VLC uses a modular system, which allows to add easily new fonctions and formats. Here is a description of nearly all the VLC modules. If you installed VLC through a binary file, you will get the default modules. If, however, you want to customize VLC to your needs, you will have to compile the VLC from sources. If you don't intend to compile the VLC and want only the regular functions, reading this part is not very useful. The compilation itself is explained in the next chapter. If you wish to compile a module which is stated disabled by default, you have to launch the configure script with : % ./configure --enable-module_name On the other hand, if you would like to disable a module that is enabled by default, you would have to use : % ./configure --disable-module_name Video outputs are the modules that enable the support of some systems to display the video on your screen. default: enabled For Unix with X11 servers only This is the basic x11 video output. It only requires a working X11 server. You will need xlibs headers to compile it (xlibs-dev package on Debian systems). default: enabled For Linux only It requires an xvideo compliant graphic card (it is the case for nearly all modern cards). It uses hardware acceleration for YUV transformation and rescaling. default: enabled This video output uses sdl libraries. You need at least version 1.1.6 of this libraries. You may indicate the path to the sdl-config program with the --with-sdl-config-path=PATH switch, when running the configre script. default: enabled on win32 For Windows only This video output uses Microsoft Direct X libraries. It is recommended for the win32 port. You may indicate the path to directX libraries and headers with the --with-directx=PATH switch, when running the configure script. default: enabled on win32 For Windows only This video output uses GDI. It is designed for users who don't have Direct X, but the perfs are very low. If you have DirectX, do not use it. default: enabled on Linux For Linux only This is the frame buffer video output. It requires that your kernel was compiled with frame buffer support. default: disabled This video output uses Glide libraries (hardware acceleration for 3Dfx cards). You may indicate the path to the library with the --with-glide=PATH configure option. /para> default: disabled For Linux only This module provides hardware acceleration for Matrox cards under Linux. default: disabled default: disabled This is the ASCII Art Video Output. This video output uses the aalib library to display video through ASCII art. It requires aalib headers (aalib1-dev package under Debian) to compile. default: disabled For Linux only This is a video output for the SVGAlib library. default: disabled For iPaq only This is a video output for QT Embedded, an iPaq-specifiq graphical library. These modules allow you to perform modifications on the rendered image. default: enabled This filter deinterlaces video. It is useful with streams coming from a digital satellite channel or digital terrestial television channels. default: enabled This filter allows you to have the video cut in pieces in several windows, which you can order as you wish. It can be used to generate image walls with several sources. Start it with : % vlc --filter wall:XxY .... in order to have the video cut in X rows and Y columns default: enabled This filter adds a distortion effect to the video. Who said it was useless ? :-) default: enable This filter rotates the video window of 90 degrees. default: enabled This filter inverses colors. These modules allow you to choose the way the sound will be output to your audio system. default: enabled on Linux For Unix/Linux only This is the audio output for OSS (Open Sound System) output (/dev/dsp, for exemple, under Linux). It requires that your kernel was compiled with support for your sound card. default: disabled For Linux only This is the sound output for ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture). It only works under Linux, and it requires that you installed the ALSA drivers and libraries. default: disabled For Unix/Linux only This sound output has ESD (Enlightened Sound Daemon) support (usually used with Gnome). You must have the daemon and its libraries installed. default: disabled For Unix/Linux only This sound output has aRts (KDE's sound server) support. You must have the daemon and its libraries installed. default: enabled on win32 This is the Wave output, which is used by the win32 port. These modules allow VLC to read its streams from different sources. default: enabled This is the regular DVD input module. It will need libdvdcss for DVD decryption (see the libdvdcss page) and libdvdplay for DVD navigation (see the libdvdplay page). default: enabled This is the old DVD input module. It uses libdvdcss for DVD decryption (see the libdvdcss page). default: disabled This is an alternative to the previous ones. It uses libdvdread for DVD reading (see the Ogle download page) and libdvdcss for DVD decryption (see the libdvdcss page). default: enabled This is the VideoCD input. default: enabled This is the HTTP input. You can use it for Video On Demand. default: disabled This is an input module that allows to read directly from a Hauppauge WinTV Nova