Ubuntu – How to install VLC Media Player using terminal

The following steps show how to install VLC Media Player using the terminal on Unbutu 16.04 (and above).

  1. Press Ctrl + Alt + T on your keyboard to launch the Terminal
  2. In the terminal – run the following command to refresh the software repository catalogue
  3. sudo apt-get update
  4. Once the command has finished, run the following command to install VLC Media Player
  5. sudo apt-get install vlc
  6. When prompted with the install size and ‘Do you want to continue’ press ‘Y’ on your keyboard
  7. The install will now automatically complete
  8. VLC Media Player can be found and launched from the ‘Show Applications’ menu

Want to set VLC Media Player as the default video player? see how to set VLC Media Player as default video player.

Having troubles? Try installing VLC Media Player from the Software Centre: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ubuntu.html 

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2 comments on “Ubuntu – How to install VLC Media Player using terminal

  1. Yes, this is correct. I use vlc all the time to play videos and CDs. I don’t use it for web streaming. I don’t use web streaming. I would like to mention that once you have it installed, also run it from the terminal with $ vlc

    Running it any other way eventually causes it to lose its mind and you have to remove vlc and all the files it has created, and reinstall. You do NOT want it to search the internet for information. It has preprogrammed channels, which should be a warning, and you should realize that. You should get the message on your terminal: “main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use ‘cvlc’ to use vlc without interface.” Then you will be OK (don’t use ‘cvlc’). If you make changes to the default interface, such as having it search the web for titles and other foolishness, eventually it won’t work right.

    Now this: When you run it from the terminal like that, you will get some alarming terminal messages:

    “Gtk-Message: 13:35:22.962: GtkDialog mapped without a transient parent. This is discouraged.
    main audio output error: too low audio sample frequency (0)
    main decoder error: failed to create audio output
    vlcpulse audio output error: digital pass-through stream connection failure: Not supported
    main audio output error: module not functional
    main decoder error: failed to create audio output
    equalizer audio filter error: No preset selected
    main audio output error: cannot add user audio filter “equalizer” (skipped)
    libva info: VA-API version 1.1.0
    libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
    libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/dri/r600_drv_video.so
    libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_1
    libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
    glconv_vaapi_x11 gl error: vaDeriveImage: operation failed
    main video output error: video output creation failed
    main decoder error: failed to create video output”
    (memory addresses omitted)

    That is all silly. The audio and video work fine. I have no idea what the developers are thinking.

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