VLC for Unity now supported on Linux • Hacker News Board

Re: VLC for Unity now supported on Linux

#11

Post by martz » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 12:23 PM UTC

sylware wrote: post #4

martz wrote: post #2

Recently added support for Linux to VLC for Unity, with full hardware decoding. It uses OpenGL rendering through GLX and EGL, with DMA-BUF texture sharing to pass video frames efficiently to Unity’s renderer. Only x86_64 is supported at this time. In the future, I will add ARM64 support as well as Vulkan.

Don't forget to build 'correct' ELF64 binaries for broad elf(glibc)/linux distro support (-static-libgcc -static-libstdc++, and tight glibc ABI version control with binutils VERSION scripts). At least those build options should be default.

thanks for your comment, will look into it!

Re: VLC for Unity now supported on Linux

#12

Post by martz » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 12:23 PM UTC

tmtvl wrote: post #7

On a similar note: Godot VLC ( https://github.com/xiSage/godot-vlc >), because let's not pretend we don't remember the Unity terms change controversy.

yes this is good too, actually started contributing to this :)

Re: VLC for Unity now supported on Linux

#13

Post by nisiddharth » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 12:28 PM UTC

ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #5

Blocked because I don't use cookies. Ok, I've always preferred mpv anyway.

I've 3rd party cookies blocked and it works just fine. Have you disabled all cookies?!

Re: VLC for Unity now supported on Linux

#14

Post by thih9 » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 12:47 PM UTC

tmtvl wrote: post #7

On a similar note: Godot VLC ( https://github.com/xiSage/godot-vlc >), because let's not pretend we don't remember the Unity terms change controversy.

Context about the Unity terms change controversy: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/unity-is-killing-its-...

> Initially, the Runtime Fee sought to charge developers a per install tariff once projects had passed certain milestones. It was a decision that left many users reeling, resulting in a colossal backlash (…)

How users reacted: https://old.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/16h9lnw/whats...

> Any install, any reinstall, any installation on a second device, each and every one slap the dev with a fee. It gets dumber, because that cracked copy of your game on the high seas still incurs a fee when the pirate installs it. You might think we're at peak stupidity. You might think anyone who makes anything with Unity is a "fucking idiot" (the CEO certainly does), but we're not done yet. It's retroactive. (…)

Re: VLC for Unity now supported on Linux

#15

Post by Hendrikto » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 12:50 PM UTC

To everybody else being confused: This is about Unity the game engine, not Unity the desktop environment.

Re: VLC for Unity now supported on Linux

#16

Post by xena » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 1:26 PM UTC

ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #5

Blocked because I don't use cookies. Ok, I've always preferred mpv anyway.

Why do you do this to yourself?

Re: VLC for Unity now supported on Linux

#17

Post by kjjohnsen » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 1:29 PM UTC

csande17 wrote: post #9

fusslo wrote: post #6

Can a unity dev/game dev help elucidate why you'd use vlc in unity? For cutscene playback?

Unity includes its own video player implementation ( https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/Video.html ), so presumably you'd mainly want to use VLC for wider range of supported codecs?

Basically. Unity video player is fine if you control the content. The other very reasonable option is to funnel shared content through a synced web browser interface. I've developed a few collaborative XR applications, and have used a blend of things to support sharing.

Re: VLC for Unity now supported on Linux

#18

Post by benoau » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 1:58 PM UTC

thih9 wrote: post #14

tmtvl wrote: post #7

On a similar note: Godot VLC ( https://github.com/xiSage/godot-vlc >), because let's not pretend we don't remember the Unity terms change controversy.

Context about the Unity terms change controversy: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/unity-is-killing-its-... > Initially, the Runtime Fee sought to charge developers a per install tariff once projects had passed certain milestones. It was a decision that left many users reeling, resulting in a colossal backlash (…) How users reacted: https://old.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/16h9lnw/whats... > Any install,…

Sounds similar to Apple's "Core Technology Fee", literally a mechanism for sabotaging third party app distribution in the EU.

Re: VLC for Unity now supported on Linux

#19

Post by tokai » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 2:02 PM UTC

Hendrikto wrote: post #15

To everybody else being confused: This is about Unity the game engine, not Unity the desktop environment.

Unity (the DE) was discontinued 9 years ago..

Re: VLC for Unity now supported on Linux

#20

Post by gumby271 » Mon, Jul 27, 2026, 2:53 PM UTC

benoau wrote: post #18

thih9 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Context about the Unity terms change controversy: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/unity-is-killing-its-... > Initially, the Runtime Fee sought to charge developers a per install tariff once projects had passed certain milestones. It was a decision that left many users reeling, resulting in a colossal backlash (…) How users reacted: https://old.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/16h9lnw/whats... > Any install,…

Sounds similar to Apple's "Core Technology Fee", literally a mechanism for sabotaging third party app distribution in the EU.

Except at least there are alternatives to Unity without replacing your entire OS and hardware.