card under Linux. It requires drivers 0.9.4 available from linuxtv.org. default: disabled For Linux only This module allows to get Video4Linux streams. Demuxers or demultiplexers allow VLC to extract the stream(s) from the file or source where they are into. For example, an AVI file can contain a MPEG-4 video, or an uncompressed video. AVI is only a storing format, not a compression format. default: enabled This module allows you to read .avi files. default: enabled This module allows you to read .asf files. default: enabled This module allows to you read AAC files. default: enabled This module allows to you read OGG files. default: enabled This module allows to you read DV files. default: enabled This module allows to demux streams from a satellite card. default: enabled This module is the MPEG-4 demuxer. These modules allow you to choose the interface you want to use. default: enabled This is the GTK+ interface. It needs gtk libraries (libgtk1.2 package on Debian) and headers files if you are compiling it (libgtk1.2-dev package on Debian). Note that it can also be used under Windows. default: disabled For Linux only This is the Gnome interface. It needs gnome libraries (libgnome32 package under Debian) and headers (libgnome-dev package under Debian) if you wish to compile it. default: enabled on win32 For Windows only This is the Windows native interface. It requires Borland C++ builder to compile. You may use the --with-bc-builder=PATH option to specify the path to this application. default: disabled This is the QT interface module. You will need the libraries (libqt2 package on Debian) and headers (libqt-dev package under Debian) if you wish to compile it. default: disabled This is the KDE interface module. You will need the libraries (kdelibs3 package on Debian) and headers (kde-devel package under Debian) if you wish to compile it. default: enabled This is the Remote Control interface module. It allows you to control VLC via commands, such as play, stop, etc... or via a script. default: disabled This is a text interface, using ncurses library. You will need ncurses headers if you want to compile it (libncurses5-dev package on Debian). default: disabled This interface module allows you to control VLC through a remote. A lircrc example is provided to help you configure it to your remote (see doc/lirc/example.lircrc). default: enabled The wxWindows interface is a portable interface meant to replace win32, gnome and Gtk interface, but it is not completely finished. default: disabled This is an interface plugin for the Qt Embedded library (iPaq graphical library). The following modules add codec (ie, compression formats) support. default: disabled This is a better AC3/A52 decoder than the built-in one, based on liba52 (see the liba52 web site. default: disabled This is a free MPEG-4/DivX/OpenDivX codec : ffmpeg (see the ffmpeg web site. default: enabled This codec allows you to read the OGG/Vorbis files. default: disabled This codec allows you to read DV-encoded files. default: disabled This codec allows you to read files encoded with Xvid (see Xvid web site). default: disabled This codec is a very smart MP3 decoder, that only uses integers. This allows its use for CPU which don't handle floating point numbers (on PDA, for exemple). default: disabled Faad is an MPEG-4 audio decoder (see the FAAC web site). default: disabled tarkin is a new codec (experimental) by the Ogg Project (see the Ogg Vorbis web site). default: disabled theora is an experimental video codec by the Ogg Project (see the Ogg Vorbis web site). default: enabled This is the codec for the Cinepak format. default: disabled This is an Ogg/Vorbis codec that only makes integer calculus, which allow its use on CPU which don't have floating point support (see the Ogg Vorbis web site). The following modules add support for different OSs. default: enabled on MacOS X For MacOS X only This is the MacOS X support module, including a native interface. default: enabled on qnx For QNX only This is the QNX RTOS support module. This section describes a few more modules that don't belong to any of the categories described before. default: enabled Stream Output is a new feature of VLC that allows it to stream an MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4/DivX file or a DVD. For more details, please have a look at the or sections. default: disabled This builds a special VLC, for testing purposes only. default: disabled This is not really a module. When enabled, a VLC-based Mozilla plugin is built. default: enabled This enables the SLP service discovery protocol. default: disabled For Unix only This plugin outputs the current stream to an "OSD" (On Screen Display). There are a few options that you can set when running the configure script, which are not related to modules. You can have a look at these options by typing : % ./configure --help You can for example control all the installation directories, the system for which you want to build VLC for (if not guessed correctly),... You can also choose to enable or disable some optimizations. If you select this option, no plugins will be enabled. This is definitely not recommended, as you would get a very poor VLC, and should only be used for testing purposes.