VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.
It is a free cross-platform media player
It supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs

It can also be used as a streaming server, with extended features (video on demand, on the fly transcoding, ...)

Features

• Free, Open Source and cross-platform
  
• Independant of systems codecs to support most video types
  
• Live recording
  
• Instant pausing and Frame-by-Frame support
  
• Finer speed controls
  
• New HD codecs (AES3, Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD, Blu-Ray Linear PCM, Real Video 3.0 and 4.0, ...)
  
• New formats (Raw Dirac, M2TS, ...) and major improvements in many formats...
  
• New Dirac encoder and MP3 fixed-point encoder
  
• Video scaling in fullscreen
  
• RTSP Trickplay support
  
• Zipped file playback
  
• Customizable toolbars
  
• Easier encoding GUI in Qt interface
  
• Better integration in Gtk environments
  
• MTP devices on linux
  
• AirTunes streaming
  
• New skin for the skins2 interface

Input formats

• MPEG (ES,PS,TS,PVA,MP3)
  
• ID3 tags
  
• AVI
  
• ASF / WMV / WMA
  
• MP4 / MOV / 3GP
  
• OGG / OGM / Annodex
  
• Matroska (MKV)
  
• WAV (incuding DTS)
  
• Raw Audio: DTS, AAC, AC3/A52
  
• Raw DV
  
• FLAC
  
• FLV (Flash)

Input media

• UDP/RTP Unicast
  
• UDP/RTP Multicast
  
• HTTP / FTP
  
• MMS
  
• File
  
• DVD 1
  
• VCD
  
• SVCD 2
  
• Audio CD (without DTS)
  
• MPEG encoder 3
  
• Video acquisition

Video Decoders

• MPEG-1/2
  
• DIVX (1/2/3)
  
• MPEG-4, DivX 5, XviD, 3ivX D4
  
• H.264
  
• Sorenson 1/3 (Quicktime)
  
• DV
  
• Cinepak
  
• Theora (alpha 3)
  
• H.263 / H.263i
  
• MJPEG (A/
  
• WMV 1/2
  
• WMV 3 / WMV-9 / VC-1 4, 5
  
• Indeo Video v3 (IV32)

Subtitles

• DVD 6
  
• SVCD / CVD
  
• DVB
  
• OGM
  
• Matroska
  
• Text files (MicroDVD, SubRIP, SubViewer, SSA1-5, SAMI, VPlayer)
  
• Vobsub

Filters

• Deinterlace
  
• Cropping
  
• Image wall
  
• Image adjust
  
• Rotate/Mirror
  
• Logo overlay
  
• Magnification
  
• Image distortion
  
• Bluescreen
  
• RSS/Atom feeds

Outputs

• Native DirectX, GDI
  
• SDL
  
• ASCII Art

Audio Decoders

• MPEG Layer 1/2
  
• MP3
  
• AC3 - A/52
  
• DTS
  
• LPCM
  
• AAC
  
• Vorbis
  
• WMA 1/2
  
• WMA 3 7
  
• ADPCM
  
• DV Audio
  
• FLAC
  
• QDM2/QDMC (QuickTime)
  
• MACE
  
• Real Audio 8
  
• Speex

Filters

• Visualization effects
  
• Equalizer

Outputs

• Native DirectX WaveOut
  
• S/PDIF DirectX WaveOut
  
• Multi-channel DirectX WaveOut
  
• SDL

Streaming

• Interfaces and control
  
• Default WxWidgets
  
• Qt 4
  
• Skins
  
• Web
  
• Telnet
  
• Command line

Miscellaneous

• SAP/SDP announces
  
• Bonjour protocol
  
• Mozilla/Firefox plugin
  
• ActiveX plugin
  
• SVCD Menus
  
• Localization
  
• CD-Text 10
  
• CDDB CD info 11
  
• IPv6
  
• IGMPv3 Win XP
  
• CPU acceleration 13
  
• Additional skins are available at the developer's website.