View source for Python bindings

== Python bindings ==
The bindings feature:

* Complete coverage of the libvlc API, since it is automatically generated from the include files.
* No compilation hassles: the generated module is pure python.
* [https://www.olivieraubert.net/vlc/python-ctypes/doc/ API documentation].

=== Download ===
The preferred install method is through PyPI:

 pip install python-vlc

or (if you are using python3):

 pip3 install python-vlc

You can also download the [https://git.videolan.org/?p=vlc/bindings/python.git;a=tree;f=generated;b=HEAD vlc.py] module from the Git repository. It only depends on ctypes (standard module in python >= 2.5). Put the module in some place accessible by python (either next to your application, or in a directory from sys.path).

Alternatively, you can generate it by yourself using the generate.py program and accompanying files in the vlc source tree (see [https://git.videolan.org/?p=vlc/bindings/python.git;a=tree]).

Note that this only installs the python module itself, which depends on the availability of the libvlc libraries. You must also install VLC itself to get these libraries.

=== Usage ===
The vlc.py file also contains a runnable example player application (see code at the end of the file, starting from the line <code>if __name__ == '__main__'</code>).

A set of helper examples [https://git.videolan.org/?p=vlc/bindings/python.git;a=tree;f=examples;hb=HEAD examples] provide a pyGtk, a pyQt and a pyWx player to ease integration.

There is also a [https://git.videolan.org/?p=vlc/bindings/python.git;a=blob_plain;f=README.rst README]

Note: you must install VLC before using it through Python.

=== Projects using this binding ===
https://code.google.com/p/movie-content-editor/ See also [[LibVLC_Users]]

=== FAQ ===
====  Win32 initialization ====
When initializing <code>vlc.Instance()</code> with no parameter, it tries to guess the location of the modules. However, if you pass any argument to <code>vlc.Instance()</code>, you will need to supply the appropriate <kbd>--plugin-path=/path/to/the/modules</kbd> yourself.

==See also==
* [[Old Python bindings]] - The old, obsolete python bindings that are no longer used and since then removed. Kept only for historical interest.

[[Category:Bindings]]