Where is the location of VLC log Files?

👤 Diwas Poudel 🕒 03 Oct 2022 📁 TECH

VLC is a cross-platform open source and free multimedia player that many people use to play multimedia files such as DVDs, Audio CDs, and various streaming protocols.

In the course of using VLC, you will encounter situations in which the program is unable to play video or audio and instead displays a prompt error and recommends that you examine the VLC log files.

You may get the error like this and want you to look the vlc log files.

So, if you want to find the location of VLC log files then you are in right place.

💡Actually, you need to keep in mind that VLC does not automatically start creating log files for you from the very beginning of your session. You will need to create Log files manually by yourself in order to store the logs.

So,lets create Log file and enable the Logging.

Also read: VLC does not play video; only audio works

Using GUI

This methods works for Linux, Mac and Windows.On a Mac preferences is found in the VLC menu, the rest is the same as on a PC.

1 Open VLC
2 Click on Tools from the menu
3 Click on Preferences

4 Under Show settings, check in "All"
5 Under Advanced ,click on Logger
6 Check In "Log to file"
7 Choose Log format either html or text. I will leave it as text format
8 Click on Browse and create the log and set the proper location of log.

file-logger-vlc — **fig. File Logger VLC**

9 Select the verbosity.

If you want to log Information messages, then select Info
If you want to log Warning messages, then select Warning
If you want to log Error messages then select error
If you want to log Debug message then select Debug.

For demonstratoin I am selecting Error.

10 Click on Save.

11 Now close the VLC and if any error occured while starting or while playing vlc then it is recorded in the same file you have created earlier.

Also read: How to convert video files on Windows 11 ?

Using Command

It is very simple because only one line of code is used to create the log file and save the vlc logs.

In Windows OS

1 First navigate to VLC installation location and run cmd in the same path.
Then you will find inside VLC installatio path.

vlc-installation-log — **fig. Navigation to VLC Installation Location**

2 Just type the following code

vlc.exe --extraintf=http:logger --verbose=2 --file-logging --logfile=c:\vlcerrorlog.txt

This will record the error log as I have used verbose = 2.

Note: It is necessary for you to execute the command from the directory in which VLC was installed all the way down to the folder in which the vlc.exe file is kept, for example C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC. or C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC> (depending where you have installed VLC)

You can also set the verbosity to either 0 (silent), 1 (error/info), 2 (warning), or 3 (debug), depending on the level of detail that you want to see in the log file.

3 Close the VLC if you have opened it. Now if any error occurs it gets recorded in this file. You can look there.

In Linux OS

Here is the syntax for Linux OS

 vlc -vv --logfile=vlclog.txt

vlc -vv 2>&1 > logfile.txt

Conclusion:

In this way, we are able to find the location of vlc log.

FAQ:

Does VLC Media Player have History Records?

VLC is useful because it remembers what you've viewed in the past, allowing you to pick up watching a video from exactly where you left off even if you haven't used it in a while.