Hello Linux Geeksters.
In this article I will show you how to set VLC (Video Lan Codec) as the default player on Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin and Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot.
I will set VLC as the default player by terminal, because I find it easier.
Because Totem is the default player in Ubuntu, the easiest thing to do is to replace “totem.desktop” with “vlc.desktop” everywhere in /usr/share/applications/defaults.list and /usr/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache.
$ sudo mv /usr/share/applications/totem.desktop /usr/share/applications/vlc.desktop
$ sudo sed -i 's/totem.desktop/vlc.desktop/' /etc/share/applications/defaults.list
$ sudo sed -i 's/totem.desktop/vlc.desktop/' /etc/share/applications/mimeinfo.list