PeerTube vs VideoLAN Client (VLC)
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare PeerTube with
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Compare VideoLAN Client (VLC) with
choose an app… Jellyfin qBittorrent SRS Navidrome Kodi Koel Jackett Beets Transmission
Feature PeerTube VideoLAN Client (VLC) Category Media Servers Media Servers License AGPL-3.0 GPL-2.0 Language TypeScript C Setup difficulty Hard Medium Min. RAM 2,048 MB 512 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 15,236 — First released 2018 2020 Replaces YouTube, Vimeo —
Why pick each one
Choose PeerTube if… Reduces bandwidth via P2P Federates with the Fediverse PeerTube details
Frequently asked questions Is PeerTube or VideoLAN Client (VLC) better? Neither is universally better. PeerTube has the larger community, while VideoLAN Client (VLC) is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are PeerTube and VideoLAN Client (VLC) free and open-source? Yes. PeerTube is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and VideoLAN Client (VLC) under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run PeerTube and VideoLAN Client (VLC) with Docker? PeerTube: yes. VideoLAN Client (VLC): check the project docs for container support.