VideoLan Client Media Player, or simply VLC, has finally landed on Google Chrome's OS. VLC is one of the most used free local media playback software in the world. It can be used in the Windows OS, OS X, Linux, Solaris and other operating systems. Even the Android OS is able to run VLC. The Chrome OS is one of the last operating system to integrate with the VLC program. This is peculiar to most computer-users because Google has always been on the first of possibly everything about the internet.
There is a valid reason behind the late integration of VLC on the Chrome OS platform. According to Venture Beat, The Chrome OS practically runs as a web-based OS and is supported mainly by JavaScript. VLC on the other hand was built to run on C and C++ coding. These coding languages are in way different and made the integration almost close to impossible.
With the Chrome's new feature ARC or Android Runtime on Chrome, Android applications can now be running on the Chrome OS. Because of this new feature, VLC's developers were able to re-use more than 90% of VLC's android version and optimized it to run on Chrome.
"The ARC solution was a blessing, and helped us to recycle 95 percent of the Android code and optimizations we did in the last months," says VLC President and Lead Developer Jean-Baptiste Kempf.
Chrome already has a media playback app like most operating systems but VLC breaks the limit set by uncommon file formats. The versatility of VLC has allowed its users to watch or listen to uncommon audio and video file formats like ISO, KKV, MKV and FLAC. It is also known for its compatibility with most subtitle files like SRT and SSA.
Although VLC can be run on most devices that run on Chrome OS. There are still a few glitches that come up and are addressed thoroughly by Kempf's team.
