If you're one of the millions who already know that VLC is one of the best media players around, maybe you also know a few of the hidden things on this list. But if you've never experienced one of the best open-source media players to replace Windows Media Player in your daily routine, you're in for a treat.

The media player can play almost everything, has an app for almost any operating system, and is translated into 106 languages. Whew. Before we dive into the features, one more little tidbit of information: The icon is a traffic cone to reference the traffic cones lovingly collected by the students at the university where VLC was first developed.

9 Use it to convert formats

VLC isn't just a player—it can also convert videos

VLC might be my favorite media player, but watching or listening to media is only one of its strengths. The same media engine that decodes files for playback can also convert them into other file formats, which can be handy if you don't have video editing software installed or just need a quick re-encode.

It's simple to use as well. Open Media from the top menu bar, then Convert/Save, and select Add to look for the file you want to convert. You can select a few files if you want them all converting in the same way, then select Convert/Save again at the bottom. Choose the Profile you want the media engine to convert to, select Browse to choose a folder for the converted file(s), and a file name for the new media file. Select Start to let VLC do its magic, and wait while it converts.

Depending on your hardware and the file you want to convert, this could take a few minutes or a few hours. But you don't need to do anything while it runs, and the file will be ready once the program is finished.

8 Find subtitle files

If you prefer to watch with subtitles enabled this can be a real help

One of the cool features of VLC is the ability to search for subtitle files for your media. I didn't know it could do this until very recently, as I've been using my media server software to handle that for me.

To use it, open the View menu at the top, then select VLsub. You'll see a popup box with some entry fields. Try Search By Name to begin with, and you'll see a list of potential subtitles in the box below. Select the correct match, then select Download Selection at the bottom, and you'll get the subtitle file so you can enjoy it while watching your media.

7 Show the time remaining

This might be more useful than the time you've watched

One of the things I really appreciate about any media player is that I can change the time elapsed view on the timeline to one that shows how long I have left before the end. This is key for negotiating things like bedtime with my kid, but it's also very useful for me to have another perspective on how time passes. VLC lets you change between the two views at any time by clicking on the right-hand number next to the visual representation of how far through the video you are.

6 Quick scrubbing

Your keyboard arrow keys are bound to useful commands

While most media-playing apps let you scrub forwards or backward at set intervals with a button press, most only let you go in 10-second skips or some other pre-set number. VLC has a host of keyboard shortcuts that can be used for more granular or wider jumps depending on your needs:

• Right and Left arrow: Scrub 10 seconds forward or backward for each press.
• (Right or Left arrow) + Shift: Scrub around 3 seconds for each press for accuracy.
• (Right or Left arrow) + Ctrl: Scrub at one-minute intervals per press.
• (Right or Left arrow) + Ctrl + Alt: Move through the timeline in 5-minute skips.

Plus, it's often more accurate than trying to click on the timeline with your mouse cursor, and much easier to control.

5 Customize your video and audio

VLC has inbuilt audio and video effects to get you a better experience

I'm one of those people who think media should be experienced as the artist or director envisioned, so I rarely EQ anything except my computer's microphone. But I can appreciate that some might want to tweak the sound profile of their playback device or change the color balance on the video feed.

And for both of these things and more, VLC has you covered, with a wide range of audio and visual effects to get things how you want them and another tab to fix synchronization issues with the audio and video not being played at the same speed. Open up Tools, then Effects and Filters and select your choices from the Audio Effects and Video Effects tabs, and don't forget to click Save when you're done.

4 Use a video for your wallpaper

You might not want to use this, but it's a cool feature

VLC can be used to turn your favorite video file into your desktop background, which is a feature I've accidentally enabled many a time and quickly turned it back off. Seriously, I get distracted by the non-moving wallpapers on my monitors, so a video would be terrible for my productivity.

But if you want to do this, open Video, then Set as wallpaper while you've got your favorite media file open, and it will put that sucker on your desktop. Oh, it'll cover your taskbar and any icons you have on your desktop, so that's worth remembering.

3 Hide what you're watching

A simple button press is all you need to remove your playing video

We won't tell if you like to catch up on your favorite TV series during your work breaks, but in case you're using VLC to do so, there's a quick way to hide whatever you were watching if someone comes in. Simply pressing S on your keyboard will unload whatever video, music file, or playlist that you were enjoying, and all anyone will see is the blank VLC player window. It's gone, gone too, so it won't show up in the sidebar or anything for them to read the title. Fantastic.

2 Stream content to your Chromecast

Make your own mini streaming service

While you can cast many apps to Chromecast-enabled devices, how do you do the same with local media files? Well, VLC can stream to the wireless streamers just fine by going to Playback, then Renderer, and choosing the Chromecast device. If you don't see it in the list, clicking on Scan should find it, but it could take a little time. Open the media file you want to stream, and it should appear on your TV or wherever your Chromecast is plugged in.

1 Watch online videos in VLC

Get control over online videos in the player you prefer

VLC isn't only for local files, although that's what it's used for most these days. When it was first developed, it consisted of a server and a client app and was intended to stream video from several satellite dishes across a university network. That code is still there, and you can watch internet videos by adding the URL to the Open Network Stream option from the main menu. The only annoyance is that it won't stream YouTube videos, but other video hosting sites should work just fine.

VLC has hidden depths

While you'd expect one of the longest-running media players to be good at what it does, VLC goes over and beyond what a media player should be expected to do. It's also open-source, free to download and use, and one of the coolest things to come out of Paris since Edith Piaf. Newer options like PotPlayer give you a more customized experience, but there's something to be said about the simplicity of VLC's UI.