Apple has admitted the open-source VLC media player to the App Store, in yet another sign that the company is taking a more laid-back approach to app approvals.
The VLC player offers support for a variety of video formats that are not supported by default on the device, including WMV, FLAC and DivX files.
VLC will make it much easier for iPad owners to view ripped content on their tablets, making it even more of a surprise move for copyright-conscious Apple.
However, users won’t be able to download video files directly to devices using the default Safari browser. Instead, they’ll have to import the videos via iTunes.
The admission of VLC is the latest indication that Apple is relaxing its iron grip on the app approval process. The company this week admitted an app based on Google Voice, despite ejecting several apps based on the VoIP service last summer.
Apple is also allowing developers to create software using third-party development tools, offering an olive branch to Adobe and Flash developers.
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