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Popular Open Source Video Player VLC Coming to iPad

By | September 8, 2010 | 5 comments
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Video fans love the iPad but there has been some grumbling from video aficionados about the limited video formats supported on Apple’s “magical device”. Video fans can now rejoice because the iPad could be getting a powerful new video app as early as next week.

Applidium announced today that after several months of work, they have submitted an iPad version of the popular VLC video player to Apple for review.  The app is a port of the main version of the VLC player so users will get the same powerful features they’re already accustomed to using on their PC or Mac.  According to a recent tweet, the UI is based on VLCKit and has been updated with a clean and simple design specifically for the iPad.

If VLC makes it through Apple’s review process, which is by no means guaranteed, iPad users will have a powerful new video tool capable of playing back video in a wide variety of formats. Applidium expects the app to be approved next week.

The app will be available for free once approved and it’s being released as an Open Source project so other developers will be able to leverage VLC code in their projects.

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  • Abulafia

    Seriously? No comments on this? This is tremendous news for the iPad, and a “killer apps” as far as I’m concerned. I have CineXPlayer, which is a nice program, but it doesn’t have anywhere near the format compatibility that VLC does.

    Once this and wireless printing finally show up, I’ll have everything I really need for my iPad…

    • http://www.padgadget.com dag

      Huge VLC fan myself, cannot wait… Since Apple allows third party browsers and media players on the iPad, it’s not much of a stretch to assume that it will get approved. Having said that, the relationship between Apple and the VLC team has never really been very peaceful, so you never know…

  • Android developer

    VLC is gonna be awesome on iPad , .avi format could finally be played over iPad without any issues .
    Even am a huge fan of VLC and its the primary player on my computer

  • WAM

    OK, since VLC on the PC supports Flash, the obvious question is, will the iPad version?

    • Bill

      The developers have kept mum on that subject. Some speculation is they will offer streaming Flash support by transcoding the video. Looks like we will have to wait until it’s released to get the full specs.