VLC Media Player

Version tested: 3.0.20
Installer type: Official .exe from VideoLAN website

📦 Package Managers

Manager	Install Command
winget	winget install VideoLAN.VLC
Chocolatey	choco install vlc
Scoop	scoop install vlc

📁 Registry Paths

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VideoLAN\VLC
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VideoLAN\VLC
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\VLC.* (ProgID entries per media format)
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mp4, .mkv, .avi, .mp3 (file extension → ProgID pointers, when VLC is set as default)

🔑 Keys

Key Name	Type	Description
InstallDir	REG_SZ	VLC installation path
MRL	REG_SZ	Last opened media file
Subtitles Encoding	REG_SZ	Default subtitle encoding
WinPosX	REG_DWORD	Last known X position of VLC window
WinPosY	REG_DWORD	Last known Y position of VLC window

File association ProgIDs (HKCR\VLC.<ext>)

VLC registers a ProgID for each format it handles (when set as default). The pattern is consistent across all formats:

Key Path	Type	Description
HKCR\VLC.<ext>\(Default)	REG_SZ	Human-readable name, e.g. VLC media file (.mp4)
HKCR\VLC.<ext>\shell\Open\command	REG_SZ	"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --started-from-file "%1"

Common registered extensions: .mp4, .mkv, .avi, .mov, .wmv, .flv, .mp3, .aac, .flac, .ogg, .wav, .m3u, .m3u8.

📝 Notes

• Settings are user-specific (HKCU), but install location is stored in HKLM.
• The Store version uses a different containerized registry structure.

🗑️ Cleanup

Remove-Item -Path "HKCU:\Software\VideoLAN"                        -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\VideoLAN\VLC"                    -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\VideoLAN\VLC"        -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue