How to install VLC Media Player on Debian 8.3

To install VLC Media Player on Debian

VLC media player, an open-source and popular media player. It is so simple to install VLC media player. We have already covered the installation of VLC Media Player on OpenSUSE and CentOS, and in this article, let us see about the installation of VLC media player in Debian.

Installing VLC

It is essential to add the repo on apt source list before you begin the installation. Use the following command to add it.

root@linuxhelp:~# nano /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ stable main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian jessie main

Once it is added, update the apt source by deploying the following command.

root@linuxhelp:~# apt-get update
Get:1 http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates InRelease [145 kB]
Ign http://ftp.de.debian.org jessie InRelease           
Hit http://ftp.de.debian.org jessie Release.gpg         
Hit http://ftp.de.debian.org jessie Release
Ign http://ftp.debian.org stable InRelease      
Hit http://ftp.debian.org stable Release.gpg        
Hit http://ftp.de.debian.org jessie/main amd64 Packages
Get:2 http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/main Sources [15.4 kB]
Hit http://ftp.de.debian.org jessie/main Translation-en                        
Get:3 http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/contrib Sources [32 B]
Get:4 http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/main amd64 Packages/DiffIndex [6,916 B]
Get:5 http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/contrib amd64 Packages [32 B]
Get:6 http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/contrib Translation-en [14 B]
Get:7 http://ftp.debian.org jessie-updates/main Translation-en/DiffIndex [2,704 B]
Hit http://ftp.debian.org stable Release                        
Hit http://ftp.debian.org stable/main amd64 Packages
Hit http://ftp.debian.org stable/contrib amd64 Packages
Hit http://ftp.debian.org stable/non-free amd64 Packages
Hit http://ftp.debian.org stable/contrib Translation-en
Hit http://ftp.debian.org stable/main Translation-en
Hit http://ftp.debian.org stable/non-free Translation-en
Fetched 170 kB in 4s (36.4 kB/s)             
Reading package lists... Done

Now, you can install the VLC by running the following command.

root@linuxhelp:~# apt-get install vlc browser-plugin-vlc
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libasn1-8-heimdal libgssapi3-heimdal libhcrypto4-heimdal
  libheimbase1-heimdal libheimntlm0-heimdal libhx509-5-heimdal
  libkrb5-26-heimdal libroken18-heimdal libwind0-heimdal
Use ' apt-get autoremove'  to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  fonts-freefont-ttf libbasicusageenvironment0 libcddb2 libcrystalhd3
  libdvbpsi9 libebml4 libgles1-mesa libgles2-mesa libgroupsock1 libiso9660-8
  liblivemedia23 libmatroska6 libpostproc52 libproxy-tools
  libresid-builder0c2a libsdl-image1.2 libshine3 libsidplay2 libupnp6
  libusageenvironment1 libva-drm1 libva-x11-1 libvcdinfo0 libvlc5 libvlccore8
  libvncclient0 libxcb-composite0 vlc-data vlc-nox vlc-plugin-notify
  vlc-plugin-samba
Suggested packages:
  firmware-crystalhd videolan-doc libdvdcss2
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  browser-plugin-vlc fonts-freefont-ttf libbasicusageenvironment0 libcddb2
  libcrystalhd3 libdvbpsi9 libebml4 libgles1-mesa libgles2-mesa libgroupsock1
.
.
.
.
Setting up libpostproc52 (6:0.git20120821-4) ...
Setting up libresid-builder0c2a (2.1.1-14) ...
Setting up libsidplay2 (2.1.1-14) ...
Setting up libvcdinfo0 (0.7.24+dfsg-0.2) ...
Setting up libproxy-tools (0.4.11-4+b2) ...
Setting up vlc-data (2.2.4-1~deb8u1) ...
Setting up libvlccore8 (2.2.4-1~deb8u1) ...
Setting up libvlc5 (2.2.4-1~deb8u1) ...
Setting up vlc-nox (2.2.4-1~deb8u1) ...
Setting up vlc (2.2.4-1~deb8u1) ...
Setting up browser-plugin-vlc (2.0.6-4) ...
Setting up vlc-plugin-notify (2.2.4-1~deb8u1) ...
Setting up vlc-plugin-samba (2.2.4-1~deb8u1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.19-18+deb8u7) ...

VLC media player has been installed. Use the activities search bar to launch VLC.

Enjoy playing your media files with VLC media player.

Simple to install, wasn' t it? VLC media player is designed with abundant of features which gives an enhancing experience to its users. It supports several audio and video compression methods and multimedia files. Also, it plays video files from DVDs, VCDs, and many other streaming protocols. Apart from video formats, it also supports several subtitle formats such as SVCD, CVD, DVB, OGM, Matroska, MicroDVD, VobSub, etc.