VLC Media Player

VLC media player is a globally recognized, free, and open-source cross-platform multimedia player. It was originally started in 1996 as an academic project by students at the École Centrale Paris in France. Initially known as the VideoLAN Client, it was part of a project designed to stream video across a campus network. In 2001, the software was relicensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), allowing it to be developed by a worldwide community of volunteers.

Today, the brand is managed by VideoLAN, a non-profit organization based in Paris, France. Its current president and a key lead developer, Jean-Baptiste Kempf, has famously turned down multi-million dollar offers to monetize or sell the app to ensure it remains free, ad-free, and open to all users. While the project is headquartered in France, its development is truly international, with contributors from over 40 countries maintaining the code and expanding its capabilities for virtually every operating system.