How to Properly Uninstall VLC From Your Mac

VLC is one of those apps where most guides will tell you “just drag it to the Trash” and call it a day. That’s mostly accurate — VLC is a single 200MB app from VideoLAN with a clean install. But “mostly” isn’t “completely.” VLC builds up a surprisingly long history of bookmarks, recent files, custom subtitle settings, and a few hundred MB of downloaded subtitles in ~/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/.

Here’s the full removal procedure, including the privacy-relevant bits.

What VLC installs

Bundle ID: org.videolan.vlc. Files:

• App at /Applications/VLC.app/
• Application support at ~/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/
• Caches at ~/Library/Caches/org.videolan.vlc/
• Preferences at ~/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc.plist
• Saved state at ~/Library/Saved Application State/org.videolan.vlc.savedState/

VLC doesn’t install daemons, launch agents, or privileged helpers. The app is self-contained, which is one reason it’s the most-recommended media player on macOS.

Step 1: Quit VLC

Quit VLC normally with Cmd+Q. If you have multiple VLC windows open (each playback window is its own process), quit them all.

In Activity Monitor, search “VLC” to confirm nothing’s lingering. VLC doesn’t have helper processes.

Step 2: Drag VLC.app to the Trash

Move /Applications/VLC.app/ to the Trash. That’s the app gone — but not its data.

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Step 3: Remove VLC’s user data

Open Finder, hit Cmd+Shift+G, and visit each:

• ~/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/ — bookmarks, recent files, subtitles
• ~/Library/Caches/org.videolan.vlc/ — playback cache, thumbnails
• ~/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc.plist — preferences
• ~/Library/Saved Application State/org.videolan.vlc.savedState/
• ~/Library/HTTPStorages/org.videolan.vlc/ — cookies from VLC’s browser-like features
• ~/Library/Logs/VLC/ — playback logs (if VLC logging was enabled)

Delete each. The Application Support folder is usually the largest — it contains your full bookmark/history database and any custom subtitles VLC downloaded for files.

Step 4: Privacy-relevant cleanup

VLC keeps a recent files list and bookmark history that includes paths to every video you’ve watched. If you’re concerned about privacy (selling your Mac, sharing the user account, etc.), the deletion in step 3 covers it — but be aware:

• The list of recently played files is in ~/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/recent.json
• Bookmarks (specific timestamps in long videos) are in the same folder
• Subtitle search history is in ~/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/

Step 3’s deletion of the entire Application Support folder removes all of this.

Step 5: Remove VLC plugins (if installed)

If you installed VLC plugins or skins, they live in:

• /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/plugins/ — bundled plugins, removed with the app
• ~/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/plugins/ — user-installed plugins
• ~/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/skins/ — custom skins

The user-level plugins folder is included in step 3’s deletion.

Step 6: Empty Trash

No reboot needed. VLC’s removal is clean once the Trash is empty.

Realistic space recovery

VLC uninstall is a small win:

1. 200MB from the app bundle
2. 50-500MB from caches (depends on how much you watched)
3. 10-100MB from application support
4. 5MB from preferences

Total: usually 300MB-1GB. Heavy users with extensive subtitle libraries and bookmark history might see up to 2GB.

This isn’t a “free up huge amounts of space” uninstall. VLC is small and contained.

What about VLC Media Library?

VLC has a media library feature that scans folders for video and audio. If you used it:

• The library database is in ~/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/
• It indexes file paths, metadata, and thumbnails
• Removing the application support folder clears the library

VLC doesn’t actually copy media files into its library — it just indexes paths. Your videos remain wherever they originally were.

Common questions

Will I lose my VLC playlists? Yes, if they were saved inside VLC. Exported .m3u or .xspf playlist files (saved to disk) remain. VLC’s internal playlist tracking is part of the application support folder.

Does this affect my video files? No. VLC doesn’t manage your video files — it just opens them. Uninstalling VLC doesn’t touch any media.

What about VLC’s protocol handlers? macOS routes vlc:// and certain media file types to VLC if it’s set as the default. After uninstalling, those handlers point to nothing until you set a different default app. Right-click any video → Get Info → Open With → Change All to set a new default (QuickTime Player, IINA, Movist, etc.).

Can I reinstall VLC later? Anytime. Download from videolan.org. No license, no account — just install and run.

Skip the manual huntSweep finds every leftover preference, cache, and support file in seconds. Download Sweep free →

Why bother with the manual cleanup?

For VLC specifically, the leftover files are small. If you’re tight on disk space, the cleanup gets you a few hundred MB back. If you’re concerned about privacy (recent files, watch history), the cleanup matters more.

For most people, dragging VLC to the Trash is “good enough” — the leftover files don’t actively do anything once the app is gone. The Application Support folder just sits there until you reinstall (in which case it gets reused) or until you manually delete it.

Manual versus automated

VLC is one of the rare cases where manual cleanup is essentially fine. The footprint is small, predictable, and doesn’t include daemons or launch agents.

Sweep finds VLC-related files in one scan and removes them all at once, which is faster than walking through each ~/Library subfolder manually. For one app like VLC, the time savings are minimal. Where Sweep helps is when you’re doing a broader cleanup — uninstalling 10 apps in one session — and don’t want to repeat the manual ~/Library walk for each one.

Resetting VLC without uninstalling

If VLC is acting up — won’t open files, preferences corrupted, default settings wrong:

1. Quit VLC
2. Delete ~/Library/Preferences/org.videolan.vlc.plist
3. Relaunch — VLC rebuilds preferences with defaults

For deeper resets that clear playback history but keep preferences:

1. Quit VLC
2. Delete ~/Library/Application Support/org.videolan.vlc/recent.json
3. Relaunch

This is faster than uninstalling and reinstalling.

Alternatives if you’re switching media players

If you’re uninstalling VLC because it’s misbehaving (video stutter, audio sync, codec issues), Mac alternatives worth knowing about:

• IINA — modern Mac-native player based on mpv
• QuickTime Player — built into macOS, supports basic formats
• Movist Pro — paid, popular among videophiles
• mpv — command-line player, very lightweight

VLC’s main strengths are format support and reliability. If you’re hitting issues that a reset doesn’t fix, a player swap is reasonable.