How to Backup and Restore VLC Preferences and Interface?

VLC Media Player has a lot of preferences accessible through Tools > Preferences [CTRL + P]. We can change the nitty-gritty details ranging from simple options to the most advanced playback settings. But if we decide to uninstall the player or reset the preferences, those settings can be lost if we chose not to keep it. However, if we backup preferences set in VLC Media Player, it can be restored easily. Changes to settings are like those done to stop HD video freezing problem in the player. We can also customize the interface in VLC. The custom interface can also be backed up and restored. Backing up and restoring preferences and the interface in VLC Media Player is done by backing up files created by the player.

The files are named as vlcrc and vlc-qt-interface.ini and it has no extension. It is present in the vlc folder of appdata in Windows (%appdata%\vlc\). We can open the vlcrc and vlc-qt-interface.ini in a text editor to see all the settings as plain text. To back up, all we have to do is save these files somewhere else. To restore the options, copy them back to the original location. You can back up the files, make some changes in the preferences and if it doesn’t work for you, copy the file back. The recent preferences will be overridden by the one you have in the backup. So, it can also be used as a failsafe method before making major changes in the options. We have explained the same process in detailed steps below.

To backup and restore VLC Media Player’s preferences, follow these steps:

• Hit the Start/Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog.
• Paste %appdata%\vlc\ in the input area and press OK.
  
• Windows Explorer will open This PC > C: > Users > [Username] > AppData > Roaming > vlc or something similar.
• Select and copy[CTRL+C] to move [CTRL +V] the vlcrc and vlc-qt-interface.ini file and back it up.
• Paste the backed up vlcrc and vlc-qt-interface.ini file and overwrite it in the same folder to get back the settings