Readying VLC on WinRT

2 December 2013

WinRT platforms

So, here is an update about our port on WinRT platforms.

I now say WinRT platforms, but that means:

  • Windows 8/8.1 ModernUI Metro
  • Windows Phone 8
  • XBox One? (who knows?)

The WinRT platforms have mostly 2 flavors: x86 and ARM. And we’ll try to be on both of them.

VLC port status

We have now:

  • support for all usual VLC formats, including MKV and FLAC,
  • audio :D
  • video, (with correct aspect ratios),
  • basic subtitles support,
  • file and network stream support,
  • a simple, but working UI,
  • passing the WACK certification,
  • working on Windows 8 and 8.1.

Screenshots

Those are the current screenshots, and you can even see some actual bugs. Main_Start_Screen.png Main-Library.png Playback_2.png Playback_3.png

Readying the release

We are preparing the release, fixing the important bugs, notably an audio crash that got us rejected from the store. We have numerous small bugs that are annoying, notably some thumbnails, crashing and the audio browsing part.

We hope to work on it until this week-end and then submit once again.

Open source

As soon as we have one release out, all the code will be open sourced, and we will welcome contributions, notably on the UI/XAML part.

ARM

At the same time, we’re spending quite a bit of time to get a working version for ARM, so we can deploy on Windows RT too. We don’t know exactly how much time, but we hope it’s a matter of weeks. The issues are mostly compiler related.

Windows Phone should not need a lot of extra work for the API, but will require some work for files management. Adaptation of the basic UI should be simple enough.

Thanks a lot.

Jean-Baptiste Kempf

VLC
WinRT

Comments

  1. On 30 May 30300, 8:22 by Charles

    Any updates? It’s almost been a month!

  2. On 28 May 28280, 3:18 by carfancy

    Hi,

    Any news ?

  3. On 28 May 28280, 2:51 by Stone

    Better late than never, and thank you still. Although I’ve been waiting for this release ever since I’ve got my Surface. It was very exciting for me when the funding on Kickstarter was completed, but I was really skeptical about the 3-month projection. But really, congrats, even though it is RT, you guys still got through! Nicely done!

  4. On 24 May 24240, 9:19 by Dmitrij D. Czarkoff

    All these three weeks I was checking VideoLAN site at least daily. Any hints about current progress?

  5. On 21 May 21210, 7:01 by supermann

    Hi Boss,

    Any chance the app will be soon released by the end of 2013? There are just so many knock-offs in the Windows App store right now. Would the official app be free with ad support? Thanks,

  6. On 20 May 20200, 9:31 by Magnus

    In the mean time if your looking to play mkv on windows rt try (press play) in the app store.

  7. On 18 May 18180, 7:36 by Shubh

    What is the final date for release of vlc for windows phone 8 ?? December is ended soon but we cant heard any news for its releasing date ?? Guyzz anyone know ??

  8. On 17 May 17170, 2:17 by jefro

    Great work. Not sure how you do this but good job.

  9. On 16 May 16160, 1:25 by Charles

    Any update on this? Has it been submitted for approval again? Would love to see it arrive before Xmas! Can’t wait to have a play around with the app.

    Cheers,

  10. On 15 May 15150, 6:44 by Generalzoard

    Ineed to download vcl player 1.2

  11. On 15 May 15150, 12:48 by fluffyhedgehog

    cant wait. i need this for my pc / htpc and especially for my surface2. looks so good, i am almost drooling :)

  12. On 13 May 13130, 4:57 by Indeever

    Great work guys, I am really looking forward to downloading the WindowsRT port soon. And I’ll keep on donating what I can spare. Project like these are worth supporting. Hope this goes out to you guys and helps you in some way.

  13. On 13 May 13130, 6:04 by unihorn

    When will appear in Windows Store? The week-end already ended. There will be the next week-end soon…

    I very much wait for VLC for ModernUI

    Best Regards.

  14. On 13 May 13130, 2:28 by Eolirin

    Xbox Video will play local files. Use the app bar or swipe to the left and select Open File. Xbox Music works similarly (just go to collection) for music files.

    What neither of them will do, however, is support mkvs or flacs, or a host of other formats. If it’s not one of MS’s preferred formats it won’t work at all.

  15. On 11 May 11110, 4:54 by kfreels

    Can’t wait for the RT version! Bought my daughters both an RT tablet for xmas not knowing that there is no native app for playing local media files. Everything I can find is based on streaming. How and why MS totally overlooked this I have no idea but I’m glad you guys are coming in to save the day!

  16. On 10 May 10100, 5:51 by konraditurbe

    Cant wait for VLC for wp8!!! Please, in advice, make it able to Play m3u8! :)

  17. On 9 May 9090, 6:45 by sebas

    Would love to contribute once the project goes open source! Looking forward to the release

    Good luck :)

  18. On 8 May 8080, 9:54 by Alex

    Thank you very much for your hard work. I have both a WinRT ARM tablet, and a WP8 device which will benefit greatly from genuine VLC ports!

