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VLC media player vs Cinema: catalog facts
VLC media player	Cinema
Free Free software from a non-profit; there is no paid tier and no advertising in the player.	Free Free and open source under the GPL-3.0; donations accepted.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS	Linux
Plays an unusually wide list of codecs and containers out of the box, including MPEG-1/2, H.264, H.265, VP8/VP9… No spyware, no advertising and no user tracking, stated on the project feature page	Thumbnail previews on the seek bar Resumes the last video played
The stable desktop line is still 3.0.23; the 4.0 interface rewrite has not shipped The interface is functional rather than modern, and advanced options are buried in preference dialogs	Linux only Fewer features than general-purpose players such as VLC or mpv
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-2.0	License: GPL-3.0-or-later
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 20, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.