The VideoLAN Forums

In the Windows Explorer context menu there are two entries: Add to VLC media player's Playlist, and Play with VLC media player.

Why does the add to playlist option start playing the video? Is there any way to stop this? Sometimes I only want to add to the playlist without playing immediately. If I wanted the video to play immediately I would select the other option or double-click the file. TIA for any help

Do the following.

1. Hit Ctrl + P to open preferences and click the "All" radio button bottom left to open the Advanced menu.
2. In the left hand panel click Playlist.
3. In the right hand Playlist menu remove the checkmark from "Auto start".
4. Save, exit and restart vlc.

When you right click --> "Add to VLC media player Playlist" it will open just the m3u8 file at the top. Double click that to open the playlist you want to add files to.

To re-enable playback automatically remove the checkmark from the same setting, save and restart. If you don't do that you'll have to click the Play arrow three times to start playback every time.

Do the following.

1. Hit Ctrl + P to open preferences and click the "All" radio button bottom left to open the Advanced menu.
2. In the left hand panel click Playlist.
3. In the right hand Playlist menu remove the checkmark from "Auto start".
4. Save, exit and restart vlc.

When you right click --> "Add to VLC media player Playlist" it will open just the m3u8 file at the top. Double click that to open the playlist you want to add files to.

To re-enable playback automatically remove the checkmark from the same setting, save and restart. If you don't do that you'll have to click the Play arrow three times to start playback every time.

Sorry for the oh so very late reply. I had forgotten about this post. Thanks for your suggestion, and I appreciate it may the closest option to what I want, but that doesn't do what I want. I still want to be able to double-click a media file and have to play automatically. I just don't want items that are added to the playlist via the context menu to play automatically.