Name: VLC Media Player
Rating: 3.7 (5700 reviews)

Trust Report

Independently checked by Altapp where possible; developer-reported data is labeled as such. Last full review: Jul 17, 2026.

Verified Source

Official builds are signed and checksummed, and the entire codebase is public.

PGP signatures (.asc) published for every installer on get.videolan.org
SHA-256, SHA-1 and MD5 checksums provided alongside each build
Full source code developed openly at code.videolan.org (GitHub mirror)
Distributed via videolan.org mirrors plus official App Store, Play Store and Microsoft Store listings

Data & Permissions

No ads, no accounts and no tracking — VLC collects almost nothing.

0 trackers detected in the Android app by static analysis (BeVigil / Exodus-style scan)
Apple privacy label lists only crash and performance data, not linked to identity
Android permissions limited to media/storage access, network state and playback controls (~14 total)
VideoLAN policy: no spyware, no ads, no user tracking; funded by donations

Known Risks

Media parsers are a classic attack surface — VLC's saving grace is fast, transparent patching.

3.0.23 (Jan 2026) fixed a PNG buffer overflow, an H.264 parser infinite loop and libass/Daala issues
Codec and demuxer CVEs recur across all media players — keep VLC updated
Hardened via the EU-funded EU-FOSSA 2 bug bounty program (2019)
Active non-profit development: 3.0.x branch maintained while VLC 4.0 is developed in the open

Verification reflects the version listed above. Practices may change between releases. How we verify ›

Our verdict: the definitive free media player — open source, tracker-free and cryptographically verifiable, if you can forgive its dated interface.

VLC has been the answer to "will this file play?" for over two decades. Built by VideoLAN, a non-profit rooted in a French engineering-school project, it decodes virtually every audio and video format out of the box — no codec packs, no upsells, no accounts. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, and doubles as a streaming client, disc player and format converter.

What sets VLC apart in 2026 is how verifiable it remains. Every release ships with published SHA-256 checksums and PGP signatures, the full source code is developed in the open, and the January 2026 release (3.0.23) continued a steady cadence of codec updates and security fixes. There are no ads and no user tracking — the project is funded by donations, not by data.