It’s been a little under a month since Microsoft introduced tools to make it easier to compile apps for Windows 10 on ARM, and now VLC is one of the first apps to include support for the new platform.
Last month at Build, Microsoft released the ARM64 SDK, allowing developers to compile their current apps for devices running Windows 10 on ARM. The devices do support x86 apps through an emulation process, but this takes a significant toll on performance, which made this very welcome news for developers and users.
Now, less than a month later, Videolan is releasing an ARM64 version of its desktop app VLC Media Player. The new release is available on VLC’s website, but it’s possible that support for the Windows 10 on ARM is still in early development. Unlike other variants of the app available on that page, the downloaded file mentions version «4.0.0 dev», so this is probably a testing build for the more curious minds.
As expected, VLC for ARM64 does not run on devices with Intel processors, so we were, unfortunately, unable to test the new release. It should also be noted that this is a recompiled version of ARM for desktop devices, not the UWP version of the app, which is still available through the Microsoft Store, albeit with no mention of ARM64 support.
Though Windows 10 on ARM devices still haven’t gained much traction on the market, seeing developers supporting the platform so quickly could be a promising sign — but only time will tell.
Source: Videolan via Windows Central
