VLC Media Player 2020 Free Download For Windows, Mac, Android & iOS - The VLC media player is that the most stable, versatile and lightweight audio and video player these days, particularly in comparison to others which will play uncommon formats once downloading a codec, or just refuse to play one thing. Set VLC as Default App on Mac. These were two simple ways to set VLC as your default media player. I don’t mind using the first method but I consume a lot of video content and setting every format to play with VLC isn’t something I’d want to do. SwiftDefaultApps can do so much more than just setting VLC as the default app.
Last Updated on December 30, 2020 by Leo Standy
“This Blu-ray disc needs a library for aacs decoding, and your system does not have it.” You read this because you got a Blu-ray error when trying to play a Blu-ray disc with VLC Player on your computer. VLC is a good player software for Blu-ray content on Windows, macOS and even Linus, but it still can’t play Blu-ra disc that protected by aacs or BD+ nonetheless. Therefore, if you want to enable VLC to play those commercial Blu-ray discs, you must find the valid library for aacs decoding and put it into the right place, so that VLC can invoke it for decrypting Blu-ray content.
More Errors that you May Got when Playing Blu-ray with VLC
What is AACS? AACS is short for Advanced Access Content System which is a standard for DVD and Blu-ray content distribution and digital rights management. Accordingly, with the protection of AACS, all unauthorized access to the DVD and Blu-ray content will be banned. And that is the reason why you cannot play the Blu-ray disc on VLC. Luckily, many AACS decryption keys have been extracted and published on the internet, enabling decoding the AACS protected DVD or Blu-ray Media with third-party software such as VLC. So those extracted decryption keys are the library for aacs decoding that you need when playing Blu-ray disc with VLC.
Where to download AACS decoding library and how to install it to VLC
To fix “this Blu-ray disc needs a library for aacs decoding…” error, there are two files that you need to implement to your VLC.
- KEYDB.cfg file – this file is used by aacs decoding file.
- libaacs.dll – this is the aacs decoding file
Step 1 Go to vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name, you will receive the privacy error telling you that Your connection is not private. Click on the Advanced button to enlarge the error explanation tab and click Proceed to vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name (unsafe).
Step 2 Download keys database file and AACS dynamic library file onto your computer. You should download the right version of AACS dynamic library according to your system. Since I am in Windows 10 60bit, so I will download the VLC 64 bit on Windows version.
Step 3 Install the downloaded files.
For Windows:
- Put KEYDB.cfg in
C:Users[Your User Name]AppDataRoamingaacs. You can press Win + R to launch the Run application, and enter %appdata% into the Open text filed. Then click OK to open the directory of C:Users[Your User Name]AppDataRoaming, then Create a folder name “aacs” and copy the cfg into the folder. - Put libaacs.dll in your VLC installation directory.
For Mac:
- Put KEYDB.cfg in
~/Library/Preferences/aacs/(create it if it does not exist). - Put libaccs.dylib in
/usr/local/lib/directory (create it, if it does not exist).
Note: since vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name has been out of update for years, so please follow our instruction to install those files.
Step 4 Restart VLC and open the Blu-ray disc once again.
Now you probably have fixed the “This Blu-ray Disc needs a library for AACS decoding, and your system does not have it” error. Make sure that you have followed the fix guide carefully. If it doesn’t work. Please repeat the steps once again.
If you still cannot play your Blu-ray movie with VLC. I will recommend you to use a third-party Blu-ray Player software to open the Blu-ray disc.
Best VLC alternative to play Blu-ray disc on Windows and macOS
If you don’t want to see the Blu-ray errors when playing Blu-ray contents with VLC or you just can’t fix the “This Blu-ray Disc needs a library for AACS decoding, and your system does not have it” error. Then a third-party Blu-ray Player software is your best choice.
- Embedded with all necessary decoding library for playing all DVD and Blu-ray disc, you don’t have to handle with the aacs decoding library missing problems.
- Play AACS and BD+ protected Blu-ray 1080p/720p HD videos.
How to Play AACS Protected Blu-ray Disc with Blu-ray Player instead of VLC
Step 1 Install the Blu-ray Player software mentioned above on your Windows or Mac.
Step 2 Launch the Player and click Open Disc on the middle menu of the interface.
Then you are free to enjoy your Blu-ray movie on your PC now.
Besides turn to a third-party player, you have another feasible solution which is to rip the Blu-ray disc to a digital video file then play the video with any ordinary player on your computer. To rip a Blu-ray disc, you need to appeal to Blu-ray Ripper.
There are a lot of strong arguments in favor of macOS, it is beautiful, robust, well designed, and just works. While it is true, I hate the fact that the default Media Player on macOS is a Quick Time Player. I wanted to use VLC as my default media player for all the video files on my mac. That said, let’s set VLC as the default app.
I use VLC simply because it is more intuitive than Quick Time Player, supports file types such as MKV, and gives you total control of the video playback from the keyboard.
Set VLC As Default App On Mac
1. Open With: The Easy Method
There is an option built into the macOS that lets you set any application as a default. To set VLC as default for a video file, Right-click the file> Click ‘Get Info’.
Also Read: VLC For Apple TV: Fixing 3 Common Problem
Vlc Player Mac 2020 Free
Under the ‘Open With‘ section, select VLC from the drop-down menu. Click the ‘Change All’ button. That’s all you need to do, the video file would open with VLC every time you double click it or press CMD+DOWN.
However, the problem with this method is that you would have to repeat the process of setting VLC as a default app for every video file type. If you want a set it and forget it type fix then let’s check out the next method.
2. Swift Default App: The effective Method
To set VLC as a default app for every video file type, we’d install a small utility app, Swift Default Apps. It’s a preference pane app that would let us set any app as default. Download the app from the Github page and install it on your system.
Once installed, you will find this app in System Preferences, Click SwiftDefaultApps icon.
Select Applications from the row of tabs, scroll down to find VLC and check all the media files that you want VLC to play. Now, simply close the System Preferences and that’s it. All of the video files have been set to VLC now.
Read: How to Play MKV Files on Mac
Vlc Player Mac 2020 Torrent
Set VLC as Default App on Mac
These were two simple ways to set VLC as your default media player. I don’t mind using the first method but I consume a lot of video content and setting every format to play with VLC isn’t something I’d want to do. SwiftDefaultApps can do so much more than just setting VLC as the default app. What do you think of these methods, let me know in the comments below or reach out to me on Twitter?
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