OldFAQ

Answers to some common problems people encounter with VLC. More help is available in the

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Problems playing files

Problems with types of files

WMV files

• The latest versions of WMV video (known as wmv3) are not supported by VLC. This format will be supported when the specs are made public - expected to be within a year. On some Windows systems they can be played now, as VLC will attempt to decode the files using software included with Windows.

Real Media files

• Realmedia files (.rm, .rpm, etc) are proprietary (ie, copyrighted) file formats, created by RealNetworks. Because of this, VLC can't support them at present.

QuickTime Files (.mov)

• Mov file doesn't play, but plays ok in QuickTime
  • open the url in QuickTime player
  • let it decide which datarate is best for your connection
  • let it play for a few seconds, then pause it
  • open the stream info, copy the url
  • open & save that one in VLC

Poor Quality Video and Audio

The video runs but the picture is distorted

The Official FAQ page also answers this question – the important points from there are mentioned below.

• Linux: There is probably a problem with the output layer. There are several ways of troubleshooting it.
  • First, try with another output plugin, for instance:

     % vlc -V sdl

     % vlc -V x11

  • Second, change your screen depth and/or definition. It quite often helps.
  • Lastly, if running Unix, have a look at your XFree86 video driver.

Problems Playing DVDs

Unable to play any DVDs

The Official FAQ page also answers this question – the important points from there are mentioned below.

• Linux: To play DVDs with VLC in linux, you need to install the libdvdcss package
• Make sure you have access rigths to your DVD player. In linux, you can use chmod to edit access rights to your DVD block device:
  • # chmod 666 /dev/dvd
  • The videolan FAQ seems to suggest you need write access to this device - is this true? If you know, please edit this entry.

Playing DVDs from other Region Codes

The Official FAQ page also answers this question – the important points from there are mentioned below.

• The ability to play DVDs from all regions depends mostly on your DVD drive, and testing it is usually the quickest way to find out if your DVD drive can do it. Most newer DVD drives are RPC2 drives, which don't allow raw access to the drive untill the drive firmware has done a regioncheck. VLC uses libdvdcss and it needs raw access to the DVD drive to crack the encryption key. So with these drives it is impossible to circumvent the region protection. (This goes for all software. You will need to flash your drives firmware, but sometimes there is no alternate firmware available for your drive). On other RPC2 drives that DO allow raw access, it might take VLC a long time to crack the key. So just pop the disc in your drive and try it out, while you get a coffee. RPC1 drives should 'always' work regardless of the regioncode.

Problems converting between file formats

Missing Audio and/or Video

• Certain containers (aka muxers) can only hold certain types of video and audio - look at Streaming features

Error Messages

Error messages can be viewed by selecting Messages from the View menu

main private error: no sout mux module matched "ts"

• This can be an error if libdvbpsi was not installed when vlc was compiled. To fix this error, install libdvbpsi; then re-compile vlc. libdvbpsi

main dialogs provider error: no dialogs provider module matched "any"

• The solution is found in the forum

= On Mac OS 9

The Official FAQ page also answers this question – the important points from there are mentioned below.

• Sorry, VLC will not work on OS 9, and probably never will. However, Mac OS X is supported.

Compiling VLC

How do I compile VLC?

• Look at how to compile VLC. There are pre-compiled (binary / executable) versions here.

Mozilla Firefox Plugin

• Debian: All you need is to download the vlc plugin package - mozilla-plugin-vlc (stable release)
• All Linux: To make the firefox plugin with the vlc player, you will first need the Firefox Development package (from: ubuntu ...). Then, when you compile, run ./configure with --enable-mozilla, and if needed with --with-mozilla-sdk-path=/path_to_firefox_sdk

Other Problems

AMR

• To use AMR, you'll need to compile vlc and ffmpeg with amr support yourself. This is because the amr license is not compatible with the vlc license.

ratDVD

• VLC does not support ratDVD

I only want one VLC player!

• To use the same VLC player for all the media files, go to Settings, Preferences

Editing VLC Settings

Configuration File

The Official FAQ page also answers this question – the important points from there are mentioned below.

• There is one configuration file per user, stored at
  • Linux and Unix: $(HOME)/.vlc/vlcrc
  • Mac OS X: HOME/Library/Preferences/VLC
  • Windows 95/98/ME: C:\Windows\Application Data\vlc\vlcrc
  • Windows XP/2000: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\vlc\vlcrc
  • BeOS: config/settings/vlcrc

VLC has Strange Behaviour

The Official FAQ page also answers this question – the important points from there are mentioned below.

• The first thing to do is to reset the VLC preferences in the preferences dialog of the application and restart VLC. If VLC doesn't even start anymore, delete VLC's configuration file (where is it?). Then restart VLC. If it does not get any better, read the rest of this page or FAQ page, or ask for help at the forum.