VLC Media Player is a widely supported software and it runs on different platforms. Natively it supports, Windows, Mac OS X and different distribution of Linux. Linux is the operating system that comes in different shapes and sizes.
There are different versions better known as distributions of Linux. Examples are Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora etc. These custom builds of Linux have their own user base. Considering the widely distributed user-base of Linux across several Linux distribution, the VideoLAN team has compiled compatible VLC for Linux for several distros.
In Linux, software installation is quite different. It is not the common way of downloading a setup file and running the setup steps like in Windows or even Mac. In Linux, software are commonly downloaded from repositories using the terminal. Then the installation takes place. Different Linux distros have different software repositories which are there to serve particular Linux distributions. So, to install VLC for Linux one must already have those repositories added. Then, one can use the command: sudo apt-get to install VLC in Linux. This is not the case for every Linux distro.
The different Linux versions officially supported by VLC are:
- Debian GNU/Linux: A very popular Linux which has seen its use in home computers. After adding wheezy-backport repository use the command- sudo apt-get -t wheezy-backports install vlc
- Ubuntu: The highly popular Linux Distro developed by canonical. This one is based on Debian and around 20 million users use this great OS. See: How to Install VLC in Linux.
- Mint: Another popular Linux distribution with a large user base. This one is based on Ubuntu, the other popular one. Install with this complete online site for Linux Mint users.
- openSUSE: A community driven Linux distro which is openly developed. This open source project was released by Novell.
Command-
sudo zypper ar http://download.videolan.org/pub/vlc/SuSE/<SUSE version> VLC
sudo zypper mr -r VLC
sudo zypper in vlc - Gentoo Linux: Named after the fastest swimming penguin, this Linux distro is targeted towards making it portable and easy to maintain. This one comes with VLC so you just type emerge vlc and the software package is installed.
- Fedora: This Linux distro is developed by Fedora project which is owned by Red Hat. It is kind of complicated to install VLC in Fedora when compared to the above distros. View this page for more information on installation.
- Arch Linux: A clean and simply coded Linux with a unique package manager known as pacman. Command- pacman -S vlc
- Slackware Linux: One of the oldest Linux that is still being maintained since 1993. Click here to view information to install VLC on different versions of Slackware Linux.
- Mandriva Linux: This Linux is a result of a French and a Brazilian Linux distribution fusion. Command- urpmi libdvdplay0 wxvlc vlc-plugin-a52 vlc-plugin-ogg vlc-plugin-mad libmatroska0. More information on how to make this work.
- ALT Linux: Alt Linux Ltd and Alt Linux Team developers community jointly develops this Linux distribution. Information on how to install VLC for ALT Linux.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux: This is a Linux distro which is for the commercial market. It is developed by Red Hat, hence the name. Click here for installing VLC on different versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.