---
name: "vlc"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "vlc-cli"
version: "3.0.24-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/vlc"
---

# vlc(1)

the VLC media player

## NAME

vlc, qvlc, svlc, nvlc, rvlc, cvlc - the VLC media player

## SYNOPSIS

**vlc** \[*OPTIONS*\] \[*ITEMS*\]...

## DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents briefly the **VLC** multimedia player and server.

## OPTIONS

**VLC** follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (\`-'). For a precise description of options, please use "vlc --help".

The complete list of **VLC** options depends on what plugins are installed because they automatically add their own options. Please use "vlc --longhelp --advanced" for a complete list of available options.

## ITEMS

**VLC** recognizes several URL-style items:

- **\*.mpg, \*.vob, \*.avi, \*.mp3, \*.ogg, \*.opus**

  Various multimedia file formats

- **dvd://\[\<device\>\]\[@\<raw device\>\]\[#\[\<title\>\]\[:\[\<chapter\>\]\[:\<angle\>\]\]\]**

  DVD device (for instance dvd:///dev/dvd). The raw device is optional and must have been prepared beforehand.

- **vcd://\[\<device\>\]\[@{E\|P\|E\|T\|S}\[\<number\>\]\]**

  VCD device (for instance vcd:///dev/cdrom).

- **udp://\[@\[\<multicast address\>\]\[:\<local port\>\]\]**

  UDP stream, such as one sent by VLS or another VLC. Usually "udp://" is enough.

- **http://\<server address\>\[:\<server port\>\]/\[\<file\>\]**

  HTTP stream

- **rtsp://\<server address\>\[:\<server port\>\]/\<stream name\>**

  RTSP Video On Demand stream

- **vlc://\<command\>**

  Execute a playlist command. Commands are: **pause** (pause execution of other items), and **quit** (close VLC).

## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The following environment variables may affect VLC:

- **DISPLAY**

  The X11 display server address.

- **http\_proxy**

  The HTTP proxy server URL.

- **OSSAUDIO\_DEV**

  The default audio output device, used by the OSSv4 output plugin.

- **VLC\_DATA\_PATH**

  The directory containing VLC run-time data files (e.g. /usr/share/vlc).

- **VLC\_PLUGIN\_PATH**

  An extra directory to load VLC plugins from.

- **VLC\_VERBOSE**

  The level of verbosity for log messages (0: silent, 1: error/info, 2: warning, 3: debug).

- **XDG\_CACHE\_DIR XDG\_CONFIG\_DIR XDG\_DATA\_DIR**

  The directories to store user cached data, user configuration files and user data files respectively.

- **XDG\_DOCUMENTS\_DIR XDG\_DOWNLOAD\_DIR XDG\_MUSIC\_DIR XDG\_PICTURES\_DIR XDG\_VIDEO\_DIR**

  The directories to fetch or store user text files, downloads, music, pictures (i.e. snapshots), and video respectively.

- **XDG\_SESSION\_COOKIE**

  The unique identifier of the desktop session, used by the PulseAudio output plugin.

## SEE ALSO

Online documentation: http://www.videolan.org/doc/

## AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Sam Hocevar \<sam@zoy.org\>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).