Play only audio with VLC

You can start vlc from the command line by:

vlc --vout none /path/to/file.mp4

So vlc uses no video output module and the video will not be played, only the audio.

See chapter 2 of the user guide for all input and output modules of vlc.

You can bring vlc to nearly everything. I thought there was also a option to make me a sandwich.

Although vlc --vout none /my/video.mp4 accomplishes sound without video, it still opens vlc's GUI. Try this command to play only audio in your terminal:

cvlc --no-video /my/video.mp4

You can still express it in terms of a vlc video output module:

cvlc --vout none /my/video.mp4

To randomly play a directory of music right from the command line with:

cvlc --random /my/music/directory