Outstanding audio and video player
VLC has been playing videos and audio on desktops for more than a decade, so it made sense that as people increasingly choose to watch their videos on the move, this classic video app has made the jump to mobile too. If you’re looking for a way to watch videos and play audio - and both with a high degree of customizability - on your Android phone, then VLC for Android should be top of your list.
An excellent player for Android devices
This Windows classic ports perfectly to Android phones
VLC for Android is a well-designed, slick app that allows you to watch videos and play audio on your Android phone. It trumps built-in video players by offering a huge degree of customizability in terms of both playback, ordering, and app settings.
Remember - VLC for Android is a video player, not an editing app. Although you can carry out a few editing functions - like adding subtitles, audio tracks, and editing playlists, it’s primarily for reproducing, and not modifying.
VLC for Android remains faithful to its original color scheme but thankfully has brought its interface right up to scratch with a purpose-designed Android interface that, while not particularly cool, is intuitive and easy to use. You won’t have any problems finding your way around the app and even the video screen (while a video is playing) has some nice custom controls that do indeed make things easy.
We didn’t notice any delays as the app worked through our commands or played our media, and it’s nice to know that if we did have any issues, VLC has bunches of resources available, all honed and perfected since they first went online in 2001(!).
Where can can you run this program?
This version of VLC is for mobile phones and tablets running Android. There are versions of VLC for Windows, Mac, and iPhone on the VLC website.
Is there a better alternative?
Whether or not they're better is probably up to you, but there are plenty of alternatives to VLC. The fact that VLC is open-source has always been a pro, but there are others that aren't and have managed to make an app that's a bit faster and slicker. VLC is an app that has been pretty unattractive in the past - recent versions go a long way to fix this, but there are probably alternatives - like KMPlayer, UMPlayer, and DivX - that don't come with so much baggage.
Our take
If you've been on the internet for a while, you may have a soft spot for VLC. One things for sure - it's reliable, solid and 100% does the job of playing your music and video files. That said, even though it's a classic, it's not the fastest or the slickest, and users notice that kind of thing. We also wonder how many people actually need a standalone video and music player these days, when so many get their entertainment from Netflix and Spotify. If you do need a standalone player, you're probably quite demanding when it comes to playback and, if that's the case, you might take issue that VLC isn't quite the youngster it once was.
Should you download it?
Yes. If you're looking for a standalone video and music player, sure, give it a whirl. If not, then we doubt you even need an app like this no matter how solid it is.