With the codecs in VLC and Perian, both of which are free and open source, you can play most video files. Without them, you can either go without or pay for the privilege. That said, important updates for both packages are now available that deliver security and functional updates.

The banner feature in VLC Media Player 1.1.9 (release notes, download) is actually a security patch, one that addresses a nasty buffer overflow issue:

• Heap-based buffer overflow in mp4 demuxed patched
• Update of libmodplug for security reasons
• Major updates in most language translations
• Numerous updates and fixes on the interface and look of VLC
• Growl is now bundled
• Miscellaneous fixes

The Swiss Army Knife for QuickTime

For its part, Perian 1.2.2 (release notes, download) comes to market with a major load of new features and tweaks, including support for Google’s new(ish) open-source HD video codec and fixes for the ever popular Matroska format:

• WebM/VP8 support
• Supports compressed MKV tracks in new mkvtoolnix versions
• FFv1 lossless video support
• Internal decoder for Theora, fixing compatibility problems w/ XiphQT
• Fixed Matroska files with video glitches due to repeated timecodes
• Fixed several possible crashes in Matroska import
• Fixed some Matroska files losing frames at the end of the file
• Fixed audio sync in many FLV videos
• Fixed several possible crashes/hangs in subtitle parsing
• Worked around Apple’s incorrect channel layout in .mp4 files

I’ve given to VideoLAN and Perian’s on my to-give-list. These independent open-source projects deserve our support and a fiver or tenner from you will make a difference…

What’s your take?