VLC media player adds support for 360-degree Videos and Photos
VideoLAN, makers of the VLC media player app have announced 360-degree support for the media player. VideoLAN launched a new technical preview that lets users play 360-degree videos on Windows and Macs. This means VLC media player users will now be able to play videos and view photos in the 360-degree view.
The VLC 360-degree will be available in technical preview for few more days as the company plans to release an all-new VLC 3.0 by end of this month with all new features.
“With the help of Giroptic, VLC becomes the first major video player app to play 360-degree videos out-of-the-box. VLC 3.0 final release will merge those features on all platforms,” notes the company on its website. The company adds that the future releases of VLC with 360 features will be available for Android, iOS, and Xbox One users.
VLC 360-degree can display 360-degree photos, panoramas, and videos. Similar to how one watches 360-degree content on YouTube or social media platforms, all one needs to do is use the mouse and keyboard to control the point of view in the footage when viewing the content on VLC’s desktop app. The same capabilities will be extended to all platforms including its mobile apps for iOS, Android and Xbox One through which users will be able to experience content by moving their devices equipped with the accelerometer.
“VLC is one of the video players most widely used in the world. We are very proud to contribute our expertise in the 360-degree to this open source player. This will allow the millions of VLC users to take full advantage of a promising new technology and be widely involved in its democratization,” said Richard Ollier, Co-Founder, and CEO of Giroptic.
If you are looking at testing out the VLC Media Player 360-degree video/image playback functionality, then the below aspects are supported in the Technical Preview version:
- Playback of 360 Videos following the Spatial Video spec
- Playback of 360 Photos and Panoramas following the Spherical spec
- Display modes with Zoom, Little planet, and Reverse little planet
- Control it with your Mouse and Keyboard
- Open Source and Cross-platform, accelerated with OpenGL and Direct3D11
