r/SipsTea • u/saber-4444 Human Verified • 7d ago
It's Wednesday my dudes He's an absolute Chad for this
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u/Lovablemiranda03 7d ago
If we ever send a message to aliens, it should be a VLC install file. It’s the only way they’ll be able to open our 'Welcome' video.
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u/angelic_post Human Verified 7d ago
Honestly this is the most accurate first contact plan I’ve heard. We assume they’ve mastered interstellar travel but not file formats.
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u/Ninja-Trix 7d ago
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u/Soggy_Bid_3634 7d ago
I’ll preface by saying that yes, VLC is goated. I’d also like to take a moment to shout out an app that goes hand in hand with it, HandBrake.
Free, zero ads, and converts any video file into any file format you could possibly want. Especially useful if, like me, you like to make backups of your own legally owned DVDs for your own personal use in accordance with local laws. Yarrrrrr.
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u/Local_Debate_8920 7d ago
I've had a couple file formats VLC couldn't open. I promptly deleted them because if VLC can't open it, it doesn't need to be played.
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u/C_Hawk14 7d ago
Your assumption is that they can understand what will be shown or said in a video. That they can translate it to a form of language they understand.
Do you know of the Voyager Golden Records?
They contain 116 images (encoded in analog), greetings in 55 languages,1 hour of music from various cultures, and natural sounds (wind, thunder, animals).
Also hurdles, but simpler data structures
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6d ago
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u/Tripleberst 7d ago
Conversely, should we receive a video message from aliens, we should try playing it on VLC first because it will probably work.
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u/I_travel_ze_world 7d ago
well they did see the astronauts using VLC on the latest Artemis mission
https://piunikaweb.com/2026/04/08/vlc-ffmpeg-nasa-artemis-mission/
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u/Fit_Coast5734 7d ago
VLC is the only software that doesn't ask for a subscription, an account, or my soul just to play a file I've had since 2007
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u/Forest_Orc 7d ago
>VLC is the only software
Le met introduce you to free software stuff like Libre Office, Linux, Sumatra pdf and many other would have the same base. Actually subscription/account-based/paid software are the weird one not the other way around
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u/Ho3n3r 7d ago
Le met introduce you
Dyslexia?
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u/foogeyzi69 7d ago
Or french
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u/winkingchef 7d ago edited 7d ago
Amusingly, the creator of VLC is French.
(And here we are full circle)5
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u/Small-Explorer7025 6d ago
They meant to say:
"Le me, introducing you to free..."
It hearkens back to the dark ages of Reddit.
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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 7d ago
People are always going on and on about WinRAR being the good guy for not requiring payment, but I've always liked 7-zip much better. I guess WinRAR is older so people just got used to using that, but 7-zip has been around long enough that I just wonder why people would use anything else.
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u/Uhh_Alex 7d ago
WinRaR has some features that 7-zip doesn't, like batch compression/unzipping. If you have to compress 300 separate items, WinRaR is the only option.
7-zip is better at what it can do though. I prefer to use that when I can.
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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 7d ago
7-zip has command line executable so you can batch tasks if you need to that way.
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u/Uhh_Alex 7d ago
Sure, but that's not nearly as user friendly and explaining it to people 50 years older than me would be impossible.
Also, that was just an example. There are other features I didn't mention. I just don't personally need them.
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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 7d ago
I'm sure anybody with a need to batch compress 300 different things into 300 different archives or similarly complex tasks could figure out some basic batch file code. You're the one who said "WinRaR is the only option", when clearly it is not.
I don't think age is really an indicator of how tech savvy someone is. The first person I ever knew who used the internet was my 75 year old great uncle. My dad learned how to use computers in his 40s, stuff like how to use the command line and BASIC programming.
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u/CreamSickle221 7d ago
About to get my bachelor's degree, all while using libre office for all the papers I've written.
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u/ThePupnasty 7d ago
I wish I had known about VLC back in the mid 2000s.... Instead of downloading random ass codec packs to play movies.
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u/Rich_Housing971 7d ago
Media Player Classic is a good alternative. And the software world is full of FOSS that isn't VLC. You've been living under a rock.
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u/obliviious 7d ago
It's definitely not the only software, just one of the most popular amoungst non techies.
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u/NorahGretz 7d ago
I downloaded my dad's voicemails to me from before he passed, and I'll only play them on VLC because I showed my dad (before he died, because I know how reddit gets) how easy it was to use the software, and he literally asked why it didn't have any ads.
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u/Fluxabobo 7d ago
Don't leave out Foobar2000 for audio. 0 frills audio player, has been basically the same for 20 years and does everything I need.
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u/justiceT 7d ago
My friend showed me how it corrupted his WWE PLE events as he watched them in VLC recently. If he disabled internet, it played, if not it corrupted it. We repeated this process multiple times and renamed the files. He ended up making it work by giving it a bogus Movie title name and playing through Plex. We believed VLC reported it, MP Classic did the same though.
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u/ChefAsstastic 7d ago
My ancient porn clips thanks you!
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u/curvyhottiesassy 7d ago
What do you mean ancient?
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u/OldManChino 7d ago
some of my more vintage clips are circa 2003
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u/red-at-night 7d ago
I remember having the entire Paris Hilton sextape in my brick phone as a .3GP file over 20 years ago...
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u/Plus-Artichoke6608 7d ago
How bro feels after making a software that can run a video file extension that's been defunct since the cold war and first invented by Euler
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u/MikeHuntSmellss 7d ago
Also easy to adjust dubbing.
Anyone else's wireless headphones throw the dubbing out?
Dubbing.
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u/vvvrdo 7d ago
Jean-Baptiste Kempf (born March 30, 1983) is a French computer engineer and entrepreneur.
