The VideoLAN Forums

I've just updated my VLC. The old skin that i liked and was used to see is gone. Now i'm left with this elegant smooth skin which i don't like.
Can anybody upload the old native skin for me?
This is the skin i want:

I came here looking for the same thing. I tried to extract the old default.vlt from an older install of VLC on my laptop and copy it, but it didn't work. I even tried to copy the entire /usr/share/vlc folder, which seems identical. I'm at a loss for now, but I do agree that having the old native skin would be nice. I generally dislike modern looks and rounded buttons.

This looks like the current skin. What do you see?

https://i.imgur.com/GICAgLK.jpg
If you update to 3.0.3 version, this is the skin you'll encounter.
Difference is nothing major but i still like the classic one.
Solution for me was uninstalling the vlc and then downloading&installing the previous version(in my case 2.2.
But i don't want to use an outdated version of vlc just for the skin. Looking forward for the classic skin.

I don't see the difference.

How can you not see the difference, Jean-Baptiste?
The control symbols, icons, if you like, are of a completely different character and are fainter, more stylized and rectilinear, less 'organic', compared to those of the 2xx series.
Please look more closely towards the bottom left of the image det.fusco provides.

I, similarly, don't see the need for change for change's sake and would like to maintain the Umbrella 2.2.6 or 2.2.8 Weatherwax (and prior) appearance.
The other members of this household here are also of this opinion, indeed more so, and I don't cherish the prospect of explaining the reason for yet another 'new for new' interface alteration.

Is 3xx version of VLC/W forcing a native style change on us?

I don't know what has been done since then, just because of this incident i don't update vlc anymore
Can somebody let us know what happened?

The control symbols, icons, if you like, are of a completely different character and are fainter, more stylized and rectilinear, less 'organic', compared to those of the 2xx series.
Please look more closely towards the bottom left of the image det.fusco provides.

Sorry, but minor icon changes does not deserve this fuss.

If you don't want to update VLC, don't update, this is totally fine, but don't expect support from us.

That's a little harsh, isn't it, Jean-Baptiste?

We're just asking for less fuss, just a simple keeping of the old cosmetics of the late 2.x.x series.

Developing functionality is quite a different thing to having to cognitively process new visual controls with every integer-version change, is it not?

And remember the saying with regard to aesthetics, 'You call it lovely; I call it ugly'.

Couldn't we just have the old visuals to slot back in?

Changing a few icons style (not even form) is not a "cognitively process new visual controls".
The difference are minimal. They are almost the same.

So, sorry, but you can modify VLC to look as you wish, but we are not the ones going to do it for you.

Changing a few icons style (not even form) is not a "cognitively process new visual controls".
The difference are minimal. They are almost the same.

So, sorry, but you can modify VLC to look as you wish, but we are not the ones going to do it for you.

Could you host a file with the original skin so people could just go back to what it looked like before, or include it as an option? Then there would be no fuss.

The difference is not minimal. I've been using VLC for over a decade, and this is the first time I've had a problem with it. I've been trying to get used to it, but I still have to lean in and try to figure out what button does what because they're so soft and fuzzy. I've skipped to the next title in my playlist a few times, rather than simply skipped to the next chapter in a video and it's no longer immediately apparent which button is the playlist. I keep having to mouseover and read the hover text.

I don't really feel like spending who knows how much time looking for a new skin I like well enough, wondering how many of them come with adware or malware as a free gift included in the package, so I guess if there's not going back to the previous visual style, I'll just re-install a previous version of VLC and turn off the update feature and forget about it.

Has anyone found a way to return old icons without installing the old version? skins, etc.

Has anyone found a way to return old icons without installing the old version? skins, etc.

No luck so far, but there's a couple of alternative ways to tackle this.

Firstly, leave the 2.x version installed formally as per normal and let it run the mp3, mp4, wmv, m4v, m4a etc files as of old. Disable update-checking.

Second, install VLC as a PortableApp (https://portableapps.com/) for the occasions when you need a 3.x version to perform a particular job, streaming to a Chromecast device, for instance. (Playback, Renderer, ...)
(They're directly-executable programs, installation and registry entries not used. Its setup routine will place them wherever you choose, \Users\Public\PortableApps, say. Bring up the PortableApps interface after starting it with Ctrl-Alt-Spacebar, or just use a desktop shortcut and hotkey.)(Note that you lose a lot of control with Chromecast: volume, screenclicking, other. BTW.)

Third, persist with the argument that the developers, to whom we're forever grateful, really did get the graphic elements in the 3.x version wrong, if not to say ugly, dysfunctional and hard to interpret.

VLC as a PortableApp

Since v3.x VLC can be made portable, no need to use a third party package:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?p=460965#p460965
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?p=471984#p471984

Ok, good, thanks. Wasn't aware.

Changing a few icons style (not even form) is not a "cognitively process new visual controls".
The difference are minimal. They are almost the same.

So, sorry, but you can modify VLC to look as you wish, but we are not the ones going to do it for you.

This is not customization or something. We only wanted to experience the way it was before like a legacy/classic mode, without sacrificing performance and new features. I really don't think it'd be hard for you to just upload something that you already designed and used in previous builds. But as a company/individual, I respect your decision since you're not obliged to do so. Thanks for your reply...

This is not customization or something. We only wanted to experience the way it was before like a legacy/classic mode, without sacrificing performance and new features. I really don't think it'd be hard for you to just upload something that you already designed and used in previous builds. But as a company/individual, I respect your decision since you're not obliged to do so. Thanks for your reply...

But it was not a skin, it was the native interface, so creating a skin for this needs a huge amount of time. You can just go to VLC's folder and change the icons by taking those from other version's folder if you want to change this. It's already available and free.

Changing a few icons style (not even form) is not a "cognitively process new visual controls".
The difference are minimal. They are almost the same.

So, sorry, but you can modify VLC to look as you wish, but we are not the ones going to do it for you.

This is not customization or something. We only wanted to experience the way it was before like a legacy/classic mode, without sacrificing performance and new features. I really don't think it'd be hard for you to just upload something that you already designed and used in previous builds. But as a company/individual, I respect your decision since you're not obliged to do so. Thanks for your reply...

Unless you explain more what you need, with precise issues, we're going to just disregard those posts.

Here to share the same gripes, really liked the old skin it was timeless, I will have to try installing an old version VLC for the time being. I might create a skin, if I do I'll share it here.

This is not customization or something. We only wanted to experience the way it was before like a legacy/classic mode, without sacrificing performance and new features. I really don't think it'd be hard for you to just upload something that you already designed and used in previous builds. But as a company/individual, I respect your decision since you're not obliged to do so. Thanks for your reply...

But it was not a skin, it was the native interface, so creating a skin for this needs a huge amount of time. You can just go to VLC's folder and change the icons by taking those from other version's folder if you want to change this. It's already available and free.

I missed this. Thanks for your contribution, unidan. I suppose we were using the term 'skin' through lack of knowledge. So it's just the icons we can grab from the old version?
I did have a look through the current unfortunate generation but, while I did see a number of .png graphics, I didn't see the whole suite that we would see, say, in the 'Customise interface' window/box/control. I do see that there are some graphics files with many icons together - ui-icons_222222_256x240.png, for instance - but the set of individual icon files for Stop, FForward, Frame by frame, Pause, Advanced, Jump back/forward, Fullscreen, Playlist, Extendeds, etc I can't see anywhere.
Could you expand, please?

Here to share the same gripes, really liked the old skin it was timeless, I will have to try installing an old version VLC for the time being. I might create a skin, if I do I'll share it here.

Thanks F-1, we look forward to the old classic chic.