The VideoLAN Forums

When I open a JPG, VLC plays it for ten seconds and then goes blank. When I select Playlist the file shows up. So is it treating everything I open as a video?

Yes.

How would I stop it from doing this? I've used vlc for years. Usually opening a video plays it as video and opening a jpg just opened the image. If the next file in the directory was another jpg, it was simple to just cycle through with next/previous. Now it opens an image for 10sec and closes.

It would be good to have an answer to that, wouldn't it?
Using VLC as a slideshow utility could be very useful, especially if it were controllable; the pause-time of ten seconds, for instance. Fades between. There doesn't seem to be a configuration item in the GUI.

I see that XnView MP has a live slideshow feature, so that may have to be the answer.

Hi, there is no cross-media filters effects for fading or other.

For duration you have :image-duration which should be also an advanced setting in the image demuxer.
For using next/previous, you have --play-and-pause which is «pause on the last frame of the video» in the settings.