Question

how to play a video in reverse with vlc player

Answer 1

Short answer: VLC cannot reliably play a video continuously in true reverse. You have two practical options:

1) Create a reversed video file (recommended) and play that in VLC.
2) Use an editor or ffmpeg to reverse a clip — then open it in VLC.

How to make a reversed file (fast, free, works on Windows/macOS/Linux)
1. Install ffmpeg:
- macOS: brew install ffmpeg
- Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install ffmpeg
- Windows: download a build from https://ffmpeg.org/download.html and add to PATH

2. Reverse both video and audio with one command:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf reverse -af areverse reversed.mp4

- If you only want video reversed (no audio):
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf reverse reversed.mp4

- To reverse only a part of a file (example 00:01:00 to 00:02:00):
ffmpeg -ss 00:01:00 -to 00:02:00 -i input.mp4 -vf reverse -af areverse reversed_segment.mp4

3. Open reversed.mp4 in VLC and it will play forward (which is the original reversed motion).

Why not just VLC?
- VLC’s GUI has no built-in, reliable continuous reverse-playback feature for normal files. You can step through frames forward with VLC’s frame-step, but continuous reverse playback isn’t supported well. Creating a reversed file with ffmpeg or using a video editor is the practical way.

If you want, tell me your OS and the file/segment you want reversed and I’ll give the exact command or a Windows GUI alternative.