Although Perian is no longer being developed and does not work with QuickTime 10 or above, it can still be used with QuickTime 7 and such. Convert the AVI file to a format compatible with QuickTime player. Converting the AVI file to a file format that is compatible with QuickTime player is the next best solution. The best format you can. AVI is not particularly any kind of file, it is a file format in which the video and audio are placed parallel for instant playback. Earlier, playing AVI with the help of QuickTime player was not much successful. However, QuickTime X and QuickTime 7 are compatible with AVI. Besides the MP4/MOV/AVI playback problem, you can see other QuickTime not working issues on the internet. For instance, the QuickTime Player won't launch, mirror iPhone to Mac QuickTime not working, and the QuickTime screen recording errors. Here in this post, we will share effective solutions to help you deal with the QuickTime not working on Mac. QuickTime doesn't accept 'plug-in codecs' any more, not since QuickTime 7. There used to be a plug-in set by the name of Perian, which was the Swiss army knife for QuickTime, but it no longer works. Your best bet would be to transcode from VLC or any of the other encoding apps available, if you specifically need it in QuickTime.
Here are the best video and audio formats supported by QuickTime Player. If you have any video that is not compatible with QuickTime, also learn how to convert it for QuickTime.
In the matter of movies, almost everyone is an expert. But what will you choose to play them with? For Mac-owned users, Apple's QuickTime is just the veteran player you'll find little to quibble about, whether you're experiencing an amazing World Cup match feast or watching streaming movie trailers online. But even an omnipotent media player will have to be yield to video/audio format incompatibility, and the veteran QuickTime is no exception. For a flawless video playback, knowing the best video and audio format supported plays a decisive role. So what video files can Mac's default QuickTime can play? Read the guide below and find the best answer.
Part 1: Compatible Video/Audio Formats for QuickTime Player
QuickTime supports a lot of media formats and codecs, with many more coming all the time. Take a look at the following video and audio formats and codecs list according to Apple official page.
Avi Compatible With Quicktime
Media Type | File Formats | Codecs |
Video | QuickTime Movie (.mov), MPEG-4(.mp4, .m4v), MPEG-2 (OS X Lion or later), MPEG-1, 3GPP, 3GPP2, AVCHD (OS X Mountain Lion or later), AVI (Motion JPEG only), DV | MPEG-2 (OS X Lion or later), MPEG-4 (Part 2), H.264, H.263, H.261 |
Audio | iTunes Audio (.m4a, .m4b, .m4p), MP3, Core Audio (.caf), AIFF, AU, SD2, WAV, SND, AMR | AAC (MPEG-4 Audio), HE-AAC, Apple Lossless, MP3 |
Part 2: Recommended Audio/Video Settings
There are still many other factors that may result in playback failure, with the resolution, frame rate settings being the typical example. To help you out, the following rules of thumb are just the recommended parameter settings that QuickTime supports for playback flawlessly.
Video Codec Settings | H.264, Photo-JPEG |
Audio Codec Settings | AAC, IMA 4:1 |
Resolution | Media Resolution Quality: H264 (640x480) |
Frame Rate | Use a frame rate of 10 fps or 15 fps |
Bit Rate | Don't forget to provide good video/audio quality - 2-5 Mbps and 196 kbps, stereo |
Avi File Not Compatible With Quicktime
Part 3: Solution to Play Video/Audio Format Files Unsupported by QuickTime
For the video and audio files beyond the above-mentioned list, QuickTime will go on strike. Fortunately Apple users may call for its plugin for help, like the popular Perian that is known as a free, open-source QuickTime component, letting you play any media file type you want once it is installed. Unfortunately, a great number of people complained that perian is incompatible with Mac Mavericks, let along the Yosemite, and want an alternative solution. In request for this, we have screened out some useful third-party video converter software to solve the problem - MacX Video Converter Pro is the most remarkable one to change the file into QuickTime video format, or convert QuickTime to MP4.
It is the Swiss-army knife, letting you convert any videos like MKV, WMV, 3GP, MTS, AVCHD, FLV, AVI, etc to MOV, MP4, MP3, etc. You just load the unreadable video, choose the MP4 or MOV format from 'Mac General Video' and then click 'RUN' button to start the video conversion. Just three steps, you can finish the video conversion and therefore playback any video in QuickTime. What's more, you can also DIY your converted video file like crop, trim, add watermark or add subtitle to better suit your QuickTime player.