VLC for iOS and UWP 3.1.0 release

18 July 2018

VLC 3.1.0 release

After a few months since the release of VLC 3.0, today we release VLC 3.1.0 on 2 mobile OSes: iOS and Windows Store (UWP).

This release brings ChromeCast integration to iOS and UWP, like it was present on desktop and Android versions.

ChromeCast and hardware encoding

However, it supports ChromeCast in a more performant way, because we added hardware encoders to those 2 platforms.

Indeed, here, for local streaming, we care more about speed and battery saving than we care about bandwidth efficiency, si hardware encoding is a good fit.

On iOS, we’re using the standard VideoToolbox hardware encoding to produce H.264 streams, muxed in MKV.

On UWP, we’re using Quick Sync Video for intel CPUs (that covers almost all CPUs since 3rd core generation).

In fact, VLC has a QSV encoder since 2013, but it’s very rarely used, because people usually prefer software encode (x264). Here, we fixed it and modified it to work inside the UWP sandbox.

iOS

You should really read Caro’s blogpost here!

But in that version you have:

  • ChromeCast,
  • 360 video support, with sensors,
  • Numerous bugfixes on the playback core (inherited mostly from VLC 3.0.1-3.0.3)
  • Some decoding speed improvements,
  • Quite a few interface bugs (see 3.1.0 milestone)

UWP

The version is similar to the iOS version, in the fact that it has hardware encoding and ChromeCast integration.

As explained, the hardware encoding is done using QSV.

But it features also a large rework of the codebase and fixes a very large number of crashes.

Also, funnily enough, we’ve worked on the 8.1 version too, and we will push that one soon on the store. This includes SurfaceRT devices, even if Microsoft has forgotten them!

So VLC 3.1.0, UWP version will be out for:

  • Windows 10 Desktop (x86)
  • XBox One
  • Windows 10 Mobile (ARM)
  • Windows 8.1 Desktop (x86)
  • Windows 8.1 RT (ARM)

Once we fixed an issue, we might even do Windows Phone 8.1.

The Windows 10 versions are on the store today, and we’re waiting for a deployment issue to be fixed to push the 8.1 versions!

(Note: if you are from Windows Central, you can contact me for more details)

Have fun!

Jean-Baptiste Kempf

Comments

  1. On 20 May 20200, 1:54 by VLC app gains ChromeCast support on Windows 10 Mobile &

    VLC app gains ChromeCast support on Windows 10 Mobile &

    (…) Surprisingly, the app developer mentions on his website that he’s also working on the Windows 8.1 VLC app as well for those using devices that don’t support the modern app. He also teases a potential (…)

  2. On 19 May 19190, 7:29 by Ian

    “Also, funnily enough, we’ve worked on the 8.1 version too, and we will push that one soon on the store. This includes SurfaceRT devices, even if Microsoft has forgotten them!”

    Thank you so very much, Jean-Baptiste Kempf, and VideoLAN!!! Thank you!!!

  3. On 19 May 19190, 4:05 by moderate

    Hello.
    Could you please upload VLC for Windows 8-1 RT’s:
    a) Metro arm32 APPX of v3-1-0
    b) Win32 arm32 ZIP of v4-0-0DEV
    …to the:
    http://people.videolan.org/~jb/Buil…
    There is only Win32 arm64 ZIP there so far…
    Thanks.

  4. On 19 May 19190, 12:45 by VLC บน iOS, Windows Store ออกอัพเดต รองรับ Chromecast แล้ว –

    VLC บน iOS, Windows Store ออกอัพเดต รองรับ Chromecast แล้ว –

    (…) ที่มา: VideoLAN (…)

  5. On 19 May 19190, 12:45 by VLC บน iOS, Windows Store ออกอัพเดต รองรับ Chromecast แล้ว –

    VLC บน iOS, Windows Store ออกอัพเดต รองรับ Chromecast แล้ว –

    (…) ที่มา: VideoLAN (…)

  6. On 19 May 19190, 8:31 by farhanleon

    Thank you very much for being so supportive. Please bring the option of subtitles downloading in the UWP version.
    Thank you :)

  7. On 19 May 19190, 8:12 by VLC บน iOS, Windows Store ออกอัพเดต รองรับ Chromecast แล้ว |

    VLC บน iOS, Windows Store ออกอัพเดต รองรับ Chromecast แล้ว |

    (…) ที่มา: VideoLAN (…)