macOS Sonoma crashes when using QuickTime Player

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.

I tried this suggested fix ... it worked.

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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

This is not a hardware issue, it is a software issue in macOS Sonoma.

Most video files crash QuickTime while in Mirrored mode on macOS Sonoma.

The only options until Apple fixes the issue are:

1) to not use your machine in Mirrored mode

2) Use a third party video player

3) Downgrade to macOS Ventura

Try these:

QuickTime Player > Services Settings... > Restore Defaults.

Settings > Desktop and Dock > Click wallpaper to reveal desktop: "Only in stage manager"

Settings > Desktop and Dock > Stage Manager: OFF

Quit Quicktime Player, and try if moving these folders to the Desktop folder (just in case before deleting them) helps:

~/Library/Containers/QuickTime Player

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/Data

If not, try to make a dummy user and see if Quicktime Player works in that account.

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.

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

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

alexanderlindo wrote:

It is good to know that you are not experiencing this issue, I wish I could say the same. What is your current setup? I am using an M1 MacBook Air connected to an external Samsung monitor via the official Apple Multiport USB-C AV Adapter.

My working machine is a 2019 16" MBP (Intel). I am using it with different HDMI displays, in mirror or extended desktop mode. What I don't have is the Apple Multiport USB-C AV Adapter; I don't have access to one of those to test, I have used different USB-C to HDMI adapters and also USB-C docks that have an HDMI port.

I have also tested this it with an M1 Max Mac Studio, and could not make the problem happen.

It seems that the Apple AV adapter may be a big part of the problem.

Indeed, you'd be correct, Your MacBook Pro is Intel-based and your M1 Max Mac Studio does not rely on usb adapters for hdmi connections. So that would narrow the issue down to QuickTime having issues with mirrored display mode on Apple Silicon based MacBooks who rely on usb-c adapters for hdmi connections.

alexanderlindo wrote:

It is good to know that you are not experiencing this issue, I wish I could say the same. What is your current setup? I am using an M1 MacBook Air connected to an external Samsung monitor via the official Apple Multiport USB-C AV Adapter.

My working machine is a 2019 16" MBP (Intel). I am using it with different HDMI displays, in mirror or extended desktop mode. What I don't have is the Apple Multiport USB-C AV Adapter; I don't have access to one of those to test, I have used different USB-C to HDMI adapters and also USB-C docks that have an HDMI port.

I have also tested this it with an M1 Max Mac Studio, and could not make the problem happen.

It seems that the Apple AV adapter may be a big part of the problem.

For me the problem was solved when I disconnected my external monitor in mirror mode. When I have to have the monitor connected in mirror mode (which is most of the time) and I need to view a video I use VLC or just the space bar/quick-look function.

I've switched to the VLC player and the crashes have stopped. MacBook Pro M1 with external monitor in mirror mode.

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

Call Apple to report this, it's still a problem for hundreds if not thousands of users and they are dragging their feet on fixing it.

In the meantime, you can switch to extended display instead of mirrored as a workaround.

I've just "solved" it by installing VLC player and setting everything to open automatically in that. I'm sure this solution won't work for those reliant on special QuickTime features, but I'm too tired of waiting literal months while Apple solves it.

Sonoma 14.4 is out, and some people have reported it fixed this problem. It's worth a try.

Also, this problem does not seem to occur when extending desktop - which would seem a much more practical way to use that screen real estate...