VLC for Chrome OS, built using Android Runtime for Chrome, is now available to download
Jean-Baptiste Kempf / Yet another blog for JBKempf :
Context & Ripple Effects
This release slots into VideoLAN's 2015 campaign to put VLC on every screen: February brought a [[a:826816|major release spanning Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Windows RT and Android TV]], followed by plans for Chromecast support across devices. The Chrome OS version is notable for how it was built — not a native rewrite, but the existing Android app running on Google's Android Runtime for Chrome.
That choice makes this less a VLC story than a Google platform story: Android Runtime for Chrome is the bridge that lets Chromebooks run mobile apps, and a high-profile open-source media player shipping on it is the most visible proof yet that the bridge works.
First-order effects
- Chromebook users gain a full-featured media player where the platform previously had few options beyond web apps — downloadable now from VideoLAN.
Second-order effects
- Other Android developers get a working reference case: if VLC's Android codebase runs acceptably on Chrome OS, their own apps are candidates for the same runtime rather than requiring dedicated ports.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward the Android and Chrome OS app ecosystems converging around shared runtimes, weakening the argument that each Google platform needs separately maintained software — a trajectory later confirmed when VLC 3.0 launched across desktop, mobile, TV and Chrome OS alike with hardware decoding for high-resolution video.
The trend: Platform-specific software development is giving way to single-codebase deployment across operating systems, with Google's Android Runtime for Chrome dissolving the wall between Chromebooks and Android apps.