How to Play HEVC Files in VLC Media Player (2026 Guide)

During playback of 265 mkv video in VLC sometimes some pixels become washed out. This was on 3.0.16, I tried MPC-BE which seems to work great however it doesn't have the film grain option which I do like in VLC. It is also possible a newer version of VLC like 3.0.20 or 3.0.21 won't display the blotchiness but haven't tested this out yet.

In another case a 265 file was very choppy in VLC and switching over to MPC-BE made the video nice a smooth .. so 2 votes for MPC-BE as a go to secondary video player if VLC doesn't work.

For some users out there some coded Opus AV1 files when using VLC 3.0.21 won't have sound but if you scale back to 3.0.20 the sound will be there. Something VLC did in there updated version that broke the audio. Hope this helps out for someone. It'll probably be fixed in 3.0.22.

Also to note, some video files like some Netflix files it may not play the proper color scheme, in this case in the preferences, changing video output to OpenGL should fix the issue.

@VanguardLH

You're right, it'll be corrected. Thanks for pointing it out!

I'm using VLC 3.0.20. The nav path you mention does not exist to find hardware acceleration.

Instead go to Tools -> Preferences -> Show settings: All -> Input/Codecs -> Video codecs -> FFMPEG (note the additional tree node FFMPEG to follow), and there you'll find the Hardware decoding drop-down listbox.

VLC does work with hevc video. Just remember to have VLC updated.

@mohamed

Actually, you can play HEVC files with VLC without any problems. It supports HEVC (H.265) natively. Just make sure you're using the latest version.

But yes, the options mentioned by you can also be great alternatives!

vlc is not compatible with hevc video, but there other alternatives like k-lite codec, vidmore or 5kplayer.

S24U HEVC not playing on VLC 3.0.21


---
Author's Note: You can switch the "Video format" to the more widely used H.264 by going to "Advanced video options".

Hope that helps!

Have a Google Pixel phone, videos taken with H.265/HEVC format enabled, copied to my Win10 desktop.

Installed VLC 3.0.21 since it is supposed to play HEVC videos. IT DOES NOT. VLC crashes.

Start again it states VLC crashed, duh, and then send bug report to developer team.

So what's going on VLC team???