14 DAY TRIAL // The open-source VLC Media Player app from VideoLAN reached a major milestone today as it just passed the 3 billion downloads mark on the project's official website.
VLC is probably the most popular cross-platform media playback application available to date, used by millions of computer users worldwide on all major platforms, including GNU/Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Chrome OS, and even Windows Phone OS.
It became one of the most popular media player apps mostly because of its ability to play any type of video without needing a codec pack. Most of the widely used video and audio codecs are incorporated into the application for a hassle-free video playback experience.
But you probably already knew that and already using VLC as your main video player app on your personal computer, tablet, or mobile phones. What you probably didn't know, is that VLC reached has been downloaded more than 3 billion times on the official website.
The statistics provided by developer VideoLAN aren't for a specific platform as those are managed via OS app stores, including GNU/Linux distribution repositories. We're talking here about how many times the app has been downloaded from the official website.
The one billion downloads mark was hit in 2012 and the 2 billion downloads mark in 2016. VideoLAN is present these days at CES 2019 in Las Vegas and celebrated the major milestone with a futuristic countdown at their booth, and said that they're working on VLC 4, a massive release that would add long-anticipated features.
VLC 3.0.6 is out now, AirPlay support coming soon
The 3 billion downloads mark was probably reached today thanks to the sixth update in the "Vetinari" series. VLC 3.0.6 adds support for 12 bits AV1 decoding, adds HDR support in AV1 if the container provides the metadata, and fixes an issue for DVD subtitles.
You can download VLC 3.0.6 for GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows right now through our free software portal or directly from the official website if you want to contribute to future download milestones.
Meanwhile, VideoLAN promises to add AirPlay support to VLC for Android, according to developer Jean-Baptiste Kempf (via Variety), allowing users to stream videos from their mobile devices to Apple TVs. AirPlay support should be available in an update next month.
In front of an audience at #CES2019 we reached the 3 billion downloads of #VLC in live. What an amazing journey! See you in a billion :-) pic.twitter.com/sncDsiQ1J3 — Ludovic Fauvet (@etixxx) January 10, 2019