This sounds like a very different goal than the port of MAME.
MAME is emulating video games, a video game is a piece of software that cannot be easily converted into something web-playable. Therefore in order to make the games accessible you need an emulator.
VLC is a media player. It supports more formats than a web browser, but audio and video files can be converted. If you have a file in an arcane, outdated video or audio format and you want to make it more easily accessible just convert it to something that is playable in a browser.
I'm not saying that a web vlc has no value. Conversion always means some quality loss. There are some interactive features (like dvd menus) that are essentially like software and having access to them in a browser isn't simply possible by conversion. But it has certainly much less value than a web mame.
> VLC is a media player. It supports more formats than a web browser, but audio and video files can be converted. If you have a file in an arcane, outdated video or audio format and you want to make it more easily accessible just convert it to something that is playable in a browser.
This is what the Internet Archive does right now. Unfortunately, transcoding from one lossy format to another just results in more quality loss. Something like VLC.js would sidestep that problem, and remove the need to transcode everything (and keep multiple copies!) as a bonus. You even mention that yourself, so I'm not sure I understand your point here.
MAME is emulating video games, a video game is a piece of software that cannot be easily converted into something web-playable. Therefore in order to make the games accessible you need an emulator.
VLC is a media player. It supports more formats than a web browser, but audio and video files can be converted. If you have a file in an arcane, outdated video or audio format and you want to make it more easily accessible just convert it to something that is playable in a browser.
I'm not saying that a web vlc has no value. Conversion always means some quality loss. There are some interactive features (like dvd menus) that are essentially like software and having access to them in a browser isn't simply possible by conversion. But it has certainly much less value than a web mame.