Keep QuickTime from Being Default for Internet Links

Question

Keep QuickTime from Being Default for Internet Links

I would like to have QuickTime on my PC for some applications, but want Windows Media Player to be the default player. In particular, if I click a link to an audio/video file under Internet Explorer, I want it to come up in Windows Media Player and not QuickTime by default. No matter what I do, QuickTime seems to insist on taking precedence if it is on the PC. For local files, I can go in and change the "File Types" preferences on the QuickTime setup so QuickTime is no longer the default. However, I have not found a way to do the same thing for links. They insist on coming up in QuickTime. The only way I have found to keep that from happening is to remove it entirely, or download the file to a local file and then double-click on it -- which in most cases is just way too cumbersome. Can anyone help? Or, is the only option not to have QuickTime on the PC at all?

Posted on Nov 5, 2009 7:11 AM

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Answer 1

b noir

Level 9

72,336 points

Nov 5, 2009 9:02 AM in response to JacobAbernathy

However, I have not found a way to do the same thing for links.

Head into your QuickTime control panel. Click the "Browser" tab. Click the "MIME settings" button. Try adjusting those settings.

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Answer 2

Nov 5, 2009 2:49 PM in response to b noir

Hi b noir,

Thank you for the suggestion. I went to the Browser tab and turned off everything I could, including the MIME settings, but it did not help. QuickTime still insists on being the default for links -- or something else, like Internet Explorer, is insisting on it. So far, no luck. The only way I've been able to prevent QuickTime from becoming the default for links is to remove it from the PC entirely.

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Answer 3

Nov 5, 2009 3:00 PM in response to JacobAbernathy

Added information: I just tried using Firefox, which the PC also has, instead of Internet Explorer, and the same thing happens upon clicking a link -- it insists on QuickTime. So, it does not appear to be related to anything specific about Internet Explorer.

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Answer 4

b noir

Level 9

72,336 points

Nov 5, 2009 3:49 PM in response to JacobAbernathy

Just doublechecking something ... you've already gone into your "Start > Set Program Access and Defaults" (at least, that's how you get there in XP Pro ... what Windows OS are you running?), and selected Media Player as your default media player application?

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Answer 5

Nov 6, 2009 6:36 AM in response to b noir

Hi b noir,

Thanks again for the interest in this question. Yes, that is the first thing I tried. The PC does have XP Pro. Windows Media Player is set as the default player. So -- I still don't know how to prevent QuickTime from taking over as default for Internet links to audio/vidio except to remove it from the PC.

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Answer 6

Nov 6, 2009 7:34 AM in response to JacobAbernathy

The Web page author decides what browser plug-in is used (html page code). If you disable the QuickTime browser plug-in then the file will not display. Windows Media Player can't open the file because of the instructions written in the page code don't ask it to and there is no way for you to tell it to act.

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Answer 7

b noir

Level 9

72,336 points

Nov 6, 2009 9:09 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

🙂 Thank you kindly, Kirk! I didn't know that.

Please please, if you ever see me launching into a troubleshoot where I'm heading down the wrong track feel free to dive in and rescue the original poster from me! (I was about to start experimenting here with looking at the phenomenon from different user accounts on the PC before you rescused poor Jacob from me.)

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Answer 8

Nov 6, 2009 9:31 AM in response to b noir

The MIME settings (not the same as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIME) found for QuickTime are only going to work on browser based media. They are associated by file "extensions" found in the html code. They can only be turned on or off for the particular browser plug-in.
In the "old days" html code wasn't as complex, javascript was just gaining popularity and most html authors wrote sloppy page code. Most links to audio/video files were "direct" (the entire URL entered as text). If you find a direct link in a page a simple right click can usually open the file with the program of your choosing.
Modern html coding uses a "Class ID" and every browser plug-in has one. Once this class ID is read by the browser it is associated to only that plug-in. The rest of the html code gives further "instructions" (dimensions, scale, audio volume, etc.).
If the Web page author has written code to call QuickTime that's the only thing that can be used.

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Answer 9

b noir

Level 9

72,336 points

Nov 6, 2009 10:00 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

Modern html coding uses a "Class ID" and every browser plug-in has one. Once this class ID is read by the browser it is associated to only that plug-in. The rest of the html code gives further "instructions" (dimensions, scale, audio volume, etc.).
If the Web page author has written code to call QuickTime that's the only thing that can be used.

That's extremely useful to know ... Coming from a web-page-user's perspective (rather than being a web-page creator), I've always assumed that the controls for what content shows in what plug-in were governed by the user's various control settings.

(Sorry about leading you up the garden path here, Jacob.)

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Answer 10

Nov 6, 2009 12:35 PM in response to b noir

Hi b noir and QuickTimeKirk,

I'm not sure I follow exactly what you are saying, but I think the gist of it is that the directions about which player to use are coming from the Web page, and if you don't have the specified player, the audio/video won't play. Perhaps this will help. I've put a .wav file and a .mp3 file on one of my own pages. I am absolutely certain I don't have anything on the page about which audio player to use. The link is
http://creativemethods.com/espanol/indextest.htm

Look about mid page for "QuickTime versus Windows Media Player Test". What happens on my PC is that the .wav file actually does come up in Windows Media Player, but the .mp3 file comes up in QuickTime. The .mp3 file is one of the ones I'm really trying to access, and you can see more of them at
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072862815/studentview0/textbookaudio.html

I want them to come up with Windows Media Player, and unless I remove QuickTime from the PC, they come up in QuickTime.

