Only a very few media players have gained recognition by all sorts of people. VLC is one of them, which is a free and fully open-source media player used on both smartphones and PCs. While the dark mode support is gaining importance in recent times, VLC also lets its users customize the background. To take advantage of the dark theme, just tweak the VLC settings. With this, you can enable VLC dark mode and access the media player in the dark theme. Hence, your eyes will not get strained while watching movies or videos.
How to Enable VLC Dark Mode
The steps to use the VLC dark mode on smartphone and PC differs. So, you shall skip to the respective section.
On Andriod Smartphone
(1). On the home screen of Android, go to the Apps section.
(2). Scroll down to click on the VLC media player logo.
(3). On its home screen, press the Menu icon (three horizontal lines).
(4). You shall need to select the Settings option with a gear icon.
(5). Navigate down to the Extra Settings section to click on Interface.
(6). Now, click the DayNight mode option.
(7). On the pop-up, select the Black theme, and this will enable the dark mode on the VLC player.
On iPhone
In the older version of the VLC Media Player app, you can’t change the theme in the VLC apps settings. But, the latest version of VLC for iOS will have the option to toggle between light and dark mode. So, update the VLC Media Player app from the App Store.
(1). Open the VLC Media Player app on your iPhone.
(2). Tap the Settings icon.
(3). Select the Appearance option.
(4). Choose the Dark theme.
(5). Select the Automatic option to go with the iPhone’s dark theme.
On Mac PC
(1). On your Mac PC, open the VLC Media Player app.
(2). Go to Preferences and choose the Interface option.
(3). On the Interface style, choose the Dark option.
(4). Then, click the Save button to make the changes.
(5). Now, the VLC app on your Mac PC will run on the dark theme.
On PC
For Windows 10 or 11 PC, you need to download dark skin by visiting the official website of the VLC player to get the dark mode. For instance, select eDark Vlc from the Themes section and click on the Download link to download it as a .vlt skin file.
(1). Launch the VLC media player on your Mac or Windows.
(2). Click on the Tools options available on the menu bar of the player.
(3). On the expanded menu, choose Preferences to open the Simple Preferences window.
(4). Click on the Interface option at the top to select the Use custom skin option under Interface Settings.
(5). Tap on Choose to browse the location in which the eDark Vlc.vlt skin file is saved.
(6). Finally, click on the Save button and quit the VLC player on your PC.
(7). Relaunch the player, and it will be updated with the dark skin.
Note: If the above-mentioned steps seem to be time-consuming, you can use the system-wide dark mode on Windows and dark mode on Mac.
If you have the Linux OS, go to Interface and choose the Look and Feel settings. Upload the VLC dark skin file. If you feel that the VLC dark theme is too dark, you can increase the brightness on your PC.
By default, the dark mode on VLC won’t be enabled automatically. However, you can turn it on at your convenience or when required. Follow the guide and don’t strain your eyes with too much bright light while using VLC in a low lighting environment.
FAQs
Yes, VLC Media Player has a dark theme in the Preference menu.
You can get customized skins from the VLC website.
