To open media stored locally on your system click media open :menuselection:`media --> Open file` and navigate your local files or press :kbd:`control +o` on the keyboard to open files stored locally on your machine. If you wish to open media from somewhere on the internet on :menuselection:`media --> open network stream` or press :kbd"`control + n`. To open a whole directory use :menuselection:`media --> Open Directory` or press :kbd:`control +F`. VLC also keeps track of recently opened media in case you want to view media again in :menuselection:`Media --> Open Recent Media --> file name`. If you have copied a path in your clipboard or something you can press :kbd:`Control +V`.
To pause playback of a file press the button that look like two verical lines or :menuselection:`Playback --> Pause`. To resume playback press the right playback button. To toggle fullscreen press the button which has the four corners of the screen or :menuselection:`Video --> Fullscreen` to make it fullscreen and the four screens to have it back into windowed mode. To have vlc always on top :menuselection:`View --> Always on top`.
On the bottom right of vlc there is a bar that gets wider for volume. Click farther to the right to increase volume within vlc or press :kbd:`Up arrow` to increase volume or :kbd:`Down arrow` to decrease volume. Or hover the cursor over this bar and use the mousewheel to control volume. The button that looks like a speaker next to this toggles mute in vlc. Another way to mute the volume is to :menuselection:`Audio --> Mute`.
To make the same sound come out of both speakers go to :menuselection:`Audio --> Stereo mode --> Mono`. The sound to make a different left and right channel on each speaker will be :menuselection:`Audio --> Stereo Mode --> Stereo`. To make all sound come from the left channel :menuselection:`Audio --> Stereo Mode --> Left` and likewise for Right.
To see how long you have been watching the current piece of media counts up above the play pause button in a time. At the other side a number will show the length of the media you are playing and inbetween is a slider with the current time. Moving the slider to the left will rewind playback while moving it to the left will fast forward playback. When you mouseover the progress for playback it will show the time at that point and that will jump to that time when you left click. Another way to jump to a specific time is to press :kbd:`control +T` or :menuselection:`Playback --> Jump to specific time`. To move back 10 seconds in playback press :kbd:`Left arrow`. To jump forward 10 seconds in playback press :kbd:`Right arrow`.
To open an equalizier press the button that looks like several physical slider swichtes and on the audio effects equalizer tab press enable on the equalizer. Then to increase or decrease the sound at each frequency up to increase the volcume at that frequency.
To view a playlist of music or videos you can view press the button that is several horizontal lines and then a trianglular play button on it or press :kbd:`Control + l`. This will bring up a whole view of your playlist. To return to your original view press :kbd:`Control + l`. To add more files to your playlist right click on the bottom of the playlist window and click add file to add an additonal file. To move the playlist to a particular file and to have that play double click that file. To change the view of the playlist right click playlist view mode to the version of the playlist you like the look of the best.
To loop the current playlist over and over press the button with an arrow pointing to the right and then another arrow below it pointing to the left. To randomize your playlist press the button with two crossing arrows on it.
To speed up playback faster than normal press the :kbd:`+` key or use :menuselection:`Playback --> Speed --> Faster`. To slow down playback slower than normal press the :kbd:`-` key :menuselection:`Playback --> Speed --> Slower`. If you want to reset your speed to normal :menuselection:`Playback --> Speed --> Normal speed`. If you want to have vlc end at the end of the playlist click the checkbox :menuselection:`Media --> Quit at end of playlist`.
If you want a minimal interface that hides menubar and toolbars press :kbd:`Control +H` or :menuselection:`View --> Minimal View`. To access the fucntionality of the menubar you can right click on where the video will play. To get back to the default view press :kbd:`Control+H` again or right click and then :menuselection:`View --> Minimal View`.
To view more advanced controls :menuselection:`View --> Advanced Controls`. To view to a status bar with what is playing and the speed with :menuselection:`View --> Status bar`.
To change the aspect ratio of a video :menuselection:`Video --> Aspect Ratio` and select the one you wish. To crop a video to only part of your screen :menuselection:`Video --> Crop` and select the aspect ratio you want to crop the video to. To take a screenshot of the currently playing media :menuselection:`Video --> Take Snapshot`.
To view your prefrences of Vlc press :kbd:`control +P` or :menuselection:`Tools --> Prefrences`. To choose to use a custom skin for vlc press the :guilabel:`Use custom skin` radio button. To toggle showing the controls for pasuing playback and other things check/uncheck the :guilabel:`Show controls in full screen mode` checkbox. To have the video display in its own window uncheck the :guilabel:`Integrate video in interface` checkbox. To start vlc in a minimal view mode check/uncheck the :guilabel:`Start in minimal view mode` checkbox. To have vlc pause playback when the vlc window is minimized check/uncheck the :guilabel:`Pause playback when minimized` checkbox. To toggle showing an icon in the system tray check/uncheck the :guilabel:`Show systray icon` checkbox. To change vlc showing a popup when the media changes like when having multiple files in a playlist change the :guilabel:`Show media change popup` menu. The :guilabel:`Force window style` changes the way vlc windows are drawn if you want a custom layout for just vlc. To allow only one window of vlc check the :guilabel:`Allow only one instance` checkbox. If you have only one instance check the :guilabel:`Enqueue items into playlist in one instance mode` checkbox to add new files to play at the end of the playlist. To have vlc continue playback of files changes change the :guilabel:`Continue playback?` menu and select Always to always playback or ask to ask for playback.
To cancel your changes in this window and close it press the :guilabel:`Cancel` button. To Reset your prefrences to press the :guilabel:`Reset Prefrences` button. To Save your prefrences and close the window press the :guilabel:`Save` button.
