How can I get .avi files to run on my Mac?
June 21, 2004 10:09 PM   Subscribe

How do I view .avi files on a Mac running OSX?
posted by ColdChef to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)
 
Your best bet for playing wonky .avi files is VLC, although there are various DIVX codecs available for Quicktime, as well.
posted by Marquis at 10:14 PM on June 21, 2004


I use the open source mplayer. It works with anything I can throw at it (avi, divx, xvid, mpeg).
posted by mathowie at 10:30 PM on June 21, 2004


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.
posted by milovoo at 10:49 PM on June 21, 2004


I second VLC.
posted by gen at 11:04 PM on June 21, 2004


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?)
posted by scarabic at 11:25 PM on June 21, 2004


VLC contains it's own codecs and doesn't use the operating system ones.
posted by holloway at 11:28 PM on June 21, 2004


I second VLC and mplayer but sometimes the sound doesn't work with mplayer for me
posted by matteo at 2:00 AM on June 22, 2004


Response by poster: Thanks, folks. Both worked for me. (boy, that "Survivor" chick is a skank!)
posted by ColdChef at 4:36 AM on June 22, 2004


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?
posted by filmgeek at 4:42 AM on June 22, 2004


Response by poster: Crap.

(thanks, filmgeek. I'm looking at the Divx stuff now. It's like a whole new world..."A Whole New Wooooorld!")
posted by ColdChef at 6:29 AM on June 22, 2004


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