Rip DVDs: VLC includes a basic DVD ripper.

• Go to the Media menu and choose Convert/Save.
• Click on the Disc tab.
• Here you can adjust the Starting Position and rip only specific titles or chapters.
• Enter file name making sure to end with .MPG, and start ripping.
• Click Save.

Record videos: With the new VLC, you can record videos during playback.

• The record button is hidden by default.
• To see it, click on View>Advanced Control.
• The record button will now appear.
• Clicking on the button while playing a movie or video will start recording.
• Clicking again will stop recording.

Play RAR files: VLC can play videos zipped inside RAR files

• They play like normal video files and you can even use the seek bar.
• If the RAR file is split into several files, no problem.
• Just load the first part (.part001.rar) and it will automatically take the rest of the parts and play the whole file.

Play in ASCII mode: VLC media player has an amusing ability, to playback movies in ASCII art.

• To enable ASCII mode, open VLC media player and click on Tools>Preferences.
• Open the section “Video” section and under “Output” select “Color ASCII art video output” from the drop down menu.
• Save it.
• Now play any video file to enjoy the ASCII art.

Listen to online radio: VLC includes hundreds of Shoutcast radio stations.

• You just need to enable it through Media>Services Discovery>Shoutcast radio listings.
• Now, open the Playlist and browse through the stations.

Convert Audio and Video formats: In VLC you can convert video and audio files from one format to another.

• Several different formats are supported like MP4, WMV, AVI, OGG, MP3 etc.
• To access the converter:
• Go to Media>Convert/Save.
• Load the file you want to convert using the Add button and click Convert.
• Now choose the output format and output file location.

Download YouTube and other online videos: 

• First grab the URL of the YouTube video page.
• Now click on Media>Open Network stream.
• Paste the URL and click Play.
• Once VLC starts streaming the video, click Tools>Codec Information and at the bottom of the window you will see a Location box.
• Copy the URL and paste it on your browser’s address bar.
• The browser will now download the file which you can save it to your hard disk.
• Alternatively, you can record the video.