VLC Version 3.1 Brings Chromecast Support, 360-Degree Viewing Mode on iOS

VLC media player app has now received the latest version 3.1 on iOS, released by VideoLAN. The update comes months after version 3.0 was launched in February this year, and brings with it an array of new features. These include support for Google's Chromecast streaming devices, improved audio playback quality, and the ability to view 360-degree videos by moving the phone around. It also comes with a fix for a bug that did not display files stored on the phone, and fixes for regression issues in downloaded files and Google Drive login. File size of the app is around 46MB, and the new version is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch running iOS 9.0 and above.

Now rolling out to users across the board, version 3.1 of VLC Player on iOS, available as a free download, brings much-needed stability and performance improvements when decoding H.264/ H.265 in hardware. The changelog also reveals a fix for a regression that prevented the download of certain media files via http.

Back in February 2018, VLC 3.0 was announced as a major upgrade to the media player and brought updates across Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Android, Apple TV, and Chrome OS. As part of an overhaul, this version is claimed to have fixed 1,500 existing bugs. For video enthusiasts, the VLC media player had received support for 12-bit codecs as well as for extended colorspaces. A new subtitle rendering engine, with support for ComplexTextLayout, was also added in the version's changelog.

Founded initially in 2001, VLC media player is a free, open-source, cross-platform media player available on mobile platforms including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Tizen, and desktop platforms. The media player supports multiple audio and video formats, and has the ability to stream media over computer networks.