Out of all the awesome media players available today, VLC Media Player consistently ranks at the top in terms of features and popularity. And while there are a lot of advanced VLC features you should be using, don’t forget about the very basics.

VLC Media Player is so much better once you learn all of the important keyboard shortcuts that are built right into the program. Not only can they make you faster and more efficient, but shortcuts are simply more comfortable than dragging your mouse around everywhere.

Whether VLC Media Player is your primary or backup player, here are the most useful shortcuts that you should commit to memory:

• Spacebar: Play/Pause the video.
• A: Change the aspect ration of the video.
• F: Enter full screen mode. Exit with Escape key.
• M: Mute and unmute the audio.
• P: Play the video from the very beginning.
• S: Stop the video completely.
• V: Toggle subtitles on/off (if subtitles are available).
• Ctrl + H: Hide the interface and only show video.
• Ctrl + P: Open the Preferences dialog.
• Ctrl + W: Quit out of VLC Media Player.
• Ctrl + Up: Increase volume 5% at a time.
• Ctrl + Down: Decrease volume 5% at a time.

And don’t forget the playback shortcuts:

• Ctrl + Right: Jump 1 minute forward.
• Ctrl + Left: Jump 1 minute backward.
• Alt + Right: Jump 10 seconds forward.
• Alt + Left: Jump 10 seconds backward.
• Shift + Right: Jump 3 seconds forward.
• Shift + Left: Jump 3 seconds backward.

These will come in useful!