VLC HTTP Client

Control VLC from MATLAB via the Web (HTTP) interface—autolaunch, play/pause, seek, volume, status, and an approximate frame index.

VLC HTTP Client for MATLAB

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Control VLC Media Player from MATLAB via VLC’s Web (HTTP) interface. This toolbox can auto-launch VLC (GUI or headless), wait for the HTTP endpoint to be ready, and provides simple methods to open/enqueue media, play/pause/stop, seek, set volume, and query status (time/length/position/state). It also parses nominal FPS when available and returns an approximate “current frame” as floor(time*fps).

Key features

• Auto-launch VLC with the HTTP interface (configurable port/password)

• Play, pause, stop, next/previous, open/enqueue URIs (file://, http://, https://)

• Relative/absolute seek; set fractional position

• Volume control (0..512; ~256 ≈ 100%)

• Status getters: state, time, length, position

• FPS best-effort parser and approx frame index

• Cross-platform: Windows, macOS, Linux

Requirements

• VLC 3.x+ installed locally

• A non-empty VLC HTTP password (VLC requirement)

• MATLAB R2019b or newer (uses “arguments” blocks)

Security note

Keep the HTTP interface on localhost or a trusted network and choose a strong password. The class authenticates with HTTP Basic auth using an empty username (the “:password” form).

Quick Start

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v = VLC("127.0.0.1", 8081, "mypw", AutoLaunch=true, Headless=true, WaitReady=25);

v.open("file:///C:/videos/demo.mp4");

v.play(); pause(1);

v.seekRel(+10);

[t,L,state] = v.getTimeLengthState();

n = v.getApproxFrameNumber();

v.pause(); v.stop();

Documentation

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• Getting Started (landing page): setup, passwords, ports, quick examples

• How-To guides: playback control, headless launch, troubleshooting

• API Reference: full list of methods and properties

Limitations

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• No true frame counter in VLC’s HTTP API (frame index is time×fps)

• MATLAB Online is not supported (requires local VLC/system access)