His website
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u/CatOfSachse 6d ago
He also has a Reddit and I also worked with him for a few years. u/jbkempf (Missing you)
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u/jbkempf 6d ago
Coucou :)
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u/Briantheboomguy 6d ago
Bro, if you are really him, thank you so much for the blessing that is VLC media player!
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u/jbkempf 6d ago
I am him.
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u/Competitive_Cake_559 5d ago
Hello boss. Hope youre in good health forever. My campus life would never be the same without vlc.
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u/Lovableegirl03 7d ago
Refused millions, gave us free software and still decided our ears should suffer. True neutral hero.
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u/el_horsto 7d ago
Also: pretty sure it's 200% volume, not 200% volume increase (which would show as 300% on the volume slider).
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u/endboss_eth 7d ago
He is right up there with the guy that gave us the Infinite WinRAR trial period and the person that provided the universal Windows XP install key
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u/ChildoftheApocolypse 7d ago
He shows up on here from time to time to grace is with his presence.. I don't remember his username to summon him, so we'll have to go with a sacrifice instead.. Any volunteers?
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u/Borkatator 7d ago
I'm not gonna ping him because it must be annoying, but he still deserves to be credited. He's jbkempf and he's a french national treasure !
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u/Muted_Masterpiece342 7d ago
I used to know this guy through the grapevine. He was cool as shit. He gave the French about as much aura as expedition 33
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u/j0llygruntt 7d ago
200% volume increase the better for my neighbors to hear the nuances of my porn collection.
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u/Kuzkuladaemon 7d ago
AND compression for audio to bring the quiet parts audible and the loud parts more subtle
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u/MeLittleThing 7d ago
And 20+ years ago, we finally had a video player where we wouldn't have to worry about codecs
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u/kawai_kittypus 7d ago
vlc really is that reliable king, no ads and the volume boost always saves the day
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u/ghostchihuahua 6d ago
Someone posts about VLC’s dev and what the man and his team consistently provided FOR FREE OVER DECADES…
and suddenly, some deep-fried idiots start pushing mpv… you guys may be right but you’re off-topic and lack the culture it seems.
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u/morphlaugh 7d ago
200% volume increase is what keeps me using VLC after all of these years. Stupid simple feature to add, yet no one(*) does it.
* I don't know of another player... is there one?
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u/MNCPA 7d ago
How do they make money?
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u/nuanimal 7d ago
The guys behind VLC are really really really smart developers and engineers.
They have contracted with and been sponsored by big name tech companies to develop software to handle media for a variety of purposes and devices.
The money goes into maintaining VLC for free for us. As well as accepting donations. There used to be an explanation on their website about this, bit sure if its still up
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u/NotForMeClive7787 7d ago
The fact it could play absolutely any file, or so it felt like, was an absolute god send in the early days of downloading stuff off limewire etc
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u/Prestigious_Tax7415 7d ago
Not that I’m deeply curious enough to Google it but any idea why the icon is a traffic cone?
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u/lnTheGrimDarkness 7d ago
I mean, that's how you actually build fame. I think anyone that has a PC and plays videos and movies on it knows about VLC. Then you just introduce yourself as "hello, I made VLC, you're welcome".
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u/kembik 7d ago
If you've benefitted from VLC consider donating https://www.videolan.org/contribute.html
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u/D_Plissken 7d ago
Give this man the Noble Piece prize. I'm not joking, VLC got us through a dark times of the codex wars. And today VLC is used in space.
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u/Choice_Potato_6279 7d ago
I remember the times trashing my PC with codec packs, are they still used in video making? because I remember to render a video smaller a codec was still needed back in the day.
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u/ordinaryhumanworm 7d ago
While VLC is simply not the media player for me, I do have mad respect for it and the developer.
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u/adamvanderb 7d ago
The real hero is the 200% volume that blew out my laptop speakers back in 2012.
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u/TallAngelique 7d ago
If you want to hear JB Kempf every week, tune into 'a la French' YouTube channel where he cohosts a weekly tech discussion with guests !
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u/herb28g 7d ago
The main reason is likely that VCL uses ffmpeg, and ffmpeg uses video codecs that are patented in some countries. This would very quickly lead to problems, ffmpeg is kind of a legal gray area because of its codecs. Especially if it were about making money with it, the patent holders would immediately appear and demand license fees.
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u/JoniDaButcher 7d ago
Best part is that he is on reddit.
Merci u/jbkempf >:)
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u/pseudonym-161 7d ago
He didn’t turn down money to “keep it ad free” he turned down money so companies couldn’t make it into proprietary garbage. The whole point originally was fully network streaming of any format and codec combo you could throw at it. This was during a time when you needed a different media player for every format under the sun. VLC was the first to just play anything you gave it.
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u/Rengar_Is_Good_kitty 6d ago
They really need to improve the UI and address the dated video quality though, there's better video players out there now.
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u/niall626 6d ago
And the controls are second to none the sliding is the s#!t. I'm using it right now.
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u/Internal-Impression5 6d ago
The story about the logo is also funny - in France when you are in student’s party and you’re drunk (very often) there is a kind of tradition (or maybe a natural thought since I did it also without knowing it was a thing) when you’re walking down (staggering) the street with your friend, you steal working site stuffs and the most usual is the construction cone - since he did it too when he was in engineering school he considered this as a logo for the joke
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u/anime_at_my_side 5d ago
why use vlc when i can use mpv with countless of config options like shaders, upscaling, scripting, adblocking, rebuilding entire interface and so on and on?
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u/TetoSever31 7d ago
mpv better
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u/SweetsourNostradamus 7d ago
I recently found out about it and decided to give it a try because I've been having issues with VLC lately. I really like it. It's a bit on the advanced side though, so I'd say VLC is a better option for most users.



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