The VideoLAN Forums

Hello — I’m trying to figure out how to send media files (audio, video) from iOS’ Files app to the VLC app, on an iPhone.

I used to be able to select the file in Files.app, go to Share menu, select VLC, then VLC would open and import the file. So when I returned to VLC the media would still be there.

Has this changed? It no longer seems to work for me. Or is there a different workflow?

Now, I can follow those steps but VLC only plays/stream the media, doesn’t keep it within the app. I’ve reviewed all Settings I c a think of and can’t find a way to change this behaviour.

Can someone point me to appropriate documentation please - I can’t find any!

Thanks

Indeed we changed the behavior quite a while ago (May this year? not sure). It opens media "in place" now, which means that they no longer need to be copied to the application context. You can also directly browse files on your device within VLC now (see local files within the network tab).

To permanently move or copy media to VLC, you can do that with the respective operation directly within the Files app.

Thanks for your reply, Felix!

Good to know the workflow’s changed. Guess I hadn’t tried doing it since before May

On your second point, I had thought it would work that way from Files app but I can’t seem to get it to work. Can you share step-by-step instructions please?

If I open Files, go to an audio file I want to move to VLC.app, open that file’s Share menu, I don’t see any option to export/move/send/share to VLC. And the VLC app icon doesn’t appear in the row of apps either — I’ve checked the More… screen for that row of icons too, no VLC listed. Is this the way it should work..?

Dear VLC team,

I have the same question and trying to resolve the save media issue to VLC file system with no success. Please think of this functionality in future updates



Andrei

Hi Felix

"To permanently move or copy media to VLC, you can do that with the respective operation directly within the Files app"

Can you share instructions how to do this from iOS' Files app please - I can't figure it out with any of the menu options I see!


Thank you

This worked for me. iPadOS 12.5.7
Open Files app
Tap on the icon for the app that contains the file you are trying to copy to VLC
Identify the file you are trying to copy by using the Select command on top right of screen
Tap on Move on bottom of the screen
Tap on On My iPad
Tap on VLC

Thank you SJSJ - this worked!

*Issue solved*

Step-by-step for iPhone & iOS 16.4, for others:
- open iOS Files app
- select media file you want to _copy_ into VLC iOS app
- choose 'Move'
- iCloud Drive file explorer dialog will appear; use '⟨ Browse' in top-left of screen to navigate to the top level
- choose 'On My iPhone' from Locations list
- navigate into VLC directory
- tap 'Copy' top-right of screen
- tada!


Thanks again for the pointer SJSJ.