There are plenty of ways to get your hands on music and video files. A lot of people these days have their own digital storage solutions, allowing them to back up their photos, videos, and any other files they need.
So if you’ve got such an archive somewhere on your computer or external hard drive, how do you play these on your Android device? It’s not like there are a ton of media player apps out there.
In fact, it might seem like the world has abandoned VLC media files in favor of newer file types. But that’s just not the case! There is still a strong community of people who use VLC media files all the time.
If you’ve got some saved on your computer and want to know how to play a VLC file on your Android device, here’s what you need to know:
Install VLC on Android
If you’ve never used VLC before, you’ll need to download it on your desktop computer first. The official website for VLC media player can be found here.
Download the version that’s appropriate for your computer operating system. Once the download is finished, install the software so it’s ready to use whenever you need it.
If you’re familiar with the VLC media player, you’re good to go. Just make sure it’s up-to-date so that you can stream any VLC media files you come across.
Add VLC to Your Android’s List of Excluded Apps
Why would you want to exclude a media player from your device’s list of apps? Well, not all media players are created equal.
There are certain apps out there that can play VLC media files without any issues. Unfortunately, the Android operating system doesn’t fall under this category. If you try to play a VLC file on your Android device, you’re bound to come across errors or issues.
You may even get a message about how the file is corrupt or something. What you need, then, is a way to overcome these issues. And the best way to do that is to exclude VLC media files from the Android operating system.
Why? Because this will allow your device to ignore the file type and play it as if it were a different type of file. Once you’ve done this, you can open the VLC media file in the player app and enjoy it as usual.
Stream VLC Media Files from a Browser
If you’re trying to play VLC media files and the above solution doesn’t seem to be working for you, there’s one more thing you can try. You can try streaming the file from a browser.
This will essentially give you the same experience as playing the file directly on your device – with one major difference. Since you’re streaming the file from a browser instead of playing it from your device, it won’t be affected by the issues mentioned above.
This means you can enjoy VLC media files on your Android device with no problems whatsoever. What Browser Should You Use? Well, you have a few options here. Chrome is one of the most popular browsers out there, and it has a feature that allows you to play VLC media files directly from your Android device.
Simply open the file in Chrome and select the “Cast” option. Then select your device from the list of available display devices to stream the file directly to it. You can also use the VLC browser.
This is a browser designed specifically for playing VLC media files. It doesn’t have as many features, but it can still stream files directly from your computer.
Convert your Media Files for Streaming
If you’ve tried everything here, and nothing seems to be working for you, you may want to consider converting the VLC media file. Why? Well, the VLC media file may be corrupted in some way.
If that’s the case, you’ll want to convert it to a different file type so that your device can play it properly.
There are plenty of free file-converting programs out there, and you can use almost any program to convert a VLC file – such as Windows Media Player. Once you’ve converted the file, you should be able to play it with no issues whatsoever!
