VS Code Video Player Extension

By BatchNepal Consultancy Pvt. Ltd
Play MP4, WebM, MOV, MKV, and AVI videos directly inside VS Code — with full audio, no file size limits, and a clean player UI.
Demos

Features
- Full audio playback — MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WebM. Automatically extracts audio via ffmpeg when needed.
- No file size limits — videos stream via a local server, nothing loaded into memory.
- All major formats — MP4, WebM, MOV, MKV, AVI, M4V.
- Clean player UI — auto-hide controls, progress bar with time tooltip, volume slider, resolution badge.
- Playback speed — cycle through 0.5×, 0.75×, 1×, 1.25×, 1.5×, 2×.
- 10-second skip — forward and backward buttons.
- Picture-in-Picture — float the video while you work.
- Open in external player — one click to open in your system player.
- Copy file path — instantly copy the full file path to clipboard.
- Right-click context menu — quick access to all controls.
Audio Support
Most VS Code video extensions have no audio — because VS Code's webview uses Chromium, which excludes AAC patent licensing.
This extension solves it using ffmpeg to extract audio in the background. Video plays immediately while audio loads within seconds.
ffmpeg is required for audio on MP4, MOV, MKV, and AVI files.
Install ffmpeg
macOS:
brew install ffmpeg
Linux:
sudo apt install ffmpeg
Windows: Download from ffmpeg.org and add to PATH.
WebM plays natively — no ffmpeg needed.
| Format |
Video |
Audio |
.mp4 |
✅ |
✅ (requires ffmpeg) |
.webm |
✅ |
✅ |
.mov |
✅ |
✅ (requires ffmpeg) |
.mkv |
✅ |
✅ (requires ffmpeg) |
.avi |
✅ |
✅ (requires ffmpeg) |
.m4v |
✅ |
✅ (requires ffmpeg) |
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Key |
Action |
Space / K |
Play / Pause |
← / J |
Back 10 seconds |
→ / L |
Forward 10 seconds |
M |
Mute / Unmute |
P |
Picture-in-Picture |
F |
Fullscreen |
Installation
Install from the VS Code Marketplace or manually:
code --install-extension vscode-video-preview-0.1.0.vsix
Requirements
- VS Code
1.90.0 or higher
- ffmpeg (optional — required for audio on MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI)
Contribution
Contributions are welcome!
- Fork the repository
- Create your feature branch (
git checkout -b feature-name)
- Commit your changes (
git commit -m 'Add new feature')
- Push to the branch (
git push origin feature-name)
- Submit a Pull Request
Report issues or feature requests on GitHub.
License
MIT License. See LICENSE.md for details.
Author
BatchNepal Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.