, please add files from the file tab which you want to stream. Click on the Add button and add the files here. Now click on the Capture Device tab and select Desktop in the front of the Capture Mode option. After that, click on the Stream button.

Step 3: Now, it will display the output window. The first list is the media file you want to stream; click on Next to continue.

Step 4: Now, the next Windows Destination option is there. Here you have to select the Destination where you want to stream your Media. Select HTTP from here and then click on the Add button. You can also check the Display Locally option, which will stream media on your laptop too so you can know the media file is playing correctly on other devices. Click on the Next button now.

Step 5: Now, you can customize the HTTP setting. It is better to keep in the default setting and click on the Next button. To save network bandwidth, you can keep transcoding to the lower quality.

Step 6: In this window, you don't need to make any changes; click on the Stream button. If you were selected to display locally option, then the media will start playing on your computer. Your firewall will ask your permission if your firewall is enabled and then click on the Allow Access button.

Step 7: Click on the Media menu and choose Open Network Stream to connect to a stream.

Step 8: We are assuming that you have used HTTP. Now find out your IP address and enter an address like http://IP.Address:8080.

Note: If there is the custom path specified by you for the HTTP stream, then you have to specify the custom path here. Enter the address like http://IP.Address:8080/path in the address box. Finally, click on the Play button now.

Step 9: Now, your video will start playing on your other devices.

2. Use VLC to Stream Video to TV on Mac

VLC player is available for Mac users as well for free of cost. You can also stream videos to Apple TV using VLC for Mac devices. Using a VLC media player for Mac, you can easily stream videos from Mac to TV. For a situation, we are using a Mac computer as a source and Windows as the destination Machine. You can stream from VLC to TV on Mac also by following the same steps.

Step 1: First of all, you must search for your Mac's local address or name. To search it, go in the Preference > Sharing and now copy the local address name in front of the computer name. Save this name anywhere for later use.

Step 2: Now, on your Mac device, launch a VLC media player and go in the File menu from the top left and then select Streaming/Export Wizard. Now Check the Stream to Network option and press Next. This option allows you to stream movies and videos.

Step 3: Now, you have to choose an input file from your computer. Choose Select a Stream and browse the file from your local hard. Click the Next button to proceed.

Step 4: Now, you have to choose HTTP here in this Windows to play videos on more computers. There is no need to enter the Destination; leave the option empty.

Step 5: Now, on the Transcode page, you can choose the compression format if you want, this is not necessary, and in my case, I'd leave it blank. Now press the next button.

Step 6: In the Encapsulation format window, you can choose now how your video stream will be encapsulated. As for me, I would choose the MPEG TS format.

Step 7: In the next window, it will show you some additional streaming options. Here I am leaving them blank without touching.

Step 8: Now, click on the Next button and finally click on the Finish button.

Step 9: Now, on your Windows computer, launch a VLC media player and click on Media> Open Network Stream.

Step 10: Now write the address which you have copied and saved in Step 1. You have to enter the below address. My address will be entered like this: http://Admins-iMac.local:8080. Note that you must add 8080 at the end of the address.

Step 11: Now, videos of your Mac will be started playing on the Windows computer.

Reliable VLC Alternatives for All Platforms

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Vlc Media Player Mac Free

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Vlc Media Player Mac Big Sur Update