VLC for iOS Gets Major Update, Including Support for Cloud Storage

VLC, the free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols, has just released a major update for its VLC for iOS 2.5.0 application for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices, bringing in new features and improvements including support for sharing media files between multiple iOS devices on a local area network.

The newly released VLC for iOS app now includes support for five major cloud storage services: Dropbox, Google Drive, Apple's iCloud Drive, Microsoft's OneDrive, and Box.com. A 10-band equalizer has been added, the playback dialog now supports titles and chapters, enhanced media information has been added to the library view, and a new lock button for controls and orientation has been added to the playback view. The integrated support for Plex Media Server has also been improved with optional direct connections, and the WiFi sharing from Linux web browsers has been improved as well. A timer has been added which can be set to automatically stop the playback, the playback view has been improved, and VLC for iOS will now notify users about missing storage space when they sync media files. VLC for iOS 2.5.0 comes with a couple of minor UI (User Interface) improvements, and some new translations, for the Brazil Portuguese, Portuguese, Serbian Latin, Khmer, Tamil, Faroese, Afrikaans, and Belarusian. Moreover, support for the x-error parameter has been added in the x-callback-url component of the software.

The changelog for VLC 2.5.0 however says that support for the AC-3, E-AC-3 and MLP multi-channel audio codecs has not been included because of a legal request.

In related news, VLC has also updated both the Windows Phone and Windows 8.1 VLC media player apps, mostly bug fixes, according to Windows Central. The app's main developer, Thomas Nigro, told the site that there is a beta for 'Last.FM scrobbling' in the update for the Windows Phone version. As for the update on the Windows 8.1 version, he reportedly said "Audio used to crash for FLAC and WAV files, it shouldn't now."