QuickTime: No smooth scrubbing during playback on new macOS

Hello!


I have a problem with the QuickTime program. I have been using this program for several years on macOS Mojave (MacBook Air 2013). I constantly used the smooth frame-by-frame scrubbing feature by using two fingers (moving right to left) on my touchpad. I do it during playback to study English (listen and rewind method).


Now I want to switch to a new MacBook, but I can't. On new versions of macOS (at least Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia) QuickTime no longer works as it did before. Now the program scrubbing only when the video is paused. For me, this is terribly inconvenient to pause the video every time. If you try to scrub while playing, it will stop the video (or rewind it, or anything, but definitely not smooth frame-by-frame scrubbing). 

I assume that the QuickTime was changed due to the addition of a function "Live Text in video" in macOS Ventura.


How can I get this smooth scrubbing feature back? 

I want this feature back. Other players like VLC or IINA cannot do such smooth scrubbing.


Thank you.


Some other people have also complained about this problem:


1- Quicktime scrubbing - Apple Community


2- https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254487408?sortBy=rank


3- https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/yjpima/does_anyone_have_issues_when_scrubbing_through_a/.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Apr 24, 2026 3:20 PM

Reply
1 reply

Apr 24, 2026 11:54 PM in response to MikeR90

To give feedback to Apple about their app and suggest improvements for it, please use the feedback form.

Feedback - QuickTime - Apple


I assume that the QuickTime was changed due to the addition of a function "Live Text in video" in macOS Ventura.

Making assumptions is a waste of words for this purpose. The feedback form has a character limit, so I would suggest to keep it short and factual in describing your particular use case accurately.


Some other people have also complained about this

I would suggest to keep it to your own experience. Let each user submit their own feedback, if applicable.


Good luck!

QuickTime: No smooth scrubbing during playback on new macOS

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