Using VLC Player Under Vista

As many people already know, the most supportive application for playing media ( Video ) files on your computer in VLC Player. The problem is that it doesn't always work correctly on Windows Vista.

The application in itself is not the most high-end eye candy on the market, but for support of media files, no other player comes close. VLC Player contains the codecs required to play a host of Media formats. 

Vista, as the new OS, has many problems with application compatibility, and VLC is no exception. Most people will find that VLC has issue in terms of video output. To resolve this issue, follow the steps below. 

1) Open VLC player
2) Click Settings > Preferences

3) Expand the “Video menu�
4) Highlight “Output Modules� ( by Clicking on it )
5) Located bottom right of the window, click “Advanced Options�

6) Under “Video OutPut Module� Select either one of the following options ( If one fails, try the other )
                     DirectX Video OutPut
                     Windows GDI Video OutPut (I had best luck with this)

Note that Default is usually the best option, so this is only to be changed if you have problems.

7) If these fail, you can try Dummy Video OutPut Function, or even one of the others.

Hope This Helps!

Alan McC wrote just one article for the How-To Geek, but it's been one of the most popular articles on the site. This article was written on 04/20/07 and tagged with: Windows Vista, Vista Tips & Tweaks

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Comments (88)

1. April 20, 2007 10:22 pm
   The Geek

   I gotta say a huge thanks to Alan for submitting this article… helped me watch a number of .mkv files that wouldn't work on Vista for some reason.

2. April 24, 2007 12:44 am
   Jason

   Many thanks for this solution to a very frustrating problem.

3. April 24, 2007 7:32 pm
   Corinne

   OMG Thank you so much man. This helped me so much. I couldn't get anything to work but now I can. Your a live savior.

4. April 25, 2007 1:45 am
   mrcpu

   WHile it works good, gomplayer is an awesome media player that works OOB under vista, and leaves VLC in the dust…

5. April 25, 2007 5:05 pm
   Natalia

   Hey thanks a lot! VLC is really helpful but Vista is pain in the ass. Thank you for the guide!

6. April 26, 2007 1:57 pm
   Wole

   Thanks for the info!

7. April 28, 2007 6:21 pm
   n

   thanks a million. sure helped me.

8. April 29, 2007 4:13 pm
   veilstyle

   thank you for the tip. I couldn't get vlc player to display any video, the audio worked fine. the windows gdi solution gave me the best results.

   thanks

9. April 30, 2007 6:49 am
   brenie

   thanks man big respect 2 all the computer nuds who got this working hopefully your lads well get divx working ive heard an american dudes got it working

10. May 2, 2007 5:45 am
    Lisa

    Thank you so much for this article! I know nothing about computers and was so upset that I couldn't get VLC to play files when I upgraded to Vista. It is now perfect! Thank you very much!

11. May 2, 2007 3:32 pm
    Al Mohallim

    Thanks, it works great now.

12. May 5, 2007 8:21 am
    yahd

    good job …thankzzz

13. May 6, 2007 4:52 am
    Tu

    Dude…YOU ARE THE GREATEST!!! EXCELLENT POST!!!

14. May 6, 2007 8:53 pm
    andry

    thanks a lot
    worked at my first try
    under windows GDI.
    THANKS AGAIN

15. May 7, 2007 11:01 am
    johnte

    Great help, had shitty problems until now! could not understand why I could play the same files on the comp. when they where on a DVD compared to on the disc using VLC.

    hack the planet

16. May 8, 2007 7:28 am
    Hans

    Thanks a lot mate

17. May 10, 2007 1:27 am
    Thao

    I still have problem with VLC play my anime files. When playing the movie, it will froze 2 or more times. Not sure it is the codec or what. Please help!!!

18. May 10, 2007 3:59 am
    claudia

    i could kiss you your the best

19. May 10, 2007 6:01 pm
    Anirudh

    hey thanks pal…..
    it was a great help…. It solved the issue with image buffering in the VLC player..

    thanks again

20. May 11, 2007 3:39 pm
    Kishore

    Great tip. It worked for me.

