VideoLAN Wiki - User contributions [en]

Documentation:VLC for dummies

2013-12-07T01:12:13Z

KamranMackey:

{{Languages}}
Thank you for visiting this page to find out what the VLC media player is all about. '''Please Note''': this page is ''Under Construction'' and might change in the near future.

VLC media player (or VLC for short) is a FREE and Open Source Software Media Player. Features that make VLC the preferred media player for a lot of people are its excellent support for various Audio and Video codecs, the fact that it's cross platform and the open way of development.

This page describes the basic use of VLC. See [[Documentation:Play HowTo|VLC Play HowTo]] for a user guide and [[Documentation:Streaming HowTo|VLC Streaming HowTo]] for advanced streaming features.

== Prerequisites ==

To use VLC you need:
*A computer with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet Internet] access and an internet (web) browser (to [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/#download download VLC]). [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrXPcaRlBqo What is a web browser?]
*Media (audio or video) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_file files] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc Disc] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive optical drive] required to play discs).
*Audio output hardware (speakers, headphones) for audio playback.
*Knowledge about working with computer files and folders. [http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Working-with-files-and-folders Working with files and folders] ([http://windows.microsoft.com MSFT Windows]) [http://support.apple.com/kb/PH3725 How to open documents and folders] ([http://www.apple.com/osx/ Mac OS X]) [https://help.ubuntu.com/11.10/ubuntu-help/files.html Files, folders & search] ([http://ubuntu.com Ubuntu])

== The main interface ==

=== Interface overview ===
The following picture shows the names of the main controls in the VLC interface:

[[File:Interface1.png|800px]]

'''Note:''' This picture corresponds to the Windows XP version. In other systems, VLC might look slightly different.

=== Menu bar ===

[[Image:Menu bar.png|430x22px]]

The menu bar at the top contains commands that control VLC.

=== Track slider ===

[[Image:Track slider.png|433x16px]] The track slider is on top of the control buttons. It shows the progress of playing of the media file. You can drag the track slider left to rewind or right to forward the track being played.

Two timers at the left and righ ends of the track slider show the current playing position (left) and the total time (right) of the current track.

'''Note:''' When a media file is streamed (live), the position indicator of the track slider does not move because the total duration of the streaming is not known until it finishes.

=== Control buttons ===

[[Image:Control buttons.png|285x34px]]

The buttons below the slider control the playback.

From left to right they are:

*Play/Pause.
*Previous media in the playlist.
*Stop playback.
*Next media in the playlist.
*Toggle fullscreen (video only).
*Show extended settings: Audio effects, Video effects and Synchronization.
*Show playlist.
*Repeat: toggles between loop all, loop one, no loop (default).
*Random: Plays the files in the current playlist in a random order.

=== Volume control ===

[[Image:Volume control.png|104x34px]]

The volume control is located in the bottom right corner of the window. The small speaker icon is a button that mutes ([[File:Vlc 098a mute on.jpg]]) or un-mutes ([[File:Vlc 098a mute off.jpg|17x17px]]) the sound. The triangle to the right is a slider that shows the current playback volume. Clicking this slider modifies the volume. The playback volume is also displayed as a percentage number on top of this slider.

== Windows notification area (system tray) icon ==

When you start VLC media player, the application appears on the screen and a small icon {{VLC icon}} appears in the notification area (system tray). Clicking once this icon will hide VLC, and clicking it again will show it again. Hiding VLC does not close it, it continues to run in the background. Right clicking this icon brings up a menu with the following controls:
*''Hide/Show VLC media player''.
*''Play/Pause/Stop playback''.
*''Switch to Previous/Next track''.
*''Speed control''.
*''Increase/Decrease volume''.
*''Mute''.
*''Open media''.
*''Quit''.

