What kind of connections is VLC attempting when playing a file?

[PhoenixRe]

Hello, I tried to play a file (music video I downloaded using JDownloader2) with VLC and my firewall notified me that VLC was making connections to some sites.
What is the purpose of these connections and should I unblock them? Are they needed for some core functionality?
I do sometimes use VMR Connect to control the playback from my phone when I conenct the laptop to the TV using HDMI

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Either meta fetching (if you did not disable it on first run), or automatic update check (on Windows).

[PhoenixRe]

Cool, thanks.
Is there any documentation about what kind of meta fetching? I am just curious. I am a developer so I did think that maybe it was for the actual playing (like, it's this codec and it's not in the vlc maybe get it or something like that)

Where do I disable the meta fetching?

[Lotesdelere]

Where do I disable the meta fetching?

Menu Tools -> Preferences -> Interface -> disable Allow Metadata Network Access at the bottom.
Save, exit and restart VLC for the changes to take effect.

[PhoenixRe]

Thank you kindly