VLC 3.0 Update Adds Cross-Platform 4K and 8K Hardware Decoding, HDR10, Chromecast Support, and More

Saturday February 10, 2018 3:14 AM PST by Tim Hardwick
VideoLAN on Friday released VLC 3.0 "Vetinari", a major update to the popular media player that is rolling out across all platforms, including macOS, iOS, and tvOS.

Version 3 includes a huge number of new features and improvements to the app, including automatic hardware decoding for 4K and 8K playback, support for 10-bit HDR, 360-degree video and 3D audio, and Chromecast streaming with support for non-native formats.


VLC now works with Blu-Ray Java menus and features network browsing support for local network and NAS drives, including those with SMB, FTP, SFTP, NFS filesystems. The iOS app has also been optimized for iPhone X displays, while on Mac, Chromecast streaming to supported devices can be found in the menu bar under Playback -> Renderer.

Among many other changes and improvements in VLC Vetinari, further standout features include: a redesigned and resizable fullscreen controller; a new status bar icon which displays metadata and play controls; support for keyboard blacklight dimming during fullscreen video playback; significant performance improvements in playlist handling; and a simplified preferences window. Check the online changelog for the complete list of updates.

VLC 3.0 is a free downloaded for Mac from the VideoLan website. (Note that version 3.0.0 of VLC removes support for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and requires Mac systems to run OS X 10.7 Lion or later.) VLC 3.0.0 is already available on the tvOS App Store, but the iPhone and iPad update still appears to be rolling out as of writing.

Tag: VLC
81 comments


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HobeSoundDarryl
27 weeks ago
Wow! Way to go VLC team! A big pile of video upgrades for a whopping cost of free, and no ongoing subscription required either. Amazing.
Rating: 21 Votes
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berrymetal
27 weeks ago
I switched to IINA and never looked back...
Rating: 16 Votes
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Kabeyun
27 weeks ago
First I’m hearing about 8K. Wow. That’s a lot of K. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. At a certain point consumers really won’t need any more K, but there’ll always be a push for more K. At 4K, I already get treated to the skin pores of the actors I’m watching. With 8K I’ll be able to enjoy actors’ pimples and pores on a screen the size of a bus. I think the K people might be in cahoots with the TV people. I guess that’s O-K.
Rating: 9 Votes
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Secondempire
27 weeks ago
I like the new Yosemite style icon. Call it OCD if you want, but the old Leopard style icon was really annoying after macOS went flat.
Rating: 4 Votes
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haddy
27 weeks ago

If you are on macOS you should be using IINA. It has the most streamline "mac/quicktime look" out of any player in respect to the power it packs. It's got everything and possibly the most power out of any Mac video player. It's still in development (alpha currently), but runs like it's polished. It is based on the MPV player.

If you are on Windows you should be using MPC-HC with customization guides out there to get the best for your needs. When I need to bitstream Dolby Atmos to my theater set-up, and make sure the projector is also getting the best frames through 'madVR' and filters, MPC-HC covers everything I need.

Respect to VLC for making an effort here, but most people stopped using VLC years ago because it's so resource heavy.

Ok...used IINA for awhile but couldn't get my Mira infrared remote to work with it (had to use my mouse). VLC does. And to be honest VLC seems actually better than IINA.....so i'll wait until IINA comes of age before trying it again.
Rating: 3 Votes
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gim
27 weeks ago
Kinda surprised that the mac version was released on the same day as the windows update.
Long overdue, hopefully it runs better now.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Guy Clark
27 weeks ago
Great makeover for the greatest MultiMedia player.

As it has done so for years VLC continues to stand Head and Shoulders above all other Media players.
Rating: 3 Votes
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CJM
27 weeks ago
Ah Vetinari. He didn't administer a reign of terror, just the occasional light shower.
Rating: 3 Votes
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nathansz
27 weeks ago
surprised to read so much vlc hate.

must be near 20 years and over many different os from mac to win to bsd and back again and countless machines from the shiniest new box to the alley salvage find. vlc is always one of the first few softwares i put on a machine

it’s never failed me and always does what i need it to do

for me, it always has and still does play any video file, in any format, from any source (networked or locally) at the best possible quality given the machine it is running on

and it can do so much more than that

for free software to have that kind of quality and longevity is amazing

to me anyway


if it doesn’t work for you than yr prob doing it wrong
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Respect to VLC for making an effort here, but most people stopped using VLC years ago because it's so resource heavy.


what do you mean by “resource heavy” exactly?

i’ve always found vlc to be quite capable on machines with slow old cpu’s and meagre amounts of ram
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I tried on my 2017 iMac and VLC doesn't seem to use HW acceleration for 4K HEVC.
IINA does it.


what real world use case does this difference affect
Rating: 3 Votes
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HobeSoundDarryl
27 weeks ago

Hey Gang...

Can someone explain to me in layman‘s terms about VLC… i used to be able to watch movies with VLC on my computer a very long time ago… But how is it used for Apple TV and an iPhone…?

What is VLC primarily used for… Thanks guys - again this is just a general question about VLC and who really uses it…

I’m so out of the loop at this point I don’t know what it is used for primarily


Key functionality is right on the front page: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/ This page gets a bit more specific: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/features.html

I think of it as a "Swiss Army Knife" of video players- just throw about anything at it. When I end up with a file that won't play in QT, it almost certainly will play in VLC. For example, a client might shoot something or have something in a non QT-friendly format. Or maybe they've got an OLD video- maybe a logo render- in something long in tooth. Try QT- fail (to play). Try VLC- probably plays.

And visiting their specs page, I see the audio formats list seems significantly larger than I remember, so that would- IMO- modify the above definition to "Swiss Army Knife" of video & audio formats.
Rating: 2 Votes
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