VLC was initially the client for the VideoLAN project , and it was originally made by students at the Ã cole Centrale Paris , and was released under the GPL license on the 1 February 2001 . VLC was the client for the VideoLAN project , with VLC standing for VideoLan Client . Originally developed by students at the Ã cole Centrale Paris , it is now developed by contributors worldwide and is coordinated by the VideoLAN non-profit organization .