macOS Sonoma crashes when using QuickTime Player

I switched over to Elmedia Player https://www.elmedia-video-player.com/ and things seem to be working ok. There's a free version and a paid version . . . and here's a site that will show you how to change Elmedia to your default video file viewer: https://recorder.easeus.com/screen-recording-resource/change-default-video-player-mac.html

The problem is still there. Why apple is so slow fixing this BIG problem???

I have the same issue on an M1 MacBook Air running the latest macOS Sonoma. When opening "some" video files with QuickTime it will cause the entire operating system to freeze, this is serious freeze as the entire OS becomes unresponsive. At this point the machine must be forcibly shut down by holding down the power key.

Seeing that a Live Wallpaper is essentially a video file being played back, my intuition is telling me that the Live Wallpapers feature introduced in Sonoma is the cause of the issue. I recently disabled Live Wallpapers & Screensavers, setting my wallpaper to a still image and using a screensaver that was included in previous macOS versions. After doing these things, I have not seen the issue re-appear, yet.

After some testing and research, the issue appears to be in how Displays are currently being handled in Sonoma while in mirrored mode. Throughout the crashes, my M1 MacBook Air was attached to an external monitor in mirrored mode. When changing this mode to extended, it has been a week now using Quicktime exclusively for video playback without crashes. Crashes do not occur when no monitor is attached to MacBook Air. If you are using your display in mirrored mode please switch to extended mode and let us know if you see any more crashes.

This is getting ridiculous. I don't care why this issue happens and what workarounds there are. I'm an Apple user since 1993 and I don't have the time or nerve to worry about issues like this. Please spare me "did you already do this and that…". Yes I did. 

QT Player freezes the whole system and it has been reproduced often enough. I'm working 8-10 hours a day in Final Cut and for clients expecting me to deliver in time and it's just plain embarrassing that QT isn't even able to play videos anymore. And by the way QuickLook in fullscreen also freezes the system — epic!!

I paid a lot of money and I expect nothing less than a working system.

PS: Thanks, Apple, for deleting my original post. Just shows how much you care ♥️

That is the first logical observation I have seen so far regarding this crashing issue, have observed 6-7 crashes since update to Sonoma, all times the external monitor was connected in mirror mode. Not sure why that should cause a crash, but I can also observe how this behaves in extended display mode.

Also, does anyone know why Apple is so silent on this issue?

I am outraged how apple is handling this bug.

It was reported in November. Had several crashes. Apple support contacted me around Christmas. Later beggining of January I have provided everything - sys logs, logs while it crashed, video taken with my iPhone while crashing and the video file that caused the crashed.

We had about 5-7 calls some about an hour long. I couldn't use my laptop (m1 Mac 13 inch) for work anymore because of the crashes and purchased another one.

Now it is mid of March and still I didn't get update what happened and if it is resolved. I am afraid to try my new machine with the mirror mode again as it is my working machine.

Indeed very disappointing. I tried one thing and not had crashes in past 15 days, it was crashing few times a day before that.

I need some verification from others, but I think the issue is with this setting

Settings --> Desktop and Dock --> Click wallpaper to reveal desktop --> Set this value to "Only in stage manager"

Settings --> Desktop and Dock --> Stage Manager --> Turn this off

The theory:

Clicking desktop creates this dark band around the desktop, this sends all open windows into oblivion, pushing them towards the edges out of view. I think some applications don't like being treated this way, I have had issues with Quiktime Player and also with Windows Remote Desktop, causing system crash.

To be verified: I think this issue happens when the external monitor is different aspect ratio/resolution than Mac screen. So detaching monitor might not surface the issue.

I am just another person on this forum suffering from this ill-tested feature release by apple. But since my laptop is not crashing after this setting change, I wanted to share.... and also get your feedback

Pretty much same issue. Not sure what device you are using but mine is 14" pro, less than 12 months old. Since, update to Sonoma , it has frozen and rebooted 10+ times, never before that, never had to reboot Mac in past.

A few comments below someone mentioned about this happening with external monitor connected on mirror mode. Could you please let us (co-sufferers) know if you are using external monitor while this is happening.

Clearly, Apple has no interest to fix this, the users will have to figure this out on their own.

Same issue on my 2020 M1 MacBook Pro. The Mac has been running flawlessly before I upgraded to Sonoma, now when doing anything with QT Player for a shorter or longer amount of time the system hangs or freezes and then the Mac reboots after a while. Very annoying as my job requires heavy use of QT Player.

Well now we have the issue listed on a university's campus website as it has undoubtably been affecting many students that have upgraded their MacBooks to macOS Sonoma. They have linked back to this thread as reference. This is a very serious issue with macOS Sonoma that needs to be fixed ASAP.

[Edited by Moderator]

I tried this suggested fix ... it worked.

Apple Support Community 

therealpankajupreti has posted in the macOS Sonoma community. 

macOS Sonoma crashes when using QuickTime Player

Indeed very disappointing. I tried one thing and not had crashes in past 15 days, it was crashing few times a day before that.

I need some verification from others, but I think the issue is with this setting

Settings --> Desktop and Dock --> Click wallpaper to reveal desktop --> Set this value to "Only in stage manager"

Settings --> Desktop and Dock --> Stage Manager --> Turn this off

Just put in the latest Sonoma after endless crashes on the 14.0. Now we are on 14.1.2 and still ****** off that I can't get through my workflow involving videos in vlc or Resolve or qt player. Can not get through a video without a system FREEZE. Pathetic that APPLE does not respond or do SOMETHING. Guess they are clueless.

I am experiencing the same with use of QuickTime and macOS Sonoma 14.2.1 (23C71). When I create a screen recording all goes well however when I review the recording my system will hang and the beachball will appear. Sometimes my computer will reboot on its own saying an issue occurred and other times I have to complete a force reboot. I did not experience any issues with use of QuickTime when my laptop was on macOS Ventura.

johncla wrote:

OP here, this issue may be resolved. It was reported above that the problems with playing mp4 files might be connected to using an external monitor.

Last night I upgraded to Sonoma 14.4. This morning I disconnected my external monitor and played a 20-minute mp4 file w/o problems. This is hardly conclusive ... but the hint is to do this: 1. upgrade your OS, and 2. disconnect your external monitor.

That is great to hear that you are no longer having an issue but I and others are on macOS Sonoma 14.4.0 and the issue is not resolved. The whole point of having this issue resolved is so that we can have video playback using QuickTime with an external monitor attached and in mirrored mode.