Videolan have released a new version of their open source media player app VLC. Version 2.1 code named “Rincewind” has new audio core, hardware decoding and encoding and support for Ultra-HD videos. There are lots of changes to this version, the changes to the core deliver better volume management, higher sample rates and new output capabilities. The other changes include new device inputs and formats and improvements to the decoding features and an improved user interface.

All in all it’s a big improvement over the old version and the addition of Ultra-HD (4k) video support could prove interesting when we start to see the new HD videos.

The new version is available for Mac and Windows and you can read the whole changelog on the videolan site.

 

2.1.0 Highlights

With a new audio core, hardware decoding and encoding, port to mobile platforms, preparation for Ultra-HD video and a special care to support more formats, 2.1 is a major upgrade for VLC.

Rincewind has a new rendering pipeline for audio, with better effiency, volume and device management, to improve VLC audio support.

It supports many new devices inputs, formats, metadata and improves most of the current ones, preparing for the next-gen codecs.

Rincewind fixes around a thousand bugs, in more than 7000 commits from 140 volunteers.

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