30 years ago he created a player for the university: today his app has more than 6 billion downloads and remains free and without ads
**VLC Media Player Reaches Monumental Download Milestone, Underscoring Open-Source Success** The venerable VLC media player has surpassed an astounding 6 billion downloads globally, a testament to its enduring appeal and robust functionality. This remarkable achievement highlights the power of open-source software, offering users a free, ad-free, and highly versatile tool for media playback that has remained a staple for decades. Its continued success in an era dominated by proprietary, often monetized, digital services underscores a different path for software development. Launched initially as a university project in 1996 at École Centrale Paris, VLC was designed to optimize network bandwidth. The project transitioned to open-source under the GNU General Public License in 2001, a pivotal moment that fostered widespread developer contributions and community adoption. As of March 2024, official figures indicated 5 billion downloads, with the latest announcement in early 2025 at CES revealing the surge to 6 billion. Windows users account for the vast majority of these downloads, with approximately 4.8 billion, followed by macOS at 380 million. The implications of VLC's sustained popularity extend beyond mere download numbers; it represents a significant European contribution to the global digital landscape. Its evolution from a student initiative to a non-profit managed entity, the VideoLAN Organisation, demonstrates a successful model for independent, community-driven software development. This contrasts with the centralized, corporate-driven development models prevalent among many global tech giants, offering a compelling example of sustained innovation rooted in open principles and user needs.
Curated and translated by Europe Digital for our multilingual European audience.
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