VLCKit is a generic library for any audio or video playback needs on OS X, iOS and tvOS. It also supports active streaming and media to file conversations on the Mac. It is open-source software licensed under LGPLv2.1 or later, available in source code and binary form from the VideoLAN website. You can also integrate MobileVLCKit easily via CocoaPods.

When do you need VLCKit? Frankly always when you need to play media not supported by QuickTime / AVFoundation or if you require more flexibility. You want to play something else besides H264/AAC files or HLS streams? You need subtitles beyond QuickTime’s basic support for Closed Captions? Your media source is not your mobile device and not a basic HTTP server either, but perhaps a live stream hailing from some weird media server or even a raw DVB signal broadcasted on a local network? Then, VLCKit is for you.

But this is open-source software right? What does this mean for me and the end-user? And wasn’t MobileVLC removed from the App Store in 2011 for some crazy licensing reason?

First of all, open-source means for you, that you get access to the whole stack. There is no blackbox, all the sources are there at your fingertips. No reverse-engineering needed, no private APIs.

Then again, this must not be the case for your software. The LGPLv2.1 allows our software to be included in proprietary apps, as long as you follow the license. As a start, make sure to publish any potential changes you do to our software, make sure that the end-user is aware that VLCKit is embedded within your greater work and that s/he is aware of the gained rights. S/he is granted access to our code as well as to your additions to our work. For further details, please read the license and consult your lawyer with any questions you might have.

As VLCKit is an open-source project hosted by VideoLAN, we happily welcome all kinds of contributions to it. For detailed information on the development process, please read our wiki page on how to send patches.

We happily provide guidance on VLCKit. The web forum is always there for you. If you prefer live interaction, reach out to us via our IRC channel on the freenode Network (irc.freenode.org, #videolan). Use the Freenode Web interface, if you don't have an IRC client at hand.

You can find more documentation on the VideoLAN wiki.