Glossary¶

This page lists definitions for terms used in VLC and this documentation.

Display locally: This will display the stream on your screen. Here, effects of transcoding, rescaling, etc can be monitored locally.
File: This will allow you to save the stream to a file.
HTTP: The HTTP streaming method allows you to specify the TCP port number you want to listen to.
IceCast: The IceCast server can be used by specifying the address, port, mount point and authentication of the IceCast server to stream to.
Left Mode (Audio): You can observe this in a regular audio player with 2.1 speakers. If you select the Left option, the music is played only in the left speaker. The speaker on your right is automatically switched OFF.
Mono: A monaural sound that uses a single channel for sound reproduction.
MS-WMSP (MMSH): This access method allows you to stream to Microsoft Windows Media Player by specifying the IP address and TCP port number on which to listen. This will only work with the ASF encapsulation method.
Multicast: This is a process where media files are sent to multiple systems through the network.
Reverse Stereo: There are several applications that are used to reverse the stereo whereas VLC has an in-built feature to reverse the stereo. This option is useful if you want the audio to play in tandem with the video. You can use the Reverse Stereo option if you want to deliberately change the audio output. Imagine that you are watching a video. In the video, a person walks on the left side but the sound is produced on the right speaker. You can correct this by selecting the Reverse Stereo option in VLC. Select the Reverse Stereo option and play the same scene in the video and observe the difference.
Right Mode (Audio): If you select the Right option, the music is played only in the speaker on your right side. The speaker on your left is automatically switched OFF.
RTP: The Real-Time Transfer Protocol is similar to UDP but it can use both unicast and multicast addresses.
Stereo: This is the reproduction of the sound in two or more independent audio channels using more than one speaker. If you use this option, you would feel as though the sound is played from all the directions. You can observe this in a regular home theatre with 5.1 or 6.1 speakers.
UDP: Stream in unicast by providing an address in the 0.0.0.0 - 223.255.255.255 range or in multicast by providing an address in the 224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255 range. It is also possible to stream to IPv6 addresses. This will only work with the TS encapsulation method.
Unicast: This is a process where media files are sent to a single system through the network.