VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player is a free, open-source cross-platform multimedia player that operates on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. VLC Media Player can be used to play DVDs, Audio CDs, and most types of video files you are viable to come across. VLC is an outstanding media player for regaling critically with movies and media. VLC proffers a high level of compatibility with many additional file formats (much more than most proprietary media players like Quicktime), disc-encodings (i.e. DVD regions), and also entitles other functionalities useful to intellectuals such as screenshots and creating extracts from video sources.

Common issues on VLC and their solution

Here’s a quick peek at some of the most common issues you may undergo when using a VLC media player. In this blog post, you can learn about those issues and find their solutions as well.

VLC doesn’t sound right with headphones plugged in

Many users reported the issue that VLC doesn’t sound right while headphones are plugged in. You can overcome this problem by following these steps:

Fix 1: Checking your Headphone jack/port

Follow these steps:

• You can check your headphone jack/pin, whether it’s plugged in perfectly or not.
• You can also switch your port from one point to another in case of trouble with the input port.

Try the next option if this doesn’t work.

Fix 2:Changing audio to headphones

This solution resolved the issue:

1. To do this, go to the Tools menu, then Preferences, and change the “Show settings” setting from “Simple” to “All” at the very bottom of the list.
2. Under Audio, Expand and select “Output module” and change the Audio output module to “Win32 wave out extension output”.
3. Under “Output module” select “Wave out”.
4. Select Audio Device. In the dropdown, select the output used for your headset and click save.
5. Restart VLC.

The restart of the VLC application is mandated!

Video stuttering/lagging

Sometimes your VLC is acting eccentric and your video file stutters frequently or lags (audio is running, but the video is stuck or slow). 

Solution

Fix 1: Changing cache values

Inaccurate cache values can induce stuttering/lagging issues in the VLC. To overwhelm them, follow these steps:

• In VLC, press Ctrl + P to open Preferences, or navigate to Tools > Preferences from the menu bar.
• The Show Settings drop-down menu in the subsequent window will be pre-selected to the Simple setting by default. To access the in-depth configuration menu, choose the All radio button.
• In the advanced settings, navigate to Input/Codecs and go to the File caching option. Here, enter a number between 300 and 1000, and then click Save..

We suggest that you restart the VLC media player after doing these changes and reload the video file to see if the stuttering or the lagging is fixed.If it does not work, try the next solution.

Fix 2: Changing the video output module

If you’re encountering extreme video lagging issues in VLC, changing the video output module setting may repair it. Follow these steps to do this:

• Open the Preferences window in VLC as shown through Steps 1 and 2 in the previous fix.
• To test if a different output module will play the video file, go to the Video output module option and choose it.
• If the lagging and stuttering stop, then the video is processed using the correct video output module. 

If the problem lasts, you can take a look at the following fix.

Fix 3: Disabling Hardware-Accelerated Decoding

Among the users who were facing this issue, those who disabled the Hardware Decoding option have declared that it fixes the stuttering issues. Take a look at how you can do this:

• Open the Preferences window in VLC as shown through Steps 1 and 2 in the first fix.
• In the search bar, type Hardware decoding.This will take you to the section where you can choose your video codecs; from here, you’ll need to select the FFmpeg option and turn off Hardware decoding.

Hopefully this will fix the video file’s jerkiness. If it doesn’t, you can be certain that there is an issue with the video file itself.

3: VLC media player crashing

If your VLC player is crashing every time you load a certain video, then there are several causes for this issue. The obsolete VLC media player, preloaded MKV files, and file corruption are just a few of the problems that users have reported.

Fix 1 – Repair corrupt files

Suppose VLC keeps crashing or causing tremendous stutters and lags for a certain video file. In such a matter, you should know that most likely the video file is corrupted. You can change these files or remove them.

Fix 2 – Disable the Pre-loading MKV files option

Many users have reported that disabling this option has assisted with the VLC crashing issue. Follow these steps:

1. Open the VLC Preferences window as shown in the fixes above.
2. Select Pre-loading MKV files and uncheck it under Input/Codecs > Demuxers > Matroska. Select the “Save” button..

You should try the next possible solution if this one fails.

Fix 3 – Reinstalling the VLC media player

If your VLC player is crashing or stuttering even after trying all the solutions, there may be a problem in the application itself. If you’re using Windows and want to uninstall and reinstall VLC, do as follows:

1. Click Windows + X keys and click on Apps and Features.
2. Select the VLC media player and uninstall it.
3. First, restart your computer, and then download the VLC installer from their site.
4. Run the installer setup and install VLC.

If you face issues even after trying all these resolutions, double-check your compatibility with VLC and the current OS, running on your system.

Conclusion

Sometimes VLC bugs can be fixed with time when a new update arrives. But in case of a quick solution, you can use the above fixes to overwhelm your concerns regarding VLC Media Player. Very few people face rare issues on VLC that might be challenging to fix even after testing many tricks. You can convey that issue to @SupportVLC or administer their help to fix that solution.