21. May 11, 2007 8:22 pm
    Dave

    Hey thanks a lot bro, keep it up …

22. May 16, 2007 11:58 am
    XELFEIR

    oh great geek. i praise you for this. thx for solving my problem ;=)

23. May 18, 2007 9:39 am
    biggib

    thanks you make my vista seem just a bit better

24. May 26, 2007 3:28 am
    Carlo

    Very Very Useful

    Thanks Alan you saved my life

25. May 27, 2007 4:18 am
    Gazza

    Thanks alot man I couldnt get a thing working before only the audio track straight away it worked. Thanks again!

26. May 27, 2007 7:00 pm
    chittal

    thanks a bunch..this was wonderfull, whats the deal with windows vista it sucks man…i hate it..but will have to deal with it

27. June 2, 2007 3:52 am
    chris

    bloody genius. thanks a lot mate

28. June 2, 2007 5:10 am
    Wolverine26

    Thanks a bunch m8, worked super. Nasty Vista can now co operate with VLC.

29. June 6, 2007 9:50 pm
    Sumit

    Thanks allot dude…. take care

30. June 7, 2007 11:10 pm
    jamesbond007

    Thx a lot dude…u r a life saver!!!

31. June 8, 2007 8:24 pm
    Liz

    Amazing! Worked perfectly, thanks

32. June 9, 2007 8:02 am
    Kellowatt

    Thanks alot. Switch to the Windows GDI and it worked like a charm.

33. June 12, 2007 9:46 am
    Cirrus

    Thanks a million!

34. June 13, 2007 6:03 am
    Montza

    Googled this issue, found this page, fixed my problem - very appreciative, you have released me from 'death by vista media player'

35. June 14, 2007 10:54 am
    icq

    use GOM player. the best.

36. June 22, 2007 9:01 am
    Zac

    Thank you so much. I was so mad when I got my new comp and couldn't watch my vids. Thanks you again you are the best person ever…

37. June 24, 2007 2:10 pm
    zade

    thx for this. after changing the option video isn't cubical anymore =D

38. June 24, 2007 7:48 pm
    jay

    that worked great! thanks so much.

39. June 27, 2007 12:10 am
    Nitin Mathur

    man this is perfect, it wrks…thnx

40. June 27, 2007 7:54 am
    Zeeshan

    thank u very much! gdi option worked for me too! u r geat

41. June 28, 2007 2:27 pm
    jules

    Hi,
    just to advise you a new version(0.86c) has been released recently with a better vista compatibility
    and a hotfix.
    http://www.videolan.org/

    released note:
    http://www.videolan.org/developers/vlc/NEWS

    Best regards from France

42. June 28, 2007 10:04 pm
    pankaj

    Thx a lot dude…GreatTip….

43. July 7, 2007 7:05 pm
    ihsan

    cheers dude now i can watch the movies i download

44. July 9, 2007 11:26 pm
    sunil

    thanks a lot dude..

45. July 11, 2007 5:51 am
    puneet agrwal

    thanks a lot for this article .this is really helpful

46. July 24, 2007 12:18 pm
    Jackie

    thank u so much!

47. July 24, 2007 3:42 pm
    Fikus

    thanks Man

48. July 24, 2007 8:52 pm
    Edsjag

    Nice one. Worked a treat!

49. July 29, 2007 9:24 pm
    satya

    thanks it works now

50. August 1, 2007 4:10 am
    Ryk3n

    thanks nice ….

51. August 9, 2007 4:58 am
    Jeff

    Media Player Classic (search for Real Alternative or Quicktime Alternative on Google) seems better than VLC, will play most things including Real and Quicktime, and has lots of really cool functions including fast play and reverse, and drag along location bar with realtime viewing of file.

52. August 12, 2007 4:29 pm
    sameer

    i have o.8.6C and i tried all of your options, my .avi file is not working?

53. August 21, 2007 9:14 pm
    blank

    It's people like you at keep me from smashing my computer against the wall. Thanks bud:)

54. September 3, 2007 2:57 am
    Paz

    Your are the best

55. September 4, 2007 9:02 pm
    jay

    Great man…
    Thank you so much for this. You solved a big problem. Now I can answer back to the critics of windows vista who were mocking me for using it.

