RECENT issues with VLC media player on Windows 11 have caused audio playback failures, freezing for thirty seconds before showing file-opening options. The VLC development team identified the root cause as an error from Microsoft Defender, which incorrectly isolated VLC's plugin cache. This is not attributed to VLC's internal flaws. Users can resolve these playback issues by reinstalling VLC or regenerating the plugin cache.
Microsoft is expected to release updates to address these false positives, though users may need to manually restore impacted files. Historically, Microsoft Defender has had similar false positive incidents affecting other software.