VLC was once the best in class. Not only was it a great piece of legacy software, the Android team were so passionate that they took that reputation and all the expectations that go along with it and exceeded it.
But as time has gone on, it’s just started to languish. If you attempt to rewind a few too many times, the video freezes and you get audio. You can’t play a folder on a NAS without creating a playlist. You play a folder locally without VLC losing its place. Every time the screen goes off, it needs to scan the device anew. And despite being at the forefront of Holo Design and Material Design 1, it’s yet to implement Material You.
It feels like VLC for Android has been forgotten… So what do people recommend as a replacement?
I recommend lower expectations.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/g3psanDLkOo?si=E_Lq8_KBFQx37jOO
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
I highly recommend VLC
What do you recommend?
VLC
It still is, but it used to be too
VLC has shown its age for like, the last 9 years now. There are a lot of minor inconveniences with the program that add up and have made me seek out better options. However, I haven’t managed to completely get away from it since it still plays everything and mostly does what I want it to do.
The next best option I’ve found in the last year is KMPlayer. Lots of customization, mostly plays all files (AV1 stuff still crashes my KMP despite me having the codecs installed, whatever), and the video image doesn’t artifact if you seek back and forth a lot like it does in VLC.
Edit: just realized which community I was in. There is a free Android version, though I have never used it. FWIW, I use KMP on desktop with strict firewall filters to block it from doing anything sus.