VLC is a popular open source video player for Linux, Mac, Windows, and other operating systems. An Android version has been in development since late 2010 — and now it looks like it may finally be ready to launch soon.
The folks behind the official VLC Twitter account posted a short message today: “Android, here we come!”
VLC has a reputation as a sort of Swiss Army Knife of video players. The PC versions of the app can handle nearly any video format you can throw at it, without requiring you to install separate codec packs.
It’s not clear that the Android app will be quite as powerful. While the video player may be able to handle a wide range of codecs, most Android phones and tablets only natively support a handful of video types such as H.264 or MP4. You can play other video files using software decoders instead of hardware decoders — but that will often result in high CPU usage, shorter battery life, and choppy video playback.
At least that’s what we’ve seen from other all-purpose video players for Android.
via AusDroid
