Microsoft Defender vs. VLC: Which is causing MP3s to take 30 seconds to load?

Developer August 14, 2026No Comments

A dramatic saga is unfolding on X, and VLC and Microsoft Defender are at the center of it. Things kicked off when video game designer Jonathan Blow criticized the open source community due to an issue he had with VLC.

A curious issue causes MP3 files to take a while to open in VLC. In some cases, opening a file can take over 30 seconds.

“Finally switched *away* from VLC *to* Microsoft Media Player, because VLC now takes 33 seconds to start playing an mp3 after clicking on it,” said Blow. He added, “A large sector of open source software is in a truly embarrassing place now…”

What’s actually happening?

My wife would say that this is all a “storm in a teacup.” I don’t see the need to be as aggressive about this topic as people have been on X.

Over on Reddit, cooler heads prevailed. A discussion on the topic happened in the r/pcmasterrace subreddit. There, people focused on what’s causing the issue and how to fix it.

At least some of the issue is related to Microsoft Defender. That’s clear because adding VLC’s folder as an exception to Defender fixes the problem, as highlighted by user “nicktheone.”

If it were exclusively an issue with VLC, creating the exception within Microsoft Defender would not solve it.

You completely do not understand my tweet and thus would fail at professional software development.BTW I already pay Microsoft for Media Player and it works to an okay degree. I would happily pay someone for something better. VLC was that something better many years ago, but it…August 12, 2026

Of course, you could still debate whose responsibility it is to fix the issue. Even a bug related to Microsoft Defender could potentially be fixed by the VideoLAN team. That’s certainly what Blow did while spending much of his Wednesday afternoon arguing with people on X.

How to create an exception for VLC in Microsoft Defender

You shouldn’t have to create an exception for VLC in Microsoft Defender to open an MP3 in less than 30 seconds, but… here we are. Luckily, the steps to do so are simple:

Open Windows Security
Select Virus & threat protection
Select Manage settings
Select Add or remove exclusions (it’s at the bottom of the page)
Click Add an exclusion
Select Folder
Navigate to C:\Program Files\VideoLAN
Click Select Folder

Before making an exclusion, VLC took about five seconds to open an MP3 on my computer. After creating an exclusion, opening the same file took under one second.