VLC media player crosses 7 billion downloads

VLC, the free and offline media player developed by the nonprofit VideoLAN, has crossed 7 billion downloads across all platforms. The milestone comes almost 18 months after the app reached 6 billion downloads in January 2025, Jean-Baptiste Kempf, VLC’s president and lead developer, said in an emailed update.

Kempf said the company recently ported VLC to Amazon’s new Vega OS for TVs, and that it is also working on supporting all other platforms and codecs. VideoLAN is preparing for the release of VLC 4, though Kempf said that release is taking time in development.

Last year, VideoLAN had teased AI-powered translation and subtitles using local models, though it remains unclear whether those features were ever released.

Why it matters

VLC’s continued growth, in an era of paid, ad-supported streaming platforms, underscores the staying power of free, offline software backed by a nonprofit rather than a venture-funded company.