VLC HowTo/Play multiple instances

In version .8.5 it was easy to have multiple instances of VLC playing each with its unique stream of data.

In versions 2.1.x playing multiple VLC instances and different streams in each is as easy as clicking tools -> Preferences... (or just press ctrl+p)(note this does not exist on the Mac version):

after unticking the two checkboxes it should look like this,then click on save

• in Interface tab scroll down to playlist and instances
• untick checkbox Allow only one instance
• untick checkbox use only one instance when started from file manager
• Press Save.

This allows users to use more than one VLC player at a time.Once you've done the above you should be able to play as many VLC instances and video or audio files as you like.

(on Windows, this may not apply to other OS's):

Mac OS X

On the Mac, running multiple instances of VLC is not supported out of the box.

As a workaround, you can create a Droplet that behaves as expected. Paste the code below into a new AppleScript Editor script and save it as an application.

• launch the VLC droplet/app to get a separate instance of VLC,
• drop one or more files onto VLC droplet/app, or
• associate your .mov, .avi, and other files directly with the VLC droplet/app, allowing you to simply click on the files to launch the files in a new standalone VLC session.

on run
    do shell script "open -n /Applications/VLC.app"
end run

on open theFiles
    repeat with theFile in theFiles
        do shell script "open -na /Applications/VLC.app " & quote & (POSIX path of theFile) & quote
    end repeat
end open

File Association with the Droplet can be done as follows:

1. Open Finder and find the video file of interest.
2. Right click on the file (assumes you have right click enabled)
3. Choose "Get Info"
4. Under "Open with:", click dropdown and select the VLC droplet.
5. Click "Change All" button.
6. If prompted "are you sure", select "Yes"

See also

• See also Category:How To