Many users seem to download 32-bit VLC for 64-bit Windows
A random thing I've noticed when I was searching for how many 32-bit users various software has to help me decide if I should still support it.
- https://get.videolan.org/vlc/3.0.20/win32/vlc-3.0.20-win32.exe?stats -> 6732288 monthly (2024-01-22)
- https://get.videolan.org/vlc/3.0.20/win64/vlc-3.0.20-win64.exe?stats -> 15271091 monthly (2024-01-22)
-> 6732288 / (15271091 + 6732288) * 100 = 30.5% are 32-bit downloads
The report most biased towards older hardware I know of is https://data.firefox.com/dashboard/hardware (since Firefox is sadly in decline for a long time so there is a bias towards older installs I'd guess) which has 14.5% 32-bit and on the other side of the bias spectrum https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/, which has 32bit at 0.06%.
So the truth is probably somewhere between 0.06% and 14.5%.
Which suggests to me that some 64-bit users are installing 32-bit or have been previously and are still updating.
For new installs I see some potential causes and suggestions:
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Searching for VLC on Google gives on the first result https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html which defaults to 32bit. I'd suggest to default to 64-bit there, move the 32-bit version into the list and mark 32-bit explicitly to avoid it looking like the "default".
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Going to https://www.videolan.org/ and https://www.videolan.org/vlc/. If one is intrigued by the arrow button, it lists 32-bit as the first option without indication, suggesting it is the "default". I'd suggest to mark it 32-bit and move it after all other entries.
This of course ignores the potential installation issues for real 32-bit users, so these might not be acceptable solutions.
(As for why this is an issue, 32-bit is missing security features like ASLR)