Comments on: How can I get .avi files to run on my Mac?

Question: How can I get .avi files to run on my Mac?

ColdChef — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 22:09:43 -0800

How do I view .avi files on a Mac running OSX?

By: Marquis

Marquis — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 22:14:11 -0800

Your best bet for playing wonky .avi files is VLC, although there are various DIVX codecs available for Quicktime, as well.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 22:30:44 -0800

I use the open source mplayer. It works with anything I can throw at it (avi, divx, xvid, mpeg).

By: milovoo

milovoo — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 22:49:05 -0800

I think there is still no way to view Intel Video files (video format: iv50), so if you can't play one, that is a possible reason. They will work in classic quicktime player if you have the OS 9 codecs.

By: gen

gen — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 23:04:16 -0800

I second VLC.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 23:25:08 -0800

VLC works pretty well for me too, though I typically have to copy large avis to the hard drive before I can play them. I'm on an iBook 600 and it does sometimes drop frames with large, highly-compressed XVIDs and such.

I don't understand how VLC manages to handle every tupe of avi I've ever tried it with, even though I've never (to my knowledge) downloaded any codecs. My Windows computer plays everything just fine, but I frequently have to update a codec here and there to get it to work. VLC just keeps on chugging somehow.

(anyone know how?)

By: holloway

holloway — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 23:28:49 -0800

VLC contains it's own codecs and doesn't use the operating system ones.

By: matteo

matteo — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 02:00:01 -0800

I second VLC and mplayer but sometimes the sound doesn't work with mplayer for me

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 04:36:43 -0800

Thanks, folks. Both worked for me. (boy, that "Survivor" chick is a skank!)

By: filmgeek

filmgeek — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 04:42:48 -0800

Coldchef,

Like quicktime, .avi files can have different codecs. Some apple added to QT; many aren't.

So, if you're taking about something like DiVX you can download their QT codec....

Or just save the time and use VLC (as many have noted.) It would help if we knew what sort of stuff you're trying to watch - is it the net/p2p crap? Or is it professional video stuff?

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 06:29:41 -0800

Crap.

(thanks, filmgeek. I'm looking at the Divx stuff now. It's like a whole new world..."A Whole New Wooooorld!")