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VLC for Apple Silicon?

T

ThisIsšŸµ

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 20, 2021
92
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There are 2 versions on VLC website compatible with Apple Silicon Macs:
- VLC for Macs with Apple Silicon chips
- VLC for Mac (Universal Binary)

Which one should i download for my M2 Pro MacBook - which one will offer better performance or basically whatā€™s the difference?
 

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Nermal said:
Good question. One is made specifically for Intel machines, the other for Arm (Apple). The universal one works on both. So why have the separate ones in the first place? There must be a reason...
Click to expand...
My guess is that VLC plans to support Intel releases longer than Apple will.
So it makes sense to have separate ones. The arm64 will be for the most recent macOS. The intel64 will be for the last macOS officially released by Apple for Intel. The universal one will be discontinued.

On a Mac with Apple Silicon, itā€™s probably best to use the arm64 version. The arm64 binary (VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC) is almost half the size of the universal one.
 
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Nermal said:
Good question. One is made specifically for Intel machines, the other for Arm (Apple). The universal one works on both. So why have the separate ones in the first place? There must be a reason...
Click to expand...
Naming convention.

"Apple Silicon" is associated with currently marketed non-Intel Macs.

"Universal (1) binaries" are associated with PPC & Intel Macs.

Universal 2 binaries are "Apple Silicon".

Whoever decided on VLC's naming convention needs help with labeling things.
 
Last edited:
sam_dean said:
Naming convention.

"Apple Silicon" is associated with non-Intel Macs.

"Universal (1) binaries" are associated with PPC & Intel Macs.

Universal 2 binaries are "Apple Silicon".

Whoever decided on VLC's naming convention needs help with labeling things.
Click to expand...
Apple: "Building a Universal macOS Binary
Create macOS apps and other executables that run natively on both Apple silicon and Intel-based Mac computers."
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/apple-silicon/building-a-universal-macos-binary
 
 
sam_dean said:
Give it up

- https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/Universal_2
- https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...ap-for-moving-the-first-macs-away-from-intel/
- https://www.engineering.com/story/apple-drops-intel-announces-custom-silicon
- https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Apple's_transition_to_ARM_processors
- https://www.inverse.com/innovation/apple-silicon-future-mac
- https://www.idownloadblog.com/tag/rosetta/
- https://9to5mac.com/2020/06/24/form...-turning-point-for-apples-arm-mac-transition/
Click to expand...
This does not make the point you think it does.
In macOS itself, they are simply just called ā€œUniversalā€ applications.
Yes, when it was introduced, it was called ā€œUniversal 2ā€. You are correct there.
But nothing VLC is doing is incorrect, when Apple themselves these days in their operating system simply just calls it ā€œuniversalā€.
 
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