56. September 5, 2007 12:48 am
    Reji Thomas

    Can I use a Motorola S9 Bluetooth head phones to listen to music from my Vista Home premium??

57. September 7, 2007 11:12 am
    Martin

    Thanks a million dude.. Was fighting with this for last 10 months or so.. Thank u very much..

58. September 19, 2007 12:42 am
    Malicia

    Great! Big and long french kiss dear Geek.

59. September 28, 2007 11:20 pm
    Deepu

    Thanks for this………..

60. October 2, 2007 7:26 pm
    lcb

    Many thanks for the tip. It works. You are fantastic.

61. October 5, 2007 1:52 pm
    Tom, Berlin, Germany

    Thanks for advise. I now use opengl.

62. October 22, 2007 1:30 pm
    Leo

    Thanks, this is a real problem and VLC worked so well in XP that I can't help wondering…a conspiracy?

63. October 29, 2007 3:02 pm
    joe

    thanks a lot! really helped!

64. October 30, 2007 6:21 am
    Susan

    Hi…I get perfect video, but no audio. I have Windows Vista…help!

65. October 30, 2007 6:40 am
    AlanmCc

    Hi Susan, I also find this with infrequent files. Lukely the files which i am unable to hear in VLC can normally be played in windwos media player. This is just the codecs used.

    VLC will play most, but Windows media sometimes play the very few that VLC wont

    Regards, Alan

66. December 6, 2007 1:10 am
    Leonard

    Thanks a bunch mate.

    My video was pixelated and I didn't know why. I cam across this now its all fine!

67. December 12, 2007 5:53 am
    Ravi Sekhar

    hey thanks a lot buddy.. it works…

68. December 20, 2007 4:28 am
    naddy

    Hi there thanks for this
    vlc did not work at all always got hung up I changed the setting and got a message from vista
    telling me it had to change the colour scheme I said ok since then it is working.
    Ought to buy more RAM as it looks like
    cheers for the comment though

69. January 3, 2008 11:34 am
    hej

    worked graet, before i hade a black screen

70. January 6, 2008 12:08 pm
    anurag

    i was also facing the same problem while playing video files through VLC on vista, but thanks to the above solution, it is now working fine.

71. January 12, 2008 12:51 am
    jyothis

    Hey, thanx alot. Selecting 'Windows GDI Video OutPut' worked for me.

72. January 14, 2008 10:22 am
    Ashish

    Thanx a ton…….. I had a long time problem that got solved…
    Kudos….

73. January 20, 2008 2:59 pm
    stenc55

    I'm using VLC for a long time for watching TV directly from my ISP instead of using STB and tuner. I'm searching for plugin for showing VLC in sidebar. Can anyone make it?

74. February 8, 2008 11:48 pm
    ERBy

    A lots of thanks to you…Now i can watch video on my VLC

75. February 17, 2008 4:11 am
    Ashis

    Thanks so much

76. March 8, 2008 12:42 am
    Panz

    Thanx Pal - u're gr8!!

77. March 11, 2008 12:50 am
    mohan

    vlc player will work properly but hot keys are not working in windows gdi video output.give best solution for it.

78. March 23, 2008 4:50 am
    Dhirendra

    Mani mani thnks for the info.

79. April 10, 2008 10:58 am
    abraham

    Thanks so much.

80. April 18, 2008 6:41 am
    varun

    dude… still not working…

81. April 29, 2008 10:52 pm
    Sham

    working now. thx

82. May 15, 2008 3:19 pm
    Steven

    wow thank you so much! This has saved me from a headache!

83. June 10, 2008 6:05 am
    McManus

    Thanx a lot bro!!!

84. June 15, 2008 1:56 am
    Da Mofs

    You are the best.

85. June 20, 2008 3:19 am
    AJ

    I could have never figur out why. I was about to try another player…IT was really very helpfull

86. June 23, 2008 9:29 am
    Rich

    Thank you so much. great tip to a very annoyingly problem Vista SUCKS.

87. July 9, 2008 2:22 pm
    Gemini

    very nice solution … i like it n it is very helpful 2 me

88. July 14, 2008 5:23 am
    StormLexer

    Thanks, seems to have worked.