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 version .8.6x playing multiple VLC instances and different streams in each is as easy as clicking Settings -> Preferences... (note this does not exist on the Mac version):

• Advanced (tick Advanced options to see all the options available)
  • Allow only one running instance (untick it)

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

In version 0.9.6 (on Windows, this may not apply to other OS's):

• You must also go to Tools -> Preferences -> (set "Show settings" to "All") -> Advanced, and uncheck "One instance when started from file".

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 app to get a separate instance of VLC, or drop one or more files onto it.

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

See also

• See also Category:How To