Is it possible to support unicode file name...

[Guest]

I'm using Traditional Chinese Windows, when I use VLC to play some files which named in other Language such as Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean ... The VLC will display a error box which say that "Unable to open '????.xxx'". I think this is because VLC do not support unicode, it is a non-unicode application. So is it possible to make it become a unicode application. Most of the cross-platform application are support unicode now.

[DJLarZ]

I agree. I listen to a lot of Japanese songs, and VLC cannot open them, because they use unicode/shift-jis in their filenames, so making it unicode-compatible would've been great.

[simon]

It works over here (OSX) soo I think this issue lies within your OS and not within VLC, I might be wrong though.

[fkuehne]

VLC is actually Unicode-based on all platforms.

Older Windows versions than 2000/XP don't support unicode completely or at all, so you need to install a compatibility layer, which is linked on our download for Windows page.

It is possible that really old linux versions don't support unicode either, but they need to be extremly old then.

[DJLarZ]

VLC is actually Unicode-based on all platforms.

Older Windows versions than 2000/XP don't support unicode completely or at all, so you need to install a compatibility layer, which is linked on our download for Windows page.

It is possible that really old linux versions don't support unicode either, but they need to be extremly old then.

My systems (XP and SuSE 9.1 professional) are fully compatible with unicode, and vlc spill can't play the mp3 files (or any other filetype for that matter) with non-ascii characters in their names..

[sammyhkman]

VLC is actually Unicode-based on all platforms.

Older Windows versions than 2000/XP don't support unicode completely or at all, so you need to install a compatibility layer, which is linked on our download for Windows page.

It is possible that really old linux versions don't support unicode either, but they need to be extremly old then.

I'm using WinXP SP2. In my experience, VLC DO NOT SUPPORT Unicode file name. I had tried some files which named in Simplified Chinese, Korean and Japanese. My system's default language is Traditional Chinese, when I use AppLocale to run with VLC, it can open the files.

SO I AM SURELY THAT VLC DO NOT SUPPORT UNICODE FILE NAME!

[sammyhkman]

VLC is actually Unicode-based on all platforms.

Older Windows versions than 2000/XP don't support unicode completely or at all, so you need to install a compatibility layer, which is linked on our download for Windows page.

It is possible that really old linux versions don't support unicode either, but they need to be extremly old then.

I'm using WinXP SP2. In my experience, VLC DO NOT SUPPORT Unicode file name. I had tried some files which named in Simplified Chinese, Korean and Japanese. My system's default language is Traditional Chinese, when I use AppLocale to run with VLC, it can open the files.

SO I AM SURELY THAT VLC DO NOT SUPPORT UNICODE FILE NAME!

I'm use VLC since 2004.
I find that VLC WAS unicode-based application, but since 0.8.4, it CAN'T play the files in unicode name. So I think this is a BUG.
Also, I CAN'T play Windows Media Files (*.WMA / *.WMV) now (When I open a Windows Media File, VLC crash), but I find that when I use 0.8.4a, it CAN work porperly. So it is a BUG.
Finally, I must add that 0.8.5 CAN'T play FLV movies while 0.8.4a CAN, lots BUG!

OS: Windows XP SP2
Application: VLC 0.8.5
(I had installed Windows Media Player 10, but 0.8.4a can play WM files properly, just 0.8.5 can't)

I think I must use VLC 0.8.2 until the bug had been solved.

[fkuehne]

Thanks for your feedback. Anyway, there is neither a need to shout at us (what writing CAPITALISED basically means) nor to send your responses privately. We are reading all our threads we'd answered, so I would have come back to you in any case.
In fact, we are usually more motivated to work on bugs reported in a friendly style of writing than on those reported in a demanding way like yours. You didn't pay for this software, so there isn't any warranty or even guarantee. The only rights you got is asking us for something or getting the source code and modify it yourself.

I'll forward your mentioned problems to the respective developer, but note that since no team member is Asian, it is quite hard for us to test potential fixes.

[snap]

In fact, we are usually more motivated to work on bugs reported in a friendly style of writing than on those reported in a demanding way like yours. You didn't pay for this software, so there isn't any warranty or even guarantee. The only rights you got is asking us for something or getting the source code and modify it yourself.

I'll forward your mentioned problems to the respective developer, but note that since no team member is Asian, it is quite hard for us to test potential fixes.

Hi!

I think VLC is the greatest free multimedia software around...except that I have to rename every file to a non-unicode name before playing on XP, as reported.

It should be easy to deliver you a file with a unicode file name.

Regarding your comment about paying for the software... Is VideoLAN project currently accepting contributions which can be targeted towards a specifict project or bug fix by the donator? Some free software projects are doing this. It makes me more motivated to donate, if I know that I might be increasing my chances of making VLC the best player for me. Now it is simultaneously the best and the most annoying solution for me because files have to be continuously renamed back and forth. If I wasn't so lazy I would code a front-end wrapper which does this task for me .

Best Regards and Thank You!
snap

PS. I am not Asian but still need Unicode file names .

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

I think VLC is the greatest free multimedia software around...except that I have to rename every file to a non-unicode name before playing on XP, as reported.

Do you experiment the problem with all the versions of VLC or just 0.8.5 ? Can you try with 0.8.4a ?

It should be easy to deliver you a file with a unicode file name.

Can you give one ?

[snap]

Do you experiment the problem with all the versions of VLC or just 0.8.5 ? Can you try with 0.8.4a ?

