Introduction:

When it comes to choosing the best open source media players available online, VLC Media player is by far the best option. Developed by VideoLAN Project and licensed under GNU GPL v2, it is the most downloaded free media player online and can play more audio/video formats than any other media player available. The software is managed by a group of volunteers.
 
Pros:

- It is an open-source freeware, which can be customized on an individual level to suit the needs of users.
- It plays everything; the audio and video files of almost any format.
- The media player is regularly updated; the special features and add-ins created by the VLC community are also readily available online.
-  The installation process is extremely quick and there is no rocket science about it.
- There are a number of skins available; they can be customized as well.
- You can hide the player controls once you don’t require them.
- There is a wide range of tool available on VLC media player.
- The VLC Media Player also provides the option of special effects like blur, wave, water, and mirror effects.
- The latest version overcomes the crash and load problems which were faced in the previous versions.
- Videos/audios can be experienced at an enhanced volume, at 200 percent.

Cons:

- The increased volume option of VLC Media Player can cause problems to the speakers of the digital devices.

System Requirements:

This software can be downloaded on any Windows operated system - Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7/8. It does not accompany any spyware and malware and the installation process is very simple. There are no pre-requisite software required for VLC Media Player to operate. The file size is 21.94MB.

Upgrades:

VLC is an open source product and is totally free. There are no paid versions available.