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VLC is a great media player but it lacks a minor, yet pretty important feature, some would say: an option to resume playback from where you left off.

However, VLC supports plugins and there is one called Srpos (available for Linux and Windows) which does just that: it allows VLC to automatically save the playback position when you close the player and to automatically start playing from the same position when you replay the file.

To avoid confusion, let me clarify this: Srpos automatically saves / restores the last played position, unlike some other extensions out there such as Remember Position, which requires you to click a button to save/restore the last played position.


Install Srpos VLC plugin in Ubuntu


Ubuntu 14.04 and 14.10 (as well as Linux Mint 17 and derivatives) users can install the Srpos VLC plugin by using Sam Rog's PPA. To add the PPA and install the plugin, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:samrog131/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vlc-srpos-plugin
If you don't want to add the PPA, you can download the Srpos VLC plugin deb from HERE.

Unfortunately the latest Srpos plugin doesn't seem to work with VLC versions older than 2.1 (it didn't build successfully for me with VLC 2.0.8), despite the fact that its homepage says it should work with 2.0 and 2.1, that's why there aren't any packages for older Ubuntu versions (Ubuntu versions older than 14.04 have vlc 2.0.x). However, if you're using an old Ubuntu version but have installed VLC 2.1.x from some PPA, follow the instructions from HERE to build Srpos.

For other Linux distributions and Windows, see the VLC srpos plugin homepage for installation instructions.


How to enable the Srpos VLC Plugin


Once you install Srpos, open VLC (close it if it was started when you installed the plugin) and from its menu select Tools > Preferences, then in the bottom left corner under "Show settings" select "All", scroll down to "Interface" on the left, click "Control interfaces" and enable "Save/restore position of last player files". Here's a screenshot with these steps:

VLC preferences remember playback position

Once you've enabled this option, restart VLC. That's it!