VLC Always on Top 2 Ways to Make It Happen Now

vlc always on top

VLC is an open-source, cross-platform, and free multimedia player software predominantly famous in the media player market. ‘VLC always on top‘ is a software feature that allows the player window not to be overlapped by any other application. In this way, the user can continue to watch the media content while still surfing the desktop with different windows open simultaneously. VLC is one of the most famous and trusted media player applications in its space. it is entirely free and open-source, which means that anyone can download, use and modify it. The VLC media player can be downloaded from its official website. https://www.videolan.org/

VLC media player during Christmas holiday period
VLC media player during Christmas holiday period

Contents

VLC Always on top PC

VLC always on top is a feature of the VLC media player that allows the media player media to be on top of all other windows on the desktop. When this feature is enabled, no matter what you do or wherever you click on the screen, the VLC media player and its content will always remain in the screen’s foreground. Even if you open a new application, the new application will open behind the VLC media player window.

Enabling VLC Always on top

There are two possible ways to turn on the Always on top feature in the VLC media player. The first way enables the feature for one instance only, i.e., the content currently playing in the player will always be on the top of other windows, but as soon as you close the VLC media player, the setting would reset to normal itself. The second way enables the feature globally, i.e., the VLC media player will be the top window in every instance of its opening.

VLC always on top temporarily

Enabling the VLC always on top feature allows it for one instance only. Follow the step to enable this feature for once only.

  • Open VLC media player.
  • Up in the menu bar click on View.
  • click the third option, Always on top.
VLC always on top
VLC Media Player Always on top

VLC Always on top permanently

Enabling the VLC Always on top feature permanently will always open the VLC player on top of other windows for every instance of the content playing. Follow the steps to permanently enable the Always on top feature in the VLC media player.

  • Open VLC Media Player.
  • Up in the menu bar, click on the tools menu.
  • Click on Preferences at the bottom of the menu.
  • A setting window would open.
  • At the left bottom of the settings window, under the show settings section.
  • click on the All tick circle.
  • All settings window would open.
  • In the left hand side scroll the menu down, and click on Video.
  • Now, inside the Video tab , tick the Always on top checkbox.
  • Click on Save button.
Switch to full preferences view
Switch to full preferences view
Tick the Always on the top checkbox.
Tick the Always on the top checkbox.

VLC Always on top shortcut

The VLC media player can be tuned to work with keyboard shortcuts or hotkeys combinations. There are default hotkeys for most purposes, which can be found in the hotkeys tab in the preferences window. Users can alter the default hotkeys and set their own at their convenience. In the action column, users can see the actions that can be performed using hotkeys, and on the other side, users can check or set the hotkeys combo for that particular action.

As we scroll down that Action column, we notice that there is no Action named ‘Always on top.’ This means we can not set hotkeys or shortcuts for VLC always on top feature. There are other actions, like Fullscreen toggle, subtitle toggle, etc.

Hotkeys tab in preferences
Hotkeys tab in preferences

VLC Always on top Android

As we stated earlier, VLC is a cross-platform application, the android version of the VLC media can be downloaded and installed from the Google Play Store. Android is an arm-based mobile operating system designed specifically for low power usage devices like smartphones, etc., and has an entirely different underlying architecture. Therefore, users would not likely find the ‘always on top’ feature in the VLC android application.

In the Android VLC app, there is an alternative feature to the ‘Always on top.’ It is called the ‘Pop-up Player’ feature. While playing the content, tap on the advanced settings button, then tap on the ‘Pop-up Player’ option to use this feature. A small window would be created with the content playing in it. Users can swipe the player window as per their need and open other applications to multitask. The player windows will always be on top of other apps allowing the user to watch his content while using other apps.

Pop-up player window playing media content on Home Screen.
Pop-up player window playing media content on Home Screen.

VLC Always on top Command-line

As surprising as it sounds, VLC media plays also have a command-line interface to interact with them. In most of the installation of the VLC media player on Windows, it is not included in the system path variable. That is why the VLC command-line won’t work just by typing VLC in the shell. The full address of the VLC media player needs to be provided to work with the command-line interface. The default location on most systems is ‘%PROGRAMFILES%\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe ‘, which must be used as a prefix to every command.



PROGRAMFILES%\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe options

Enabling Always on top using Command line.

 

PROGRAMFILES%\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe options --video-on-top, --no-video-on-top 
                             
                             // Always on top
                            //(default disabled)
                           //Always place the video window on top of other windows.

For a complete description and command-line documentation, visit this official VLC website. https://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_command-line_help/

Issues with VLC always on top

The VLC media player is a lightweight and open-source program. There shouldn’t be many issues with the Always on top feature. It should work just fine. But if there are some issues with the feature and it doesn’t work as intended, you could try a few things to make it work. Try doing the following things if the Media player doesn’t work as it is supposed to.

  • Uninstall the current verison of VLC media player, and download and install the latest version of it from its official website.
  • Try running the VLC Media Player as an Administrator.
  • Either enable Fullscreen option or Always on top feature, try not to enable them simultaneously.
  • If temporarily enabling the feature doesn’t work, try enabling it permanently and vice versa.

FAQs Related to VLC

Is there a fullform of VLC?

Yes, VLC is short for VideoLAN Client.

What is the hotkey for enabling full screen in VLC?

The F key is used to toggle fullscreen on or off.

When was VLC launched?

It was initially released in the February of 2001.

Conclusion

The VLC media player is a veteran in the space of media players. It has been around for a long time and is one of the most popular and trusted media-player in the software market. The ‘Always on top ‘ is a feature of the media player the keeps the player window on the forefront of the screen on top of other windows. This feature is enjoyed by the users who multitask on their system. We saw two ways to temporarily and permanently enable this feature and discussed some troubleshooting points if the feature doesn’t work as intended.

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