Jan 11, 2019 at 4:52 PM VLC has surpassed 3 billion total downloads, adding AirPlay support
Non-profit developer VideoLAN has announced at CES that its flagship VLC media player has reached over 3 billion total downloads since its 2001 release.
Celebrating the milestone at CES with people streaming from VideoLAN's booth on Twitter, the non-profit organization announced that 25% of those 3 billion downloads were on mobile devices. Though VideoLAN's developers are not resting on their laurels in the face of this achievement.
The team announced that it is actively developing support for AirPlay, which will enable mobile devices running Android and iOS to send content to play via Apple TV set top boxes via the VLC app. This is especially notable for devices running on Android that previously had little to no recourse in sending content via AirPlay. They are also focusing on allowing the app to play back virtual reality video content natively on VR headsets.
In addition to these announcements, VideoLAN's president and lead developer Jean-Baptiste Kempf stated that the organization is looking to release VLC Media Player on more platforms in an interview with VentureBeat. These platforms include the following:
- Roku devices
- PlayStation 4
- Nintendo Switch
A major update for VLC's Android app to introduce AirPlay support will be arriving in approximately a month, with version 4 of the app launching later on for all major platforms that VLC releases on.
Further coverage: Engadget TechCrunch The Next Web The Verge Variety VentureBeat
