View source for Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use

{{RightMenu|documentation play howto toc 0.9}}

'''Note: this documentation is for versions 0.9 and newer and is under construction. For simple help with 0.9 see [[Documentation:VLC for dummies| VLC for dummies: an introduction to VLC]]. For older versions please see and [[Documentation:Play_HowTo/Basic_Use|Basic Use]].'''

==About VLC media player==
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3 and ogg. It also plays DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming networks. In addition to playing audio and video files, VLC media player provides additional formats which can be played and customized.
 
VLC media player was initially known as VideoLAN Client. However, in recent years, the software has also become an extremely powerful server to stream live and on-demand video in several formats to the intranet network and the Internet.

It started as a student project at the French École Centrale, Paris, but is now a worldwide project with developers from more than 20 countries. 

VLC is built in a modular way. This means that you can choose from a range of different modules to decide how to control VLC and how to display the video output.

<b>Note: The screenshots are taken from the MS Windows XP version. On other operating systems they might appear slightly different.</b>

==Understanding the VLC interface==
See [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.9/Interface]]

==Audio==
See [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.9/Audio]]

==Video==
See [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.9/Video]]

==Playback==
See [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.9/Playback]]

==Playlist==
See [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.9/Playlist]]

==Subtitles==
See [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.9/Subtitles]]

==Video and audio filters==
See [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.9/Video and Audio Filters]]

==Snapshots (aka, screenshots)==
See [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.9/Snapshots]]

==Hotkeys==
:''See also: [[QtHotkeys]], [[HotKeys]], [[How to set global hotkeys]].''
See [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.9/Hotkeys]]

==Basic troubleshooting==
See [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Basic Use 0.9/Basic troubleshooting]]