    In the not-so-distant future I will be purchasing an Xbox One as well so that would be pretty epic, especially since the XB1 supports external HDDs or could stream over the network, The GCN cores should give you the horsepower to decode anything, and if necessary the audio DSPs could take weight off the CPU too. One day you could even potentially add Kinect audio command support. At least for basic stuff like Pause and Play.

    You should consider adding an in-app donation option for all WinRT versions, so that satisfied users could contribute with the click of a button. :-D

  19. On 7 May 7070, 6:46 by mpizza

    Woooo. Cant wait for this to be released. Thanks for the work guys.

  20. On 6 May 6060, 7:30 by alt92

    Great news :)
    Hopefully that will also mean all those bogus videoplayers in the Store trying to profit from VLC’s good standing finally will bite the dust.

  21. On 5 May 5050, 5:19 by unihorn

    It’s cool. I wait for release.

    Only thing but… IMHO. Instead of the name “VLC for Windows 8” it is better to use the name “VLC for ModernUI” (as more universal :)).

  22. On 5 May 5050, 5:07 by Z

    Congratulations!

    VLC on XBox One would be a huge success!

  23. On 4 May 4040, 2:03 by P

    Can’t wait for this release! I’m waiting til you release to buy my Surface 2, so couldn’t come fast enough! I’ll be watching this space

  24. On 4 May 4040, 11:15 by Plantje

    Will the Windows 8.1 RT version (so the ARM version) support .wtv files as well? I am really hoping for this!

  25. On 4 May 4040, 10:26 by Anonymous blog

    VLC voor Windows 8 en Windows Phone 8 komt er aan! - Pagina

    (…) En weer een update: Readying VLC on WinRT - Yet another blog for JBKempf (…)

  26. On 4 May 4040, 5:04 by Khanjan

    It looks awesome! I will download it.

  27. On 3 May 3030, 11:52 by Anonymous blog

    New screenshots of VLC app for Windows 8.1 surface as

    (…) The folks over at Neowin managed to obtain a few new screenshots of the app, which will debut for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 at first. Eventually, there will be a Windows RT version of the app. (…)

  28. On 3 May 3030, 3:31 by Anonymous blog

    VLC Media Player für Windows 8.1 vor der Fertigstellung

    (…) Dieser Bug soll bis zum Wochenende ausgemerzt sein und danach soll die App bei Microsoft zur erneuten Zertifizierung eingereicht werden.Direkt nach Erscheinen der App will das Team rund um den VLC (…)

  29. On 3 May 3030, 1:04 by Mr.Tore

    Wow! VLC player for the Xbox One!!!!!!
    More info please!!! That would actually be a reason for me to buy the Xbox One! Mkv, srt, and x264 support, on
    the Xbox One would rock!!!

    More info!!!! :)

  30. On 3 May 3030, 12:13 by Jmcelroy5

    Be sure to publicise the help needed for the UI/XAML stuff when the time comes. I have quite a bit of experience with WinRT XAML on all three mentioned platforms considering how new it all is, so I’d love to help out.

  31. On 3 May 3030, 11:05 by Maitreya Vyas

    Congratulation guys! hope the app’s on store before Christmas ;)

  32. On 3 May 3030, 11:03 by Trent

    Having enjoyed VLC a lot over the years I wouldn’t be completely averse to donating again for the Windows Phone and XBox (?) versions, but not sure how many will agree with me.

  33. On 3 May 3030, 10:51 by N.Vaidyanathan

    Please give me latest updates of VLC. How to download it ? Thanks, regards, Vaidyanathan

  34. On 3 May 3030, 10:32 by Jean-Baptiste Kempf

    @Charles: GPLv2 is not banned from the Windows Store. See my blogpost about that.@Trent: the money is already out. But we will go on supporting it, like we support other Windows/Android/iOS version for free…

  35. On 3 May 3030, 4:21 by Me!

    w00t! I’ll be first in line when you guys and gals are done. Keep up the great work.

  36. On 3 May 3030, 4:18 by stormtroller

    grats, still yet to be release.

  37. On 3 May 3030, 2:41 by Trent

    Congratulations, this is great news! I will install this as soon as it is released on my Surface Pro, but my Surface RT desperately needs some VLC love too. I hope “a matter of weeks” doesn’t stretch to months and you are able to overcome all remaining hurdles for the ARM ports quickly now. Thanks for all the hard work.

    Also, an important question. Since you guys accepted donations from us users for this port, what happens when the money runs out? Will you stop updating these versions then? Ask for more donations? Make them into paid apps or have in-app purchases? (Hope not!)

  38. On 3 May 3030, 1:51 by Charles Foxtrot

    What is the license for VLC? I know it’s open source, I guess it’s not GPL, which is banned from the Windows Store.

  39. On 3 May 3030, 12:38 by ZxAS

    Congratulations! As a developer i can imagine what a challenge it is to recode an entire framework to a new platform; respect to you guys! I can’t wait for the release of the Nokia Lumia 2520 and install the coming ARM version of VLC - both should be available in a month or so

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