AVI is a very popular video format which is widely used today. However, many QuickTime users just realized that it's always not easy to play AVI files with QuickTime player, especially when you have upgraded to the latest OS X 10.11 El Capitan. What's the matter? Why can't QuickTime play AVI videos? Just read on to find the reason and 3 possible solutions to solve your problems without any trouble.
Apple Computer's QuickTime 3 and 4 (and its related Web browser plug-in) for Windows 95/98/NT can handle AVI video files. How to tell if you have the QuickTime plug-in To tell if you are using the QuickTime AVI video plug-in, launch your Web browser and go to this Web page. If you see the QuickTime logo on the Web page, followed by the first. MSU Lossless Video Codec Free high-quality lossless video codec. It has the best MacX QuickTime Video Converter Free Edit MacX QuickTime Video Converter Free Edition is a Mac Rex's AVI Codec Pack Rex's AVI Codec Pack is a collection of all common audio QuickTime Plugin MediaLooks QuickTime Plugin is a free DirectShow filter. Btw,.avi is not a codec, but a container for a variety of codecs like Divx or Xvid or Intel Indeo.mov is also a container for a variety of codecs like DV, AIC, Sorensen 3, ProRes and most prominently H264.
An AVI is a free and open source container format. It can hold different types and unlimited number of video, audio, picture or subtitle tracks in one file. If you can't play AVI with QuickTime in Mac OS X, it's probably the video or audio codec problem. Frankly, there are a lot of options to help you play an AVI file in the Mac OS X (EI Capitan and Yosemite included), here are some solutions:
Solution 1: Convert AVI in Mac OS X
If you have a lot of AVI files and want to play them on more players like the iPhone, iPad or iPod, you'd better convert the AVI to other formats like the MP4, MOV, M4V or etc. Here, I'll recommend the Video Converter for Mac (EI Capitan and Yosemite compatible), which enables you to convert an AVI to any popular video format for various players, devices and applications. For QuickTime, you can convert the AVI to an MOV file that is associated with QuickTime. See more tips below.
Step 1: Drag the AVI files onto the interface.
Step 2: Choose any format or device you want (most popular format or devices are also supported here).
Step 3: Simply hit Convert at the lower-right corner of its interface.
Solution 2: Play AVI in QuickTime by installing Perian plugin
The QuickTime player is mostly used in Mac OS, if you don't want to use the first solution to convert the AVI files to QuickTime compatible formats, you can try this solution, but no 100% work guarantee.
Quicktime Avi Plugin Free
Perian, is a great open-source QuickTime component that allows playback of different video formats that cannot be played natively on your Mac computer. If you want to use QuickTime as your main video player, you may choose to download Perian because it provides the necessary codecs or components that will allow you to play AVI on Mac. If you have QuickTime 7, you may be glad to discover that it can actually play AVI files without needing any additional plug-ins and codecs.
What you need to know before downloading Perian:
1. The latest version 1.2.3 of Perian doesn't work on Mac OS X Mavericks, let alone Yosemite and Mac 10.11 EI Capitan because Perian requires installation of quicktime 7, which doesn't exist for Mavericks and above. It also doesn't work on Mac OS X Mountain Lion.
2. With a Mac running Mac OS X 10.7, say, Lion, you have to downgrade to the previous version, say 1.2.2. The version of 1.2.3 of Perian does not support QuickTime 10 in Lion and fails to fix the loss of audio after one second in xvid files with ac3.
3. Before installing Perian, you need to remove all QuickTime Components installed on your Mac, like FFusion, Xvid Delegate, 3ivX, DivX, DivX Decoder, XviD, msmpeg4v1, msmpeg4v2, AviImporter, EX_M4S2, Casio AVI Importer, AC3 Codec, and MatroskaQT.
4. For a Mac running Lion or Mountain Lion, converting AVI video to QuickTime is highly recommended.
Solution 3: Play AVI with a AVI player Mac
The VLC media player, is an excellent open-source media player that is known for supporting a wide range of audio and video files. Unlike other media players which have limited format-support, you will be surprised that VLC can play a video or audio file that you didn't even know existed. If your OS is Snow Leopard or higher, installing VLC is definitely a good choice especially if you only plan on watching AVI files on your computer.
Cons of this AVI player (VLC media player):
1. VLC player doesn't play AVI videos with high qualities.
2. VLC player doesn't support EI Capitan.
One of the most prominent media players, QuickTime has quickly become quite famous for its ease of use and the functionality that it provides. Simply put, QuickTime is a media player that was created by Apple and allows users to play back audio and video. The program has become quite popular, and plugins are also available, which can be installed on your browser and can be used accordingly. In case there are any videos on a web page that have been embedded with the QuickTime format, the program can be used accordingly in order to run those videos. Usually, QuickTime comes installed on all Mac computers, while those who are using Windows computers can download and install the plugins for their respective browsers. Here's a brief guide on how to install and use QuickTime Plugin for the three major browsers in use today: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer.
