You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
Is there a h265 codec update for QuickTime player, I have came across several .MP4 files with the x265 codec that won't player on QuickTime Player but will on players like VLC or MKplayer. Is there a codec update for the QuickTime Player?
MacBook Pro 13″, OS X 10.11
Do the H.265 movies have Codec ID hev1?
...
There is the "old" H.264 (AVC Advanced Video Coding) and new H.265 (High Efficiency Video Coding HEVC) that needs macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later.
QuickTime Player refuses to play some H.265/HEVC flavors (as well as Final Cut Pro 10.6). Currently macOS 11-13 Big Sur, Monterey and Ventura are more forgiving but they still has the following issues with "Codec ID" and "Chroma subsampling" options.
You can check all those pesky details with apps like Invisor (my favorite because it neatly highlights differences when a folder is dropped on it) or MediaInfo.
H.265 Codec ID hvc1 plays OK.
H.265 Codec ID hev1 has an error message "This file contains some media that isn't compatible with QuickTime Player" and plays audio only. There is a lossless fix if you install ffmpeg and add '-tag:v hvc1' without re-encoding in the Terminal:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c copy -tag:v hvc1 output.mp4
Chroma subsampling 4:2:0 (Bit depth 8 bits) plays OK.
Chroma subsampling 4:2:2 (Bit depth 10 bits) has an error message "This file contains media which isn't compatible with QuickTime Player". It fails in Mojave, opens anyway in Big Sur, no problem in Ventura.
Usually H.264 Codec ID avc1 is OK. But DJI Mavic3 5k H264 10Bit420 does not open, and Sony XAVC displays only black frame.
Google, Youtube, Facebook might use VP8 or VP9 video and OPUS audio codecs that might have to be converted to more common H.264/265 and AAC/PCM codecs.
Google might use webm wrapper and open source community Matroska mkv wrapper that might have to be converted to a more common mp4 (or its very close cousin m4v or mov) wrapper (usually losslessly with ffmpeg although subtitles might be unsupported in other wrappers).
VLC and IINA should have no issues with playing any decent new or old codec. Handbrake, VLC and ffmpeg can be used to convert old codecs to new H.264 or H.265 wrapped as common mp4 (or its very close cousin m4v or mov). ffmpeg can output also ProRes.
Do the H.265 movies have Codec ID hev1?
...
There is the "old" H.264 (AVC Advanced Video Coding) and new H.265 (High Efficiency Video Coding HEVC) that needs macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later.
QuickTime Player refuses to play some H.265/HEVC flavors (as well as Final Cut Pro 10.6). Currently macOS 11-13 Big Sur, Monterey and Ventura are more forgiving but they still has the following issues with "Codec ID" and "Chroma subsampling" options.
You can check all those pesky details with apps like Invisor (my favorite because it neatly highlights differences when a folder is dropped on it) or MediaInfo.
H.265 Codec ID hvc1 plays OK.
H.265 Codec ID hev1 has an error message "This file contains some media that isn't compatible with QuickTime Player" and plays audio only. There is a lossless fix if you install ffmpeg and add '-tag:v hvc1' without re-encoding in the Terminal:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c copy -tag:v hvc1 output.mp4
Chroma subsampling 4:2:0 (Bit depth 8 bits) plays OK.
Chroma subsampling 4:2:2 (Bit depth 10 bits) has an error message "This file contains media which isn't compatible with QuickTime Player". It fails in Mojave, opens anyway in Big Sur, no problem in Ventura.
Usually H.264 Codec ID avc1 is OK. But DJI Mavic3 5k H264 10Bit420 does not open, and Sony XAVC displays only black frame.
Google, Youtube, Facebook might use VP8 or VP9 video and OPUS audio codecs that might have to be converted to more common H.264/265 and AAC/PCM codecs.
Google might use webm wrapper and open source community Matroska mkv wrapper that might have to be converted to a more common mp4 (or its very close cousin m4v or mov) wrapper (usually losslessly with ffmpeg although subtitles might be unsupported in other wrappers).
VLC and IINA should have no issues with playing any decent new or old codec. Handbrake, VLC and ffmpeg can be used to convert old codecs to new H.264 or H.265 wrapped as common mp4 (or its very close cousin m4v or mov). ffmpeg can output also ProRes.
Is there a h265 codec update for quicktime player
