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What app is so useful, you can’t believe it’s free? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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[–] 412 points 2 years ago (20 children)

VLC is a big one for me.

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  • [–] 103 points 2 years ago* (10 children)

    some new weird video format opens windows stock media player because it's not yet associated with vlc

    "Hey.. it looks like your going to have to buy a codec..."

    manually open in vlc where it runs seemlessly

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  • [–] 28 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I'll take "things that haven't happened to me in years for a dollar Alex".

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  • [–] 26 points 2 years ago

    A variation happened to me last week that's why it came to mind. Was opening an mp4 recorded on a digital camera on a new laptop. So the stock player had a go and gave a message similar to the above. vlc was installed moments later and of course had no issue..

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    People buy codecs?

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    Yep. You need to pay for the patent with certain codecs, that's why operating systems with a company behind them usually do not distribute them. Same with a few Linux distros, such as Fedora.

    You can install them and the packages for your os are freely available. Just not from the company making the product in the fear of patent trolls.

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  • [–] -4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

    Literally never heard of the end user being billed for the codecs.

    [Edit]: I think I should rephrase. Could I please be informed about how are codecs priced?

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    Always have been. It's either included in licensing a software or operating systems. VLC ffmpeg and other open source software are a bit of a grey area since they don't make money from the software strictly speaking.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    VLC is pretty great. I would say IINA is at least a close second on Mac. Haven’t had a problem playing anything in it yet.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    VLC just managed to get some newer video files to play for me on a 10 year old tablet that wouldn't play them with it's included video player. It was also one of the only apps on the play store that would still work on that old tablet as well. It's been my go-to video player for years now, terrific software 🥂

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    I agree that it's cool and all, but I just really don't like VLC. It's ugly, bad UX and misses some major features. I love other similar and also free ones thoigh, like PotPlayer, MPC and MPV.

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