Part 1: QuickTime Plugin for Google Chrome
Download QuickTime plugin for Chrome
1. The first step you need to take is to visit the official website of the Apple QuickTime Player and download the installer file from there.
2. Once the installer file has been downloaded, just click on the downloaded file, which will be showing at the horizontal download bar at the bottom of your browser.
Quicktime Avi Plugin
3. Just follow the instructions on screen in order to finish the installation. Once the installation has been completed, you need to shut off Chrome and restart it in order to finish the installation.
How to enable or disable the QuickTime plugin on Chrome
In order to enable or disable the QuickTime Plugin for Google Chrome, the process is actually quite simple. By default, the plugin is enabled in Google Chrome, which means all videos compatible with the QuickTime format will play automatically. If you wish to disable it however, just write the following content in your address bar (you can choose either of them):
* chrome://plugins (or chrome:plugins)
* about://plugins (or about:plugins)
Then browse down till you find 'QuickTime'. You will see a button alongside it. If you wish to disable the program, just press 'Disable'. If you wish to re- enable the plugin, just press 'Enable'.
Tips: Configure the QuickTime Plugin for Google Chrome
You can configure the QuickTime Plugin for your Google Chrome browser to a certain extent only. Since Google Chrome has a preset number of guidelines, you can't individually decide whether the QuickTime Plugin will be able to run with a certain number of file types or not. Instead, you only have the flexibility of enabling or disabling the plugin at your behest.
Part 2: QuickTime Plugin for Firefox
Download QuickTime plugin for Firefox
The first thing that you need to do is to install QuickTime plugin for Firefox. In order to do that, you need to visit the official Apple QuickTime website and download the QuickTime installer file from there. Once the download has completed, you need to shut off Firefox. Then, browse over to the file you just downloaded, and run it, which will initiate the installation for the QuickTime plugin.
Enable or Disable QuickTime plugin for Firefox
In order to enable or disable the QuickTime Plugin for Mozilla Firefox, the first thing you need to do is to click on the 'Firefox' button on the right-top of the window, and then select 'Add-ons'. Find the 'Plugins' from the Add-ons Manager, and then you can enable or disable the plugin now.
Configure the QuickTime Plugin for Firefox
In order to use or configure the QuickTime plugin according to your needs, there are a number of things that you can do. First of all, you can put a check on the types of media files that the plugin can be configured to use. For instance, when you click a download link for a media file which can be handled directly by the QuickTime plugin, it will automatically open the file using the plugin. You can alter those settings. The Firefox QuickTime plugin can also be altered to select which types of files open with the plugin and which are ignored by the plugin.
Troubleshooting
If you find that the Firefox QuickTime plugin is not working, you need to first make sure that all the files are available. To check that, the best way is to first delete the plugin and re- install it. Often times, an incomplete installation might be the reason. If your installation is proper, try enabling or disabling the plugin and restarting Firefox.
Part 3: QuickTime Plugin for Internet Explorer (IE)
Download QuickTime plugin for IE (Internet Explorer)
1. If you wish to install the QuickTime Plug in for Internet Explorer, the first step you need to take is to download the QuickTime Installer file using Internet Explorer. Fire up a new window, and open the official Apple QuickTime page, from where you can get the installer file. You will then get a message which will ask you whether you wish to 'run or save the file?'.
2. I suggest you choose 'Run'. Wait until the download is completed, after which a new dialog box will open up with two buttons; Run and Don't Run. Choose the former.
3. Follow the on screen instructions in order to complete the download of the QuickTime installer. This will also install the QuickTime Plugin for your Internet Explorer.
Enable or disable Internet Explorer QuickTime plugin
- If you wish to enable or disable the QuickTime Plugin for Internet Explorer, there's a very simple way to do so. Open up your Internet Explorer, and click on the small gear button located on the top right. A drop down menu will open, from where you need to click on 'Manage Add Ons'.
- A new window will open up, which will include details of all the plugins and extensions that have been downloaded and are operable with Internet Explorer. Browse through the list until you find the QuickTime Plugin. You can then right click on it in order to enable or disable it as per your wishes.
Tips: Unfortunately, you can't configure the QuickTime Plugin for Internet Explorer to work with certain file types. You can only enable or disable it.
Troubleshooting
To test the plugin, first open a new window:
* Find the QuickTime Sample movie (found in the QuickTime folder), and keep both windows adjacent.
* Drag the video to the browser video.
Then, a new window shall open up and the video shall start to play. If nothing plays, then you need to recopy the files in to the browser's folders in order to make sure all files are in the right place.