Since it was launched 20 years ago, the free, open source, cross-platform media player VLC has been downloaded more than 3.5 billion times. To celebrate the incredible achievement, VLC developer and president of the VideoLAN foundation, Jean-Baptiste Kempf, revealed that the popular media player is preparing to launch a major update in 2021 with a new UI.
In an interview with Protocol, Kempf revealed that the new UI will be part of VLC 4.0, due out later this year. “We modified the interface to be a little more modern,” said Kempf Protocol. Unfortunately, Kempf did not expose much more than that regarding the design of the launch.
The reform will also include integration with more online content directly into the app, but in a very “VLC” way, according to Kempf. “Instead of giving everyone the same catalog of videos, VLC is getting extensions to get third-party content,” explained the protocol. “Still, Kempf left the door open to eventually add videos with ads that could provide some financial support for the project.”
In addition, Kempf revealed that VLC is also receiving a new version for the web. The VideoLAN team is working on a version with WebAssembly and JavaScript. Previously, the application had a web plug-in that worked similarly to Flash and is no longer compatible with most modern browsers. By the way, Flash is also a product of a bygone era.
Finally, Kempf said that VideoLAN is working on a new initiative called Moviepedia Project, which is described as a “kind of competitor to IMDb” and will include Wikipedia-style community editing.
It is unclear when VLC 4.0 will be available or when the Moviepedia Project will be released, but with Kempf sharing some details, I hope they come out sooner or later.
The news of a major VLC update comes in a much larger and more fascinating visual Protocol in the history of VLC as one of the most popular open source projects. As soon as more information is released, we will notify you.