There are many open-source media players available for Linux users over the Internet. The preference of choice comes with the ease of installation and the availability of a stable version. The stable version of VLC 3.0 is out and available for use at the time of writing this article. In this article, we will show two ways to install VLC Media player depending on whether you choose the graphical interface or the command line of your Debian system.

We have run the commands and procedure mentioned in this article on a Debian 10 Buster system.

Install VLC Player through the UI

The popular VLC multimedia player is available in the list of reliable Debian Software for you to install. It provides an easy way to install the player, using the graphical interface.

Click the Software icon from the Activities toolbar on your Debian desktop.

The Debian Software utility will open, from where you can search for VLC by clicking the search button and then entering VLC in the search bar.

The following result will be displayed according to your search keyword:

When you click on the VLC search entry, the following window will open:

Through this window, you can install the latest version of the VLC media player by clicking the Install button. After that, you will be asked to provide authentication through the following dialog, as only an authorized user can add/remove software on Debian.

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Enter the password for a privileged user and then click the Authenticate button, after which the installation process will begin as follows:

The following window indicates successful installation of the player. You can directly Launch it through this Window and also Remove it immediately for any reason you want.

Exit the Debian Software after the installation is complete.

Launching the VLC Player

In order to launch the VLC player, enter the relevant keyword in Debian Application Launcher and click the VLC media player icon, as displayed here:

When you open the VLC player for the first time, you will be displayed the following Privacy and Network Access Policy. VLC requires network access from time to time, therefore you need to allow it the metadata network access by checking the checkbox here and clicking the Continue button.

The media player will launch as follows for you to play media files:

Making VLC Your Default Media Player

By default Gnome Music and Video players are used by Debian to play media files. However, you can configure your system to play audio and video files through the VLC player by making the following changes:

Access the system Settings either through the Application Launcher or by clicking the down-ward arrow located at the top-right corner of the screen. You can then click the settings icon located in the bottom-left corner of the following view:

Click the Details tab from the left panel and then the Default Applications tab from the Details view. The right side will show the default applications sued for respective purposes.

Click the Music drow-down, which by default is set to Rhythmbox. Select the VLC media player from the list after which all your music files will be opened in the VLC media player by default.

Also, select VLC media player from the Video drop-down list so that all your videos also open in the VLC player by default.

Please close the Settings utility.

Uninstalling VLC

Uninstalling the VLC player through the graphical interface is pretty simple. Open the Debian Software from the Activities list and then search for VLC. Click the VLC entry and then click the Remove button from the following window:

The following dialog will open, re-confirming if you want to remove the player.

Click the Remove button in order to confirm your choice. Please note that only an authorized user can install/uninstall a package in Debian, therefore you will be displayed the following authentication dialog:

Provide the password for the authorized user and click the Authenticate button. The removal process will start and your software will be uninstalled from the system.

VLC Installation on the Command Line

If you, like me, prefer installing software through the command line, here is how you can install VLC player through the command line.

Installing the VLC Snap Package

Open the Debian command line, the Terminal through the Application Launcher search as follows:

In order to install a snap package, you first need to have snap facility enabled on your system.

Run the following commands in order to install the latest Snap Daemon if it not already installed on your system:

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install snapd

Then you can install the snap package for VLC through the following command:

$ sudo snap install vlc

The following output will confirm the successful installation of the VLC player and the latest version that has been installed on your system

You can use the following commands to launch VLC through the terminal:

In order to run the graphical version of the software, use the following command:

$ vlc

In order to launch vlc in the command line without the interface, use the following version:

$ cvlc

Uninstalling VLC package

Uninstalling a software package through the command line is also fairly simple. Use the following command, as root, in order to remove the vlc snap from your system:

$ sudo snap remove vlc

Although the snap is a great software packaging utility, you can remove it because of space issues through the following command:

$ sudo apt-get remove snapd

Through this article, you have learned several ways to install/ uninstall and also configure the VLC media player. Whether you are a command-line person or depend on the graphical interface, you can now install and launch the VLC player and also make it your default player for running multimedia.