Some of the important features about Open VLC Media Player extension are listed below. This is followed by an overview about this extension. This summary contains few words about the extension, its function and features. Next is FAQ, this section is useful to get information about how this extension works in your browser.
Feature:
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Right click on any link and then click on Open link in VLC.
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You can open, watch or listen to live media contents as-well (if VLC supports the format).
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Captures the link from any text within the page (for those links that are not like hyperlinks).
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You can set the VLC path in your PC from the options page.
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Available for all browsers and platforms.
Frequently Asked Questions
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1. What is Open VLC Media Player extension?
Open in VLC™ is a multi-browser extension to enable you open a desired link in a VLC application. In order to operate with this extension you need a native-client patch to connect your browser with native VLC application (VideoLAN) in your OS. Please read the following to get more info on how to install and operate with this extension.
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2. What is VLC?
VLC or VideoLan is a free and open-source media player, which can play almost any types of media file (audio or video). Moreover, it has the ability to play streaming music or video. As mentioned above, Open VLC Media Player extension gives you the ability to open online media contents in your VLC player. Once you open media in external VLC application, the burden for playing the media will be placed on the VLC application and not the browser itself. This way, you can experience a faster, smoother and better browsing experience. Plus, while watching the media, you can still continue browsing in your browser.
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3. How to work with this extension?
When you first install the extension, please head to the options page and adjust the path for VLC. Depending on your operating system, the path to VLC could be different. For example, in windows 10 the path is: “C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe”. Please re-check this path in your OS and make sure it is correct. Once you set the correct path to VLC in the options page, please install the native-client patch. This patch is used to make the communication between the extension and VLC (native app). Please read the following to get more info about installing native-client patch on your machine.
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4. What is native-client?
Native client patch is used for connecting your browser (Firefox, Chrome and Opera) with native applications on your machine (Windows, Linux and Mac). If you have an add-on in your browser that needs to communicate with an external application on your computer, this native client patch can be used to easily make this connection.
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5. How can I install native-client patch?
After installing the extension, you need to connect it with native applications (i.e. VLC) on your machine. In order to make this connection, a separate patch is provided in GitHub. Please download and install this patch from here. Follow the instruction in the GitHub page to download and install the related patch to your system. After installing, the “Open VLC Media Player” extension in your browser can communicate with VLC media player on your machine (Window, Linux or Mac).
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6. Can I choose to open text content in VLC?
No, VLC is just a media player and cannot read or open text content. Please make sure to only open media contents (music or video) with VideoLan.
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7. Why some media contents do not play in VLC media player?
There are many factors which may prevent online contents to play in VLC. For example, the VLC may not be able to capture the required codec(s). Also, some websites may not provide the link to video or audio directly. There might be a pre-step (i.e. clicking on a button or etc.) to generated the streaming audio or video and therefore, VLC wont be able to play the content.
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8. Does this extension has any toolbar button?
No, this extension does not have toolbar button. The only way to access it is through context-menu item available in your right-click.
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9. What happens if I click on non-link contents within a page?
When you click on a non-link item in a page, the extension automatically extracts the link content from the item and if it cannot extract the link content, it gives you an error message that VLC cannot be opened for this item.
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10. Does this extension available for mobile browsers?
No, currently it is only available for desktop machines. But, in future, it may be released for mobile browsers as well.
How do the extensions work?
To operate with this addon you need a native-client patch to connect your browser with native VLC application in your OS. When you first install the addon, please head to the options page and adjust the path for VLC player. Depending on your operating system, the path to VLC could be different. For example, in windows 10 the path is: “C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe“.
Please re-check this path in your OS and make sure it is correct. Once you set the correct path to VLC in the options page, please install the native-client patch. This patch is used to make the communication between the addon and VLC (native app).
Native-Client patch for Window, Linux and Mac
How to work with native-client:
Native client patch is used for connecting your browser (Firefox, Chrome and Opera) with native applications on your machine (Windows, Linux and Mac). If you have an add-on in your browser that needs to communicate with an external application on your computer, this native client patch can be used to easily make this connection.
In order to install “native-client” on your system please follow the below steps.
- Download and extract the related ZIP file to your machine. If you have windows OS, please download “win.zip”, for Mac OS, use “mac.zip” and for Linux please use “linux.zip”.
- Open the downloaded folder and then click on “install.bat”. You can open “install.bat” with any text editor to see the inside in case you are interested.
- Wait for the screen to display the successful message.
- Now the add-on in your browser is fully connected to native applications (i.e. a media player) on your machine.
In order to uninstall “native-client” from your system, please follow the below steps.
- Open the downloaded folder and then click on “uninstall.bat”.
- Wait for the script to display the successful message.