VLC Media Player, the trusted open-source multimedia player developed by VideoLAN, has reached a monumental milestone with over 6 billion downloads globally as of January 8, 2025. Known for its versatility and support for virtually every media format, VLC continues to innovate with cutting-edge features, including AI-driven subtitles, unveiled during CES 2025.
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VLC Media announces AI subtitle
At CES 2025, held from January 7–10, VideoLAN showcased its latest innovation: automatic subtitle generation and translation powered by local, open-source AI models. As announced in a post from the official @videolan account on X, these AI-powered features operate entirely offline, ensuring user privacy while supporting numerous languages.
This development enhances accessibility, providing real-time, context-aware captions that adapt to diverse accents, speech patterns, and background noise without relying on cloud-based processing.
This move aligns with VLC’s mission to break language barriers and improve accessibility for users worldwide, including those with hearing impairments.
The demo at their CES booth demonstrated how these subtitles could revolutionise the multimedia experience, making content more inclusive and engaging.
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VLC Media Player celebrates 6 billion downloads
President Jean-Baptiste Kempf of VideoLAN expressed his excitement about this achievement in a LinkedIn post: “6 billion Downloads on VideoLAN.org, not a bad result. The number of active users of VLC is actually growing, even in this age of streaming services. We’ll see how much it will continue to grow!”
Since its launch in 2001, VLC Media Player has pioneered multimedia technology, offering seamless playback across platforms like Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. Surpassing 6 billion downloads highlights its enduring popularity and the dedication of the VideoLAN team to open-source innovation.
VLC plans to expand its capabilities, focusing on streaming enhancements, codec updates, and further AI-driven features. The addition of offline AI subtitle technology underscores its commitment to pushing boundaries and delivering exceptional user experiences.
As VLC celebrates this milestone, its integration of AI demonstrates a forward-thinking approach, ensuring the media player remains a leader in accessibility, privacy, and innovation.