Device links
Some video segments are boring to watch. Other times, you’ll want to skip to the part you need to review or explore video clips until you find the scene you need to create that awesome meme. If you’re using VLC, you can press on the play bar to jump to a time p, but you may miss important parts if you do it randomly. You can do this faster by using keyboard hotkeys for VLC. If you don’t know these hotkeys, you’ve come to the right place.
This article explains various VLC preview shortcuts for Windows, Mac, and smartphones.
What are Jump Forward shortcuts in Windows?
If you want to use VLC more efficiently and productively, learn all of its shortcut keys. There are two main ways to move forward: increasing the playback speed and jumping to a future timestamp.
For the first one, press the “-” button on your keyboard to play a video faster. Alternatively, press “]” to speed up the video a bit. Also, press the “+” button to play it slower or return to the default value after a +, or press “[“ to slow it down a bit and reverse a “]”. Press “=” to return to the default speed.
To skip forward and avoid viewing some parts, use the following hotkeys:
- Skip forward three seconds: Press “Shift + right arrow.”
- Go forward 10 seconds: Press “Alt + right arrow.”
- Fast forward one minute: Press “Ctrl + Right Arrow.”
- Shoot five minutes ahead: press “Ctrl + Alt + right arrow”.
VLC has hotkeys to revert previous forward actions, including:
- Go back three seconds: “Shift + left arrow”.
- Skip back 10 seconds – “Alt + Left Arrow”.
- Go back a minute: “Ctrl + Left Arrow”.
- Go back five minutes: “Ctrl + Alt + right arrow.”
You can also press “Ctrl + T” to jump to a certain time period in your video file. For example, you can enter the preferred time using the number keys on your keyboard. Press “Enter” to go to the time you have set.
How to speed up your video in VLC on Mac
If you use VLC on Mac, you can speed up your video by pressing the “CMD” and “+” keys together. Do the opposite (press CMD and +) to slow it down. Press “CMD” and “=” keys simultaneously to restore normal playback speed.
Other important hotkeys to advance videos in VLC on Mac are:
- “CMD + Right Arrow”: advances the video three seconds.
- “CMD + Option + Right Arrow”: Allows you to fast forward your video by ten seconds.
- To reverse the previous actions, replace the “right arrow” with the “left arrow.”
Set Default VLC Playback Speed on Windows or Mac
To avoid altering the playback speed manually every time you play a video in VLC, create your default playback speed. Every video you play after this will use the same playback speed. Here’s how to do it:
- Press Ctrl + P to navigate to advanced settings. Press “CMD + P if you are running a Mac computer. You can also click “Tools,” “Preferences,” and “Show Settings.” Then check the “Everyone” circle.
- It will open the “Advanced Preferences” menu. Then, click on the “Input/Codecs” option.
- Go to “Playback Control” to modify the speed of your video. Enter a value of two decimal places as the default playback speed and click “Save.”
- Stop your video and press “Play” again. Another way is to close and open VLC again to see if the default speed settings work.
Advance your video in VLC on Android or Apple
VLC is a cross-platform video and audio player. If you prefer to play your Android or iOS videos in VLC, you need to learn how to use hotkeys to move forward. If you are on Android, these are the steps:
- Launch your VLC Media Player and choose a file to play.
- Tap the “three dots” icon in the lower left corner.
- Locate and choose the “playback speed” icon.
- To increase the playback speed, tap the “+” button. You can also move the playback speed slider from 0.25x to 0.4x.
- To increase 1.00 times your default speed, tap the “Playback Speed” icon and slide the bar to the center.
If you play videos from your iPhone or iPad in VLC, here’s how to advance them:
- Launch VLC and tap the “three dots” icon in the bottom right corner.
- Choose “Playback Speed” from the “Video Options” menu. A slider with two speed extremes will appear. Then, slide the bar forward to increase the speed from 0.25x to 8x.
- After choosing the ideal speed, the video will be adjusted automatically.
Other Important VLC Shortcuts
No matter which device you open VLC on, you can access most of the keyboard shortcut keys. In addition to the hotkeys for forward or backward, VLC has other hidden shortcuts. Not only can you use these keys in their default settings. You can also customize them to enjoy more using your VLC application. Here are more hotkeys you can use when opening videos in VLC on your computer or mobile device:
- Space Bar – Use to “Play” or “Pause” a VLC video.
- Ctrl + Up Arrow: Use these keys to increase the volume.
- Ctrl + Down Arrow – Decrease volume.
- F: To view VLC in full screen mode, press “F” or double-click on the VLC playback screen.
- Esc: Press the Escape key to exit full screen. You can double-click full screen or press “F” again to exit.
- N: Press the letter “N” to skip to the next track in your playlist.
- P: Press the letter “P” to play the previous track.
- M: Press “M” to mute your video.
- T: When in full screen mode, press “T” to view the elapsed and remaining time.
- V: Use this hotkey to turn subtitles on or off.
Frequently asked questions
Can I customize VLC hotkeys?
Go to Tools > Preferences and open the context menu for a complete list of VLC hotkeys. You can change hotkeys in this menu.
What other media players can I use to speed up or slow down my videos?
VLC is among the best free tools, but you can try others. If you use Mac, try a tool like Quicktime Player. Although it can handle almost ten times fewer video formats than VLC, QuickTime Player can choose the playback speed before playing a video clip. Windows users can use Sigma media player. Allows you to adjust the playback speed after opening a video file.
Control videos in VLC with your keyboard
To enjoy watching videos in VLC, learn how to use different hotkeys. These keys will be unique depending on your operating system. If you have a Mac PC, most hotkeys will start with “CMD.” On the other hand, Windows VLC hotkeys start with “Ctrl” or “Alt.”