VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player 3.0.21 – The King Is Back With a Massive Update (Out Now!)

VLC fans, drop everything – VideoLAN just unleashed VLC 3.0.21, the biggest and most important update in years. Released November 2025, this version 3.0.21 finally brings native Windows on ARM64 support, crushes hundreds of security holes, adds AV1 hardware decoding on modern GPUs, and polishes the hell out of 4K/8K/HDR playback. If you’ve been holding off updating, this is the one to smash that button for.

Over 5 billion downloads strong and still completely free, ad-free, spyware-free – VLC remains the undisputed champ of “just play literally everything” media players.

What’s New & Fixed in 3.0.21 (November 2025)

• Native ARM64 version for Windows (Snapdragon X Elite, Surface Pro X, Lenovo Yoga, etc. – goodbye Rosetta/compatibility layers!
• Full AV1 hardware decoding (Intel Arc, NVIDIA RTX 40/50, AMD RX 7000 series)
• Wayland support on Linux is now rock-solid
• RIST protocol support (pro broadcasters & streaming pros
• Major security patches (over 40 CVEs squashed – huge props to the VideoLAN team)
• Improved YouTube, Twitch, and other online stream playback (bypass some region/script blocks)
• Better HDR tone-mapping on all platforms
• Fixes for MP4, MKV, WebM, and rare subtitle crashes
• Audio passthrough improvements (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, Atmos on compatible setups)
• New modern dark mode refinements + Fluent Design on Windows 11

Pro move: Enable auto-update inside VLC (Tools → Check for Updates) so you never miss critical security patches again.

Still the only player that can handle broken files, weird codecs, 10-bit HEVC, 8K 120 fps YouTube rips, and your grandma’s 1998 home videos without batting an eye. No bloat, no tracking, no subscriptions.

Update today and keep reigning supreme over every other media player on the planet. Long live the orange cone!

What’s the most insane file you’ve ever thrown at VLC? Drop it in the comments – we all know it played perfectly.