Videolan has released first technical preview version of VLC 3.0 which brings support for 360 degree videos on Mac and Windows. Along with videos, VLC also lets you watch 360 degree photos as well as panoramas.
VLC 360-degree video features:
- Playback of 360 Videos following the Spatial Video spec
- Playback of 360 Photos and Panoramas following the Spherical spec
- Display modes with Zoom, Little planet and Reverse little planet
- Control it with your Mouse and Keyboard
- Open Source and Cross-platform, accelerated with OpenGL and Direct3D11
VLC has teamed up with Giroptic who has provided samples, cameras, code and expertise on the aforementioned features. VLC also said that that future releases of VLC with 360 features will be available for Android, iOS and Xbox One. Mobile versions will use the phone sensors to navigate inside the videos. Moving forward from mobile phones, it will also support VR headsets like Vive, Daydream, Oculus or OSVR, in 2017. Finally, VLC will also get 3D audio playback, including head tracking headphones.