EXCLUSIVE: Popular open-source media player, VLC, to get Chromecast support

Developers for VideoLAN's VLC Player, an open-source media player appreciated for its versatility and efficiency, recently revealed that they're working on integrating Chromecast support into the iOS, Windows, OS X, Linux, and PC versions of the software. Furthermore — according to a report from Gigaom – VideoLAN does plan to add casting capabilities to the Android app after finishing the iOS app update. The feature will be included in the next update of the iOS VLC app.

VLC Player is perhaps best known for its ability to seamlessly play (with minimal memory hogging) just about every type of video and audio file format on the planet.

Within a thread on the official VideoLAN forum, VLC's lead OS X and iOS developer Felix Paul Kühne writes, "In addition to the iOS variant, we are also working on a Windows / Linux / Mac implementation, which will take a bit longer because it's harder." Google still hasn't released a software developer kit (SDK) to help developers integrate native Chromecast support into their own Windows, OS X, and Linux software, and as as result VLC's developers are forced to either reverse-engineer the Google feature or synchronize the media player with Chrome for in-browser playback – neither option is the best, and this is a potential reason for Kühne's claim that the Windows/Linux/Mac integration may take a while.

In an email to Gigaom, Kühne said that he couldn't give a firm date for the release, but that the iOS app update could be made available within the next four to six weeks. He further explained that they will begin work on adding the feature to the Android app once the iOS version is released.

Back in January, VLC hit its iOS app with a pretty hefty update that brought Google Drive integration, Dropbox streaming support, an improved library layout for TV shows and audio files, and new multi-touch gestures. Chromecast support would effectively make it much easier to stream local files from a PC to the big screen without having to purchase more expensive hardware.
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