Today, it’s the turn of VideoLAN, the company that brought the world the super-popular VLC media player, to announce support for Apple Silicon. Starting with version 3.0.12, VLC runs natively on.
Apple Silicon, better known as the company's own 'M1' processor, is a game-changer. The new Mac computers (MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini) powered by this new ARM-based processor have been very well received by critics and consumers alike.
VLC on Apple Silicon. I just saw that VLC is supported for Apple Silicon so I went ahead and downloaded it from the main site. It's odd because usually there's a separate installer for the new Mac ARM chips for these new softwares but I assumed that it would automatically detect which processor it's running on (just naturally lazy like that). VLC 3.0.12 is here, with lots of goodies, including native support for Apple Silicon (M1 processor) Macs. Version 3.0.12 will also bring some improvements to how it handles Blu-ray tracks and fixes some Windows-related crashes when using Direct3D 11. You can check out all the new features available in 3.0 here.
I was personally fascinated by this new CPU, so I recently purchased my own 2020 Mac mini. Guess what, folks? The hype is real. The performance is exceptional while the fan almost never kicks in. It is a silent and powerful computing experience. Not to mention, the new Mac mini is quite affordable, but I digress.
Apple Silicon isn't just brilliant with native software designed for it, but when running emulated x86_64 software via Rosetta 2 as well. It is such a seamless experience, that you often don't even realize when apps aren't native to ARM.
For the best performance, however, we will need developers to compile their apps for Apple Silicon. Microsoft has already done so with Office 365, which is very much appreciated.
Unfortunately, one app that I, and many others, depend on was not yet optimized for Apple's M1 processor -- VLC. While the popular media player app ran fine in emulation, many people -- including me -- have been clamoring for a version of VLC that would be optimized for Apple Silicon.
Vlc For Apple Silicon Pro
Thankfully, today, VLC finally gets a true Apple Silicon version. Beginning with VLC 3.0.12.1, it will no longer be emulated through Rosetta 2. If you want to try it for yourself, you can download it here now. The changelog is found here.
If you do run it on an M1 Mac, I ask you to please share your experience with me in the comments below. Specifically, do you notice any difference between this new native version and the previous variant that used Rosetta 2 emulation?
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- 5Manual installation
- 6Apple M1 (Apple Silicon, ARM64) systems
- 9Transcoding with SVPcode
To minimize installation problems please consider using at least macOS 10.14.6!
Compatible video players
- mpv 0.17 or later with Vapoursynth support
- Plex Media Player - requires libmpv built with Vapoursynth support
- IINA - requires libmpv built with Vapoursynth support
- VLC 2.2 or later
Installation
- Mount SVP 4 Mac DMG image
- Move 'SVP 4 Mac' icon into Applications
- Control key + double-click on Install mpv.command script to install all the stuff listed below and write default mpv.conf.
Note: you DON'T need to run this on every SVP update.
Updating
Updating SVP app:
- Download an updated DMG package
- Mount it and replace SVP 4 Mac.app in Applications
- That's it! You DON'T need to run Install mpv.command when updating SVP!
Updating mpv to the newer version: open Terminal and type
Vlc Video Player For Mac
Uninstall
To remove SVP simply delete the SVP 4 Mac.app from Applications.
Additionally if you want to remove all the Homebrew packages including mpv video player run this command from the Terminal:
Note that it will remove EVERYTHING from Homebrew, not only mpv dependencies.
Manual installation
- Take OS X 10.11 'El Capitan' or later, preferably 10.14.6 'Mojave' or later.
- Install Homebrew:
Note that on Apple M1 systems this will install native ARM binaries into /opt/homebrew. You can either add /opt/homebrew/bin/ to your PATH, or call '/opt/homebrew/bin/brew' instead of simple 'brew' in the following commands.
- 10.11, 10.12 only: install Java:
- Install mpv (this will also automatically install Vapoursynth) (DO NOT install it via 'brew install --cask mpv' !):
Note: this step is essential even if you don't want to use mpv at all.
- It's recommended to install Intel Power Gadget for the SVP to be able to show real CPU frequency in the Performance Monitor.
Error: Xcode alone is not sufficient
In some cases Homebrew may ask for the additional command line tools installation. Type
and in the window opened press Install button.
Error: mpv can't start with 'Library not loaded: @rpath/libswiftAppKit.dylib'
macOS 10.14: install Swift 5 Runtime Support for Command Line Tools package: download
Apple M1 (Apple Silicon, ARM64) systems
SVP 4.5.205 and later supports both x86 (Intel) and native ARM video players. Native SVPflow libraries + mpv give ~50% performance improvement over x86 versions running via Rosetta 2.
Homebrew will install native ARM binaries in /opt/homebrew. Still you can install x86 binaries side-by-side in case you have any problem with the native ones.
Tell SVP which version to use
Open Application settings -> All settings, search for player and set main.setup.player to either /usr/local/bin/mpv (default path for x86 build) or /opt/homebrew/bin/mpv (default path for ARM build).
mpv configuration
Just add --input-ipc-server=/tmp/mpvsocket to mpv args (or config file, usually located in ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf) and SVP should find it.
Alternatively you can 'open' video file via SVP - it'll launch mpv with the correct argument, assuming that mpv is actually installed either in $PATH or in /usr/local/bin (you can also define the actual path in SVP's settings - see main.setup.player and main.setup.player_args values).
Note: only 'copy-back' hardware video decoders are compatible with Vapoursynth filters, use --hwdec=auto-copy.
Recommended minimal mpv.conf:
VLC configuration
Vlc For Apple Silicon App
SVP's plugin for VLC replaces the 'deinterlace' filter.
Install SVP's plugin via SVP main menu -> Utilities -> SVP in VLC.Then you'll be able to quickly 'install' and 'uninstall' SVP's plugin.
You must turn on deinterlace in VLC via Video -> Deinterlace -> On to start using SVP's plugin.Alternatively you can turn it on permanently: Tools -> Preferences -> Video -> Deinterlacing = On
Transcoding with SVPcode
Vlc For Apple Silicon
Muxing .MKV files
If the output format after transcoding is Matroska (.MKV) then it's highly recommended to additionally install mkvmerge command line tool (which is part of the MKVToolNix package):