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  • 6 years ago
    • Categories: Guides

How to Update VLC Media Player to the Latest Version

With VLC Media Player, you always want the latest version of the software in your computer. There are additional features, security updates and improvements in the app when it is the most up to date version. The VideoLAN group always pushes regular updates and you will get an automated notification when you open the application. If it doesn’t show any update notification, go to Help > Check for Updates from the menu bar and a manual check will be performed. It will look for new versions of VLC Media Player online.

To update VLC Media Player to the latest version in your laptop or desktop:

  1. Click on Help > Check for Updates. If there is an update, it’ll display a message like,

    A new version of VLC (3.0.3) is available.

    VideoLAN and the VLC development team present VLC 3.0 “Vetinari”.
    VLC 3.0 is a major update to VLC, introducing hardware decoding by default, allowing 4K with low-cpu usage (and 8K on recent machines), supporting HDR and 360 video. It also improves audio passthrough, allows to stream to ChromeCast, Blurays and local network drive browsing.

    Do you want to download it?

  2. Click on Yes and it will begin downloading the update file immediately.

    Once downloaded, it will say

    The new version was successfully downloaded. Do you want to close VLC and install it now?

  3. Hit the Install button.
  4. It will ask for admin privileges. Click on Yes to proceed.

    Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?

  5. The installation wizard will start. Click Yes.
  6. You will have two options. Hit Next.
    • Upgrade VLC using previous settings (recommended)
    • Change settings (advanced)

    Most users will choose the recommended option.

  7. The installer will now extract the files and install the software
    It will display a confirmation at the end. Click Finish.

If you had checked the ☑ Run VLC media player option, the new and updated version will now run. Otherwise, you can access it from the start menu or any other shortcuts to launch the app in your system.

To confirm that everything went smooth and the update happened, Click on Help > About.

The update file is temporarily stored in %HOME%\AppData\Local\Temp folder. Navigate to it to access the file directly.

Note: If the updater doesn’t run automatically then learn how to launch the installer manually for your VLC update.

View Comments (39)

  • very misleading. it says it keeps your settings, but that's wrong. i updated and now have to again go through all advanced settings that got reset.

  • Been using VLC for years but the most recent update changed it completely. I updated and now VLC has no menus or even a version flag anywhere. Win10 says it's V 3.2.1.0. Very nice UI but where are the menus? And how can I view/hide the display of the control bar? The VideoLAN site has no documentation for this new major version...where can i read about it?

  • The app really needs to have an option to open the download location. The installer failed to load, and even failed to pop an error. I had to go on a hunt to find the file because it was not in the downloads folder where it would be expected. Please fix so this is more intuitive and less frustrating.

    • i totally agree! just did one of VLC's auto updates on 10-24-23 and this issue has NOT been addressed. i could not find the download folder location in any of the settings. as mentioned above, this needs to be changed to allow the user the option to relocate where the downloaded versions get saved.

  • vlc is the perfect input and perfect output but u need to update your settings day by day and u required perfect hard ware and perfect software

    i am unable to comment detaily follow me on google

    gokul work shop tiruchengodu

    • Gokul.s... what are you talking about? VLC doesn't require updating of settings day by day and perfect hardware? No such thing or requirement. Been using VLC player for as long as I can remember and none of what you say is needed is true.

      • I don't understand you, sorry. The facts: I click on "update", then "download" and nothing happened! There are nothing downloaded!

  • Here's how i found the update file(on windows 10). Make sure hidden items are visible, go to "This PC", might be named differently, "Users", select the account you are currently using, "AppData" should be visible, from there go to "Local", "Temp", scroll until you find the update file; and bob's your uncle. PS, make sure you are using the admin account.

    • Thank you, Florian - you helped many people. With your instruction I was able to find the update file.

    • Thank you very much!
      Very weird that VLC themselves does not inform about where to find the file

      • Thank you, Florian N. That helped me greatly. And, I agree with Sara. I'm confused as to why either VLC hasn't fixed their update issue by now, gave us the option of "Save As" so we would know where we were saving the exe file, or showed us the path to where it was saved. There's probably a lot of people who will give up on the update or use another program out of frustration. Thanks again for your help.

  • Where does it download the updates? It does't tell me the name, where it downloaded it, or anything to help me. I searched for vlc*.exe, vetinari, 3.0.14 -- nothing. It isn't in my downloads list. I give up.

  • I upgraded my player and now it won't play anything. It whines and makes all kinds of weird noises for about ten minutes then just stops.

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