<P> VLC supports many audio and video compression methods and file formats, including DVD - Video, video CD and streaming protocols . It is able to stream media over computer networks and to transcode multimedia files . </P> <P> The default distribution of VLC includes a large number of free decoding and encoding libraries, avoiding the need for finding / calibrating proprietary plugins . The libavcodec library from the FFmpeg project provides many of VLC's codecs, but the player mainly uses its own muxers, and demuxers . It also has its own protocol implementations . It also gained distinction as the first player to support playback of encrypted DVDs on Linux and macOS by using the libdvdcss DVD decryption library . </P> <P> The VideoLan software originated as an academic project in 1996 . VLC used to stand for "VideoLAN Client" when VLC was a client of the VideoLAN project . But since VLC is no longer merely a client, that initialism no longer applies . It was intended to consist of a client and server to stream videos from satellite dishes across a campus network . Originally developed by students at the École Centrale Paris, it is now developed by contributors worldwide and is coordinated by VideoLAN, a non-profit organization . Rewritten from scratch in 1998, it was released under GNU General Public License on February 1, 2001, with authorization from the headmaster of the École Centrale Paris . The functionality of the server program, VideoLan Server (VLS), has mostly been subsumed into VLC and has been deprecated . The project name has been changed to VLC media player because there is no longer a client / server infrastructure . The cone icon used in VLC is a reference to the traffic cones collected by École Centrale's Networking Students' Association . The cone icon design was changed from a hand drawn low resolution icon to a higher resolution CGI - rendered version in 2006, illustrated by Richard Øiestad . </P> <P> In 2007 the VLC project decided for license compatibility reasons to not upgrade to the just released GPLv3 . After 13 years of development, version 1.0. 0 of VLC media player was released on July 7, 2009 . Work began on VLC for Android in 2010 and it is available for Android devices on the Google Play store since 2011 . In September 2010, a company named "Applidium" developed a VLC port for iOS under GPLv2 with the endorsement of the VLC project, which was accepted by Apple for their App store . In January 2011, after VLC developer Rémi Denis - Courmont's complaint to Apple about the licensing conflict between the VLC's GPLv2 and the App store's policies, the VLC had been withdrawn from the Apple App Store by Apple . Following, the VLC authors began to relicense in October 2011 the engine parts of VLC from the GPLv2 to the LGPLv 2 to achieve better license compatibility, for instance with the Apple App Store . In July 2013 the VLC application could then resubmitted to the iOS App Store under the Mozilla Public License . Version 2.0. 0 of VLC media player was released on February 18, 2012 . A version for the Windows Store was released on March 13, 2014 . Support for Windows RT, Windows Phone and Xbox One were later added . As of 2016 VLC is third in the sourceforge.net overall download count, and there have been more than 2 billion downloads . </P>

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