== Tutorials ==

*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Installing_VLC|Installing VLC]]
**[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Installing_VLC#Windows|Windows]]
**[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Installing_VLC#Mac_OS_X|Mac OS X]]
**[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Installing_VLC#Linux|Linux]]
*[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic_Use/Interface|Basics of VLC]]
**Windows
***[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic_Use/Interface#Starting_VLC_Media_Player|starting VLC]] Double click the VLC icon [[File:Icon.png|32px]] on the desktop or from the start menu: select ''Programs'', select ''VideoLAN'' and select ''VLC media player''.
**[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic_Use/Open#Play_a_file|Playing media files stored in the computer]]
***Queuing files You can queue files by selecting multiple files at a time.
**[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic_Use/Open#Play_a_CD.2FDVD.2FVCD|Playing media from your optical reader]] (CD, DVD, Blu-Ray)
**[[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic_Use/Interface#Stopping_VLC_Media_Player|Closing VLC]]

== See also ==
*[[VLC HowTo]]
*[[Documentation:Play HowTo]]

*[[Common Problems]]
*Hotkeys
**[[QtHotkeys]] (Qt is the default graphical interface)
**[[Hotkeys table]]
**[[How to set global hotkeys]]

== External Links ==
*[http://www.videolan.org/support/faq.html F.A.Q.]
*[http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/help Windows Help and How-to]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrXPcaRlBqo What is a web browser?]
*[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCCCDDDC322A8AA82 Video tutorials (selected by Jan)]

{{Languages}}
[[Category:Documentation]]
[[Category:Stubs]]

Win32Compile

2013-12-06T04:51:05Z

KamranMackey:

This page will help you to compile the {{VLC}} for [[Windows]].

== Building Methods ==

If you want to build VLC from source, you have several choices:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Method
! Documentation
! Notes
|-
| '''MinGW on Linux'''
| [[Win32Compile#Obtaining_the_toolchain|Obtaining the toolchain]]
| '''Preferred''' method (uses cross compilation). On Windows, you should do it in a virtual machine.
|-
| '''[http://www.mingw.org MSYS+MinGW]''' on Windows
| [[Win32CompileMSYS|Compile with MSys]]
| '''Native''' compilation method. MSYS is a minimal build environment to compile Unixish projects under Microsoft Windows.
|-
| '''Cygwin''' on Windows
| [[Win32CompileCygwinNew|Compile with Cygwin]]
| Build using cygwin as your compile environment. '''Error''' prone, and '''slow'''.
|}

== Obtaining the cross-compilation toolchain ==

=== Compiler and binary toolchain ===

==== Mingw-w64 ====
To compile VLC for Windows (32-bits or 64-bits), the Mingw-w64 toolchain is required:

* '''Debian/Ubuntu''': run <code>apt-get install gcc-mingw-w64-i686 g++-mingw-w64-i686 mingw-w64-tools</code>
(on Debian you must be on wheezy or above to find this package)

==== Mingw32 ====
Up to versions 2.0.x, VLC was compiled with the older mingw32 toolchain, which only supports 32-bits Windows. If you have problems with mingw-w64, you can try mingw32 instead:

* '''Debian/Ubuntu''': run <code>apt-get install gcc-mingw32 mingw32-binutils</code>. Note that at least version 3.17 of Mingw32 is required, which Debian does not provide. You may obtain mingw32-runtime-3.17 [http://people.videolan.org/~jb/debian/mingw32-runtime_3.17.0-0videolan_all.deb here].
* '''Gentoo''' users can <code>emerge crossdev && crossdev mingw32</code>
* '''ArchLinux''' users can <code>pacman -S mingw32-gcc</code>
* '''Fedora''' users should read [[Win32Compile Under Fedora]]
* Other '''Linux''' systems may attempt http://www.mingw.org/wiki/LinuxCrossMinGW

=== Development tools ===
You will also need:
* lua (5.1 or 5.2)
* all autotools: libtool, automake, autoconf, autopoint, make, gettext
* pkg-config
* qt4-dev-tools
* git
* subversion
* cmake, cvs if you want to rebuild contribs
* zip [for creating .zip package], p7zip [for .7z package], nsis [for .exe auto-installer], bzip2 [for 'make prebuild]

=== Host triplet ===
A number of example commands below include the identifier of the toolchain. This value is '''essential''': it instructs the build system to use the correct toolchain and compile the program for Windows. Without the value, the build system will perform a native compilation for Linux (or whatever your computer runs). With an incorrect value, the build will fail.

