Following early teasing in April and the release of a private beta earlier this month, developer of the popular media player VLC VideoLAN has finally released the Universal Windows 10 app today in the Windows Store. Developer Thomas Nigro shared the news on Twitter earlier today:
THIS IS IT GUYS !! VLC for UWP ! Go get it now 🙂 https://t.co/W72O7RPPIM
— Tina Nigro ✨ ???? (@tina__nigro) June 29, 2016
VideoLAN President Jean-Baptiste Kempf also gave more technical details about the new app in a blog post today. For a first release, the app is really full-featured as it already supports Live Tiles, Cortana and even Continuum on Windows 10 Mobile:
This beta is the first version targeting Windows 10 and running on the Universal Windows Platform, aka UWP. The Windows 10 application has all the features available on iOS and Android and a few more.
Like the classic VLC, it supports a very large number of formats, but it also has a media library triaging audio and video media, a full player with subtitles, audio/video synchronization, an audio mini-player and a network shares browser! We also support Cortana, Live Tiles, Pining and Continuum! The only important missing feature is DVD/Blu-ray playback and TV tuners that are not yet possible through the UWP APIs.
Under the hood, we use some technologies exclusive to Windows 10, like some DirectX 11.1 features for video and low-latency audio. This should give you enhanced battery life and allow smooth 4K playback.
And of course, it’s completely open source, available under the GPLv2.0 license!
For now, VLC 2.0 UWP works on both Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile, but VideoLAN is also working to bring the app to the Xbox One this summer, though the team is waiting for the release of the Anniversary update and the introduction of the Windows Store on Microsoft’s gaming console. Support for the Surface Hub and the HoloLens will also come at a later date.
Users on Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 are also not left behind as Kempf announced today that those platforms will also get the new app “next month if all goes as expected.” Additionally, developer Nigro shared that the team is also preparing for the release of the Windows 10 anniversary update as an upcoming release of the app will leverage the new visual effects in the operating system:
The version on the Store is designed for Windows 10 TH2, and there will be a special update for Windows 10 RS1 with @WindowsUI effects
— Tina Nigro ✨ ???? (@tina__nigro) June 29, 2016
Lastly, if you think the VLC desktop is still the best thing since sliced bread, Kempf said that “this application is not replacing the desktop application.” All in all, it’s great to see another developer embracing the Windows 10 platform, but it’s even more impressive to see that the first version of the VLC UWP already packs more feature than its iOS and Android counterparts. We invite you to try it using the download link below, let us know in the comments of this new high-quality addition to the Windows Store.