I am actually still using 0.8.4a. Sorry, I forgot to mention my version number. I do not know about the older versions though, as I just recently started to use VLC on Windows platform (which is the only platform where I work with non-latin file names). I was using BSplayer earlier, but their software is starting to look like a christmas tree and their development does not seem to focus on usability, simplicity nor technical superiority any longer. VLC has much more usable UI. I wish VLC won't go down that wrong path ever .

Can you give one ?

I think you got one already in the other (new) thread about the same topic (viewtopic.php?t=22802). Basically, just go to any website that uses non-latin characters (http://www.yahoo.co.jp should be sufficient), copy a random string, and rename your favourite.avi to #&#/#(/++?.avi (whatever string you copied).

Today I noticed that if a file name is a mixture of latin and non-latin characters (so that 8 first characters of the file name are latin), VLC 0.8.4a WILL open the file using the 8.3 old-style-DOS name (which apparently still exists for all NTFS files even though the file name limits have been long gone even on FAT file systems). If opening non-latin file names becomes an issue, it might be possible to implement an ugly work-around which uses the 8.3 DOS name for opening files which have non-latin characters in them? But if I understood correctly other people's comments, it wasn't always this way, which means that maybe someone just broke the code at some time within the past year or so?

[The DJ]

1: Use 0.8.5
2: describe EXACTLY how you open the file in VLC (D&D, Add to playlist, File Open, Double click etc)
3: describe what language the filename was written in.
4: describe what international settings you are using (keyboard, and currency etc)
5: report the primary language of your windows installation
6: report the language of the VLC dialogs

DJ

[azmar]

Test
1. Used VLC 0.8.5.
2. Attempted to play an English-titled .avi file contained in a folder with a Simplified Chinese name.
3. Used the following methods:

• A: Double click on file
  B: Drag and drop file to VLC window
  C: Add to playlist & double click on entry in list
  D: File > Open

Results
All methods produced the same result:
1. The path to the file would briefly flash in the VLC status bar, but with question marks in place of any Chinese characters in the file/folder names.
2. The video never started to play. No frames displayed, no audio.
3. An error message like the following would pop up:

Code: Select all

Unable to open 'F:\foldername\?????\file.avi'

4. When the file was copied to another folder or the folder was re-named with an English title, the file would play fine using any of the methods A-D.

4: describe what international settings you are using (keyboard, and currency etc)

Using Windows XP SP2
Regional Options > Standards & formats: English (United States), East-Asian language pack installed
Default input language: English (United Kingdom) / US keyboard.
The VLC dialogs appear in English, of course. =P

[Guest]

Coud you also post View -> Messages and thne trying to open the unicode file?

[azmar]

When I use file > open, drag & drop or double-click:

Code: Select all

main error: no suitable access module for `F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi'

When I add to playlist:

Code: Select all

main debug: adding playlist item `F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi' ( F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi ) access_file warning: F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi: No such file or directory main warning: no access2 module matching "file" could be loaded main error: no suitable access module for `F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi'

When I double-click on the playlist entry:

Code: Select all

main debug: creating new input thread main debug: waiting for thread completion main debug: thread 4344 (input) created at priority 1 (input/input.c:261) main warning: drive letter F: found in source main debug: `F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi' gives access `' demux `' path `F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi' main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi' main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate dvdnav warning: cannot open dvdnav main debug: creating access '' path='F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi' main debug: looking for access2 module: 5 candidates vcd debug: trying .cue file: F:\foldername\?????\filename.cue access_file warning: F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi: No such file or directory cdda debug: trying .cue file: F:\foldername\?????\filename.cue cdda warning: could not open F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi main error: no suitable access module for `F:\foldername\?????\filename.avi' main debug: thread times: real 0m0.160230s, kernel 0m0.000000s, user 0m0.000000s main debug: thread 4344 joined (input/input.c:399) main warning: refcount is 1, delaying before deletion (id=319,type=-7) main: nothing to play

If anything other info would help, please tell me, as I have no idea what would be useful.

[The DJ]

To me it seems that the filenames are actually in a different encoding then the rest of the OS. Seems like a dandy piece of Microsoft Engineering

I'm not sure how you are supposed to deal with that... It's quite interesting. I do however know why it was working before. Before most likely VLC was using the DOS 8.3 filenames. And these probably are latin-1 compatible.

[Guest]

If you change to QT you can also use their Unicode support.

[azmar]

I found a temporary solution.

Microsoft AppLocale
MS site: http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/apploc.mspx
Non-MS site: http://www.only4gurus.com/v3/preview.asp?resource=5940

Use this little utility to create a shortcut to VLC. Voila! Launching VLC using the shortcut now enables it to play my Chinese-titled files!

I chose Simplified Chinese, and the shortcut the utility created contains the following target:

Code: Select all

C:\WINDOWS\AppPatch\AppLoc.exe "<Drive:\path\to\vlc.exe>" "/L0804"

[The DJ]

Basically this shows that wxWindows (which we use for the windows GUI) is limited to fake "windows unicode" support.

It should use the native windows Unicode calls, but instead it probably uses posix calls which simply don't support UTF-16 at the file level.

[Helkar]

a similar problem
viewtopic.php?t=5838

[azmar]

Basically this shows that wxWindows (which we use for the windows GUI) is limited to fake "windows unicode" support.

It should use the native windows Unicode calls, but instead it probably uses posix calls which simply don't support UTF-16 at the file level.

I'm not sure what all this means, but... is it fixable? It would be nice to be able to play different-language files without using workarounds.

[Guest]

It will be fixed when QT version ships.

[md]

These problems have been fixed recently - but only on Unicode-capable Windows versions
(NT,2000,XP,Vista)

Please try:

http://download.videolan.org/pub/testin ... -win32.exe