VLC was once the best in class. Not only was it a great piece of legacy software, the Android team were so passionate that they took that reputation and all the expectations that go along with it and exceeded it.

But as time has gone on, it’s just started to languish. If you attempt to rewind a few too many times, the video freezes and you get audio. You can’t play a folder on a NAS without creating a playlist. You play a folder locally without VLC losing its place. Every time the screen goes off, it needs to scan the device anew. And despite being at the forefront of Holo Design and Material Design 1, it’s yet to implement Material You.

It feels like VLC for Android has been forgotten… So what do people recommend as a replacement?

  • finthechat
    14•9 months ago

    VLC has shown its age for like, the last 9 years now. There are a lot of minor inconveniences with the program that add up and have made me seek out better options. However, I haven’t managed to completely get away from it since it still plays everything and mostly does what I want it to do.

    The next best option I’ve found in the last year is KMPlayer. Lots of customization, mostly plays all files (AV1 stuff still crashes my KMP despite me having the codecs installed, whatever), and the video image doesn’t artifact if you seek back and forth a lot like it does in VLC.

    Edit: just realized which community I was in. There is a free Android version, though I have never used it. FWIW, I use KMP on desktop with strict firewall filters to block it from doing anything sus.

    • @loki@lemmy.mlEnglish
      7•9 months ago

      Afaik KMPlayer on Android uses libVLC, so it’s still just a wrapper of VLCs player library.

  • Bernard MarxEnglish
    3•7 months ago

    VLC is still my favorite all around player, and I would recommend supporting them with some funding to fix the bugs. You can try Auxio for local music and MPV for videos. There are many clients for streaming from your own server or others. It just depends on the protocol or platform you want to scrape.

  • KptnAutismus
    3•9 months ago

    i personally run my own jellyfin server. the interface isn’t quite there yet, but it’s overall more usable. not sure it’d fit your use case though.

  • CuriousGoo
    3•9 months ago

    Hasn’t VLC in general been forgotten by the devs ? I don’t remember last when I updated VLC (I don’t have automatic updates enabled).

    Not that this is a concern for my usecase though, I’m okay as long as it is chugging along.

    Edit: I meant to specify that I don’t just mean the android port, Windows and Linux as well.

    • TigrisMorte
      10•9 months ago

      Oh, noes, almost a full Year old!!! Version 3.0.18 Release date 2022-11-29

      Release-history
      Version Codename Release date
      3.0.16 Vetinari 2021-06-21
      3.0.17 2022-04-19
      3.0.18 2022-11-29
      4.0.x Otto Chriek

  • rhythmisaprancer
    3•9 months ago

    I’m not sure what all is going on with it, but mine will randomly start playing the last song I was listening to when I disconnect from a Bluetooth device or turn off Bluetooth. Not always, just sometimes. Even if I haven’t used it for a month 😐

    I’d be in to something new, also.