VideoLAN Kicks Off New VLC Era With 3.0, Adds Support For HDR & Chromecast Streaming

It’s not often that one of the most beloved software projects on the planet gets a major update, but this weekend, VideoLAN’s VLC was treated to the release of 3.0. At quick glance, 3.0 might not look much different from 2.X, but with video content, it’s what’s under-the-hood that matters.

At the forefront, VLC 3.0 enables hardware decoding by default, allowing users to enjoy 4K and 8K content out-of-the-box without fuss. There’s also support for HDR, letting those with compatible displays take advantage of brighter videos with improved dynamic range. 360° video coupled with 3D audio is another leading bullet-point for this release.

Other notable improvements include HD audio passthrough (eg: TrueHD, DTS-HD), the ability to stream to Chromecast devices, BD-Java menu and overlay support, and browsing of networked storage (FTP, SMB, etc). On top of this, the entire VLC software stack has been given more polish and updates a slew of codecs and core components. It’s worth downloading even if you think you’re fine with 2.X; even if it means it just performs better.

With 3.0, VLC continues to be supported for an incredible number of platforms. On Windows, XP users haven’t been left in the dark quite yet. For macOS, you must be on at least 10.7, and on mobile, Android 2.3 or iOS 7 are required. Basically, if you have a device, you can probably run VLC on it, after snagging it here.