04/06/2026
VLC media player creator Jean-Baptiste Kempf reportedly turned down offers worth hundreds of millions from major tech companies over the years in order to keep the project true to its original values. the team remained committed to making VLC completely free, open-source, and free from ads, spyware, or user tracking, choosing user freedom and the project’s mission over massive financial deals.
the iconic VLC logo was inspired by a traffic cone. The idea came from students at École Centrale Paris, where the project first began, who used to collect traffic cones from the streets after parties and store them in their computer lab. when the software later became a public open-source project under the VideoLAN non-profit, the traffic cone was adopted as the official logo.
