VLC Interfaces¶
Interfaces are the way you interact with . Like anything else in VLC, they are modules, which allows for their interchangeability.
Main interfaces¶
VLC has four main graphical interfaces:
The Qt Interface (qt) is the default interface on Linux and Windows.
The skins2 Interface is an interface where you can customize VLC’s look (works on Linux and Windows).
The macOS Interface is the default (and only) graphical interface on macOS.
Full List¶
Besides the above main interfaces, VLC contains many more:
Interface |
Description |
|---|---|
qt |
Default Qt4 interface on Linux and Windows. |
skins2 |
Load VLC with a skin (Linux and Windows only). |
macosx |
Default Mac OSX interface. |
minimal_macosx |
Minimal Mac OSX interface. |
http |
Web Interface, used for controlling VLC from over a network. |
gestures |
Mouse Gestures, where you can control VLC by moving the mouse |
rc, ncurses, telnet |
Console Interfaces, non-graphical interfaces. |
showintf |
Show interfaces module. |
hotkeys and joystick |
Control VLC with the keyboard/joystick (see HotKeys). |
dummy |
Don’t use an interface (HotKeys still available). |
Listing the available interfaces¶
To get a list of available interfaces, running VLC with the -l option:
% vlc -l
This also displays the muxers and encoders/decoders and puts it in a file called vlc-help.txt. On Linux, run
% vlc -l | grep -iF interface
to display the interfaces.
Using an interface¶
To run VLC with a different primary interface, use the following command:
% vlc --intf [name]
You can also use
% vlc -T [name]
You can also change the default in the Preferences.
However, you can also launch more than one interface:
% vlc --int qt --extraintf sap,telnet,http
This will launch VLC with the default Qt interface, but will also launch the SAP, telnet and web interface in addition to the Qt one. The default for this can also be changed in the preferences.
Note that if you only use the dummy interface, you won’t be able to tell vlc to quit (except watching a video). You may have to break it manually with Ctrl+C; or use vlc://quit as the last item on the playlist.