how to play avi files in quicktime

Avi is a container format that can contain multimedia content in a variety of compression formats. As is, Quicktime can play Cinepak compressed video but not much else. Open the avi in the Player and check MovieInfo (command-I) to see the compressor needed. Codecs from these two sites may help you with some but for others you will have to do a search for a Mac decompressor. There are some comprsssors/decompressors not available for Mac.
http://www.divx.com
http://www.divx.com

DivX 6 will play some but not all compression forms. There is no codec that will play all forms of compression, so you may still need to seek out different decompressors.

QT requires specific codecs for the player. The codec that allows you to play a given file in Video for Windows applications like Window Media Player on a PC will not work to play that file in the QT Player. And the QT codecs will not help you play a given file in WMP.

As you are not only switching from pc to mac, but also intel, a couple of suggestions from one intel mac user to another:

1) Download the DivX for intel beta here:

http://labs.divx.com/node/76

Installing should allow your QT player to function well with most codecs that you commonly find which use the .avi container - it's helped me quite a bit.


2) Download and install the Flip4Mac component for Quicktime here:

http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv.htm

This is an alternative for those pesky WMV files you need to play. Keep in mind that although the component installs and works on your intel mac, it is not yet optimized, so you need to run QT under rosetta in order to see the functionality of the flip4mac component. The intel mac version is on the horizon, hopefully sooner rather than later.

3) Download iSquint or likewise another conversion app. I'm offering up iSquint for now since it is free, easy and universal. You might opt for ffmpegX, MPEG Streamclip or others, but these do not run natively on your machine at this time, and you might find them a little confusing. iSquint will read pretty much any kind of codec and container combo, and it does quick conversions to mp4/H.264 files that your QT Player will recognize...

http://www.isquint.org/


4) Download and install the latest build of VLC for intel mac:


http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/macosx-intel/


The latest build of this player has been rocking along nicely for me on the intel machine, and VLC is a great alternative for those video files you come across that just don't want to play in other video apps.




20" iMac Intel Core Duo 2.0 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.5)