I looked at the source for the McGraw-Hill site, and I don't see anything explicit specifying a specific audio player -- and I certainly don't have anything on my site.

Does this help at all?

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Answer 11

Nov 6, 2009 12:52 PM in response to JacobAbernathy

Your page and the other link all point "directly" to the linked file. No instructions for a browser plug-in in either case.
Simply right click on the direct link and download the file to open it in any supported app.
Don't click on the link. Right click and choose from the options.
Since I have my MIME Settings to open .wav file via QuickTime thats what happens with a click on your .wav file. Same with the .mp3 file.
If a click on the .mp3 linked files opens in a new browser window and QuickTime browser plug-in "takes over" then your MIME Settings are to open using QuickTime. If you've changed the MIME Settings to not use the QuickTime browser plug-in then something on your computer (permissions) is getting in the way of your change.
That is beyond my skill level to help fix. The trouble is on your machine.

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Answer 12

b noir

Level 9

72,336 points

Nov 6, 2009 12:56 PM in response to QuickTimeKirk

If a click on the .mp3 linked files opens in a new browser window and QuickTime browser plug-in "takes over" then your MIME Settings are to open using QuickTime. If you've changed the MIME Settings to not use the QuickTime browser plug-in then something on your computer (permissions) is getting in the way of your change.

Interesting ... in that case, and if Jacob still is having trouble, I might hop in again to help. (I'm probably not in Jacumba's league with registry issues, but I'm more effective with them now.)

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Answer 13

Jacumba

Level 4

2,349 points

Nov 6, 2009 3:16 PM in response to b noir

I just clicked on the Mp3 in the first link it did continue to open with QT even after removing the preference for Mp3, in the QT control panel. The Folder Options control panel under File Types was set to WMP for Mp3 and it would still open with QT.
After going to Start>Set Program Access and Defaults>Custom(and making a change) the Mp3 would then open with WMP.
Choose a default media player: I had, Use my current media player, checked. QuickTime and Windows Media Player had no checks, enable access to this program both had checks. I added a check to Windows Media Player, then going back to the link it opened with WMP. So b noir, you've mention this and think they should take another look into Set Program Access and Defaults. I forgot the original person's name but continue to follow up.
Also it could be permissions related as Kirk mentioned, but with XP pro the QT control panel would be blank and showing Programmatically Set

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Answer 14

Nov 7, 2009 4:29 AM in response to Jacumba

QuickTime versus Window Media Player Test

.wav file

.mp3 file

Page code from the first link used.
The page code has target="_blank" (which would automatically open the link in a new browser window). QuickTime browser plug-in isn't "asked" (no code for it) to do anything.
What it offered if you "right click" on the .mp3 link?

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Answer 15

Nov 7, 2009 10:33 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

Hi b noir, QuickTimeKirk, and Jacumba,

I think you guys are homing in on the answer. I really appreciate your help and expertise. To answer your last question, QuickTimeKirk, when I right-click the mp3 link, I get an option to save it locally. I can do that, and then it opens as I want with Windows Media Player if I've set the local options that way. However, there are a zillion Spanish-language audio clips that I'm dealing with, and it is just too cumbersome to be downloading them. I just want to double-click and have them come up in Windows Media Player. I had hoped when I right-clicked the mp3 link there would be an option "Open with" so that I could choose the application, but there is not. There is only "Open" and it opens with QuickTime.

I think though, Jacumba, that you may have found the answer. If I read correctly what you said, if you go into "Start", "Programs", "Set Program Access and Defaults", and set mp3 access to Windows Media Player, that when you double-click the mp3 link, it does come up in Windows Media Player. If, on the other hand, you set that access to QuickTime, double-clicking brings the mp3 link up in QuickTime. Right?

Is this what would happen to you guys -- QuickTimeKirk and b noir?

If that is the case, then part of what I told you about this PC is not correct -- a critical part. I am actually a student at the University of Montana using one of the university's computers. The computer administrator apparently tried very hard, without success, to keep QuickTime from taking over as default. I have access to all of the local settings and can change them as I've said so that QuickTime is not the default -- and that is what happens as a result. If I download the file from the link and double-click it locally, it comes up in Windows Media Player. However, I do not have access to the settings under "Start", "Programs", "Set Program Access and Defaults", which require administrator priveleges. I asked the administrator if he had set the access to Windows Media Player, and he told me what I told you earlier that "I" had done -- he said that was the first thing he tried -- but he was telling me this from memory and did not double-check that is actually the case on the PC. However, from what Jacumba is saying, I wonder if the mp3 setting there, on this PC, really is Windows Media Player, or if it is QuickTime.

If you other two guys could reproduce Jacumba's experience -- that all is required to make the mp3 link come up in Windows Media Player is to set Windows Media Player as the default under "Start", "Programs", "Set Program Access and Defaults", then I think it would be pretty definite that you have identified what the problem is, and I could go to the administrator with that information.

I really appreciate your help on this.

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