This is known as the ''host triplet'', although it's more of a pair than a triplet in the case of Mingw. The exact value depends on your installation of the toolchain. Notably on Debian/Ubuntu, these values must be used:

* ''i686-w64-mingw32'' for Windows 32-bits, using the Mingw-w64 toolchain
* ''x86_64-w64-mingw32'' for Windows 64-bits, using the Mingw-w64 toolchain
* ''i586-mingw32msvc'' for Windows 32-bits, using the Mingw32 toolchain

Again, you '''MUST''' substitute the value in the following command snippets.

== Get the source code ==
$ git clone git://git.videolan.org/vlc.git vlc

See [[Git]] for more information.

== Go into the VLC directory ==
$ cd vlc

== Prepare [[Contrib Status|3rd party libraries]] ==

Before compiling VLC, you need lots of other libraries. Here is how to get them:

$ mkdir -p contrib/win32
$ cd contrib/win32
$ ../bootstrap --host=i686-w64-mingw32
$ make prebuilt

or, if you want to compile the contribs yourself and are feeling adventurous and have lots of time to burn,
# apt-get install subversion yasm cvs cmake

$ mkdir -p contrib/win32
$ cd contrib/win32
$ ../bootstrap --host=i686-w64-mingw32
$ make fetch
$ make

=== Linux 64-bit ===

If you are on Linux '''64-bit''', you '''SHOULD''' remove some files, or install the lib32 packages (ia32-libs, multilibs, etc...)

$ rm -f ../i686-w64-mingw32/bin/moc ../i686-w64-mingw32/bin/uic ../i686-w64-mingw32/bin/rcc

In addition, install the ''qt4-tools'' package.

=== Fix your contrib path ===

If your Mingw prefix is not ''i686-w64-mingw32'' (you are NOT on Debian or Ubuntu), create a symlink to contribs:
$ ln -sf ../i686-w64-mingw32 ../i486-mingw32

=== Go Back ===

Go back to the VLC source directory:

$ cd -

== Configuring the build ==

=== Bootstrap ===
First, prepare the tree:
$ ./bootstrap

=== Configure ===
Then you can to configure the build with the <code>./configure</code> script.

Create a subfolder:
$ mkdir win32 && cd win32

Use the standard configuration:
$ ../extras/package/win32/configure.sh --host=i686-w64-mingw32
'''NB''': use '''YOUR''' Xcompiling prefix here, like ''i486-mingw32''

Alternatively, you can run configure manually:
$ ../configure --host=i686-w64-mingw32
See <code>'../configure --help'</code> for more information.

== Building VLC ==

Once configured, to build VLC, just run:
$ make

== Packaging VLC ==
Once the compilation is done, you can build self-contained VLC packages with the following <code>make</code> rules:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Command
! Description
|-
| <code>make package-win-common</code>
| Creates a subdirectory named <code>vlc-x.x.x</code> with all the binaries. You can run VLC directly from this directory.
|-
| <code>make package-win-strip</code>
| Same as above but will create 'stripped' binaries (that is, smallest size, unusable with a debugger).
|-
| <code>make package-win32-7zip</code>
| Same as above but will package the directory in a 7z file.
|-
| <code>make package-win32-zip</code>
| Same as above but will package the directory in a zip file.
|-
| <code>make package-win32</code>
| Same as above but will also create an auto-installer package. You must have NSIS installed in its default location for this to work.
|}

'''''Well done—you're ready to use VLC!'''''

[[Category:Building]]