How to Display Album Art in VLC

The popular, robust and free VLC Media Player provides support for retrieving album covers from the Web based on the data encoded in MP3s. If this feature is enabled, VLC will automatically check an online database for an appropriate cover when you play an MP3, then display it in the main screen. To ensure that VLC will do this, you must set the correct option in the Preferences screen.

The popular, robust and free VLC Media Player provides support for retrieving album covers from the Web based on the data encoded in MP3s.
If this feature is enabled, VLC will automatically check an online database for an appropriate cover when you play an MP3, then display it in the main screen.

Update to the most recent version of VLC, if necessary, from Videolan.org. Click the "Download VLC" button and run the downloaded file.

Start VLC and open the "Tools" menu. Click "Preferences" to bring up VLC's options screen.

Click "Interface" in the left-hand panel to bring up the Interface Settings. Click the drop-down menu next to "Album art download policy" at the bottom of the window and select "When track starts playing."

Click "Save." Drag and drop an MP3 into VLC Player to download and display its album artwork.

Theon Weber has been a professional writer and critic since 2006, writing for the Village Voice, the Portland Mercury, and the late Blender Magazine. He was a staff writer at the Web-based Stylus Magazine from 2005 to its closure in 2007.