The VideoLAN Forums

Hello, i've came here to upgrade my VLC from 2.8.8 to the latest version because of the new security issues that was uncovered with vlc.

I've stuck with VLC version 2.2.8 because the early version 3.x had issues with actually randomizing playlists (they were not really random) this problem seems to be fixed in version 3.0.7.1 though so bravo to that!

The problem is that opening a video playlist with 3.0.7.1 compared to opening the same playlist with 2.2.8 is rather large.

Opening the playlist in 2.2.8 takes around 1 seconds of time.
Opening the same playlist in 3.0.7.1 takes around 30+ seconds of time. This is a 3000% increase in load times for the exact same playlist.

Taking a look at the settings i've disabled the most obvious stuff such as "Automatically preparse items" etc. Here's a video demonstrating the issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CB63und0aE

The playlist.m3u looks like this (example:)
Goes on like this for 35 000 unique files.

I really want to upgrade now due to the security flaws, but 30 seconds vs 1 second is dumb, there must be a way to fix this! What is VLC doing for 29 seconds that old vlc isn't doing? Please help me.

Alternatively is there a way to configure 2.2.8 to not be vunerable to the security flaw? I have no reason to upgrade ever, vlc 2.2.8 is flawless.

From what i gather the only way to be vunreable from the exploit is if you install the web extensions when installing vlc (you get asked if you want them installed). I've always unchecked those because i feel like why install something i never use, i guess i was right.. Bloating VLC with a lot of useless crap will essentially render the program useless and another program that is light weight will take over, this is the evolution of most applications.

Please stop bloating vlc while you're ahead, more security and a better application in over all. I mean 30 seconds vs 1 second pretty much speaks for itself, the new VLC has NO new features that i want, it does not render video any better than before yet it is always slower in every case scenario. Perhaps start developing a forked version that you call "light" that strips all this junk out of the player and it can remain a good media player.

/Signed someone who won't leave the 2.x branch because it was the last useable vlc branch.

try re-installing your graphics driver, worked for me.

I have the same issue, only difference is, since it's rather large m3u list (about 50k programs), it takes around five minutes OR MORE to load it. And it is not only related to windows, same happens on my MacBook so for sure it is not related to the graphic card driver as suggested above.
On Windows version, it is not slow just for opening but when searching through playlist too... it takes between 40 sec and 1 minute... surprisingly, on MacBook, once playlist is loaded, search function has no issues, they seem to be connected only to Windows version.
Also, if I open the same playlist with some other programs, it takes about 5 seconds to load and search function works instantaneously.. so we have 5 seconds on 3rd party and 5 minutes on VLC. It's just crazy...

I did try new beta version of VLC 4 and that one opens the m3u list blazingly fast, but it's still in development so there is tons of other errors... and search function seems to be completely missing from it...
Does anyone have any workaround to have the m3u playlist working correctly on the current (3.0.12) version of VLC?

Try this:

Menu Tools -> Preferences (Show settings = All) -> Playlist
Then on the right panel untick "Automatically preparse items"
Save, exit and restart VLC.

Nah... I already tried this... no help what so ever... same sluggish 5 minute loading time...
Funny that this only happens on 3.x versions, when 2.x and even beta 4.x are working fine... It's just frustrating...

i have the same problem. very annoying.

Same issue kind of annoying. like Russian roulette when trying to load up IPTV which has a playlist of 14K channels. 20% chance success rate or just stays frozen. even tried the work arounds.