AMR files will not play in QT Pro 7.6.6 or QT Player X

QuickTime, to the best of my knowledge, does not support AMR even with the Perian codec. Audacity with addition of the FFMPEG codec libraries says it will support AMR files, so you might give that a try:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/features

Regards.

QuickTime, to the best of my knowledge, does not support AMR even with the Perian codec.

Actually, the the "current" Media Formats Supported by QT Player Article HT3775 (dated 20 Dec 12) states the AMR file format is natively supported but codec component support is limited to AMR Narrowband content and does not specifiy if this support is for both QT X and QT 7 under OS X v10.6 and later.

Hi, Jon,

I was under the impression that 3GPP and AMR support had been dropped, but I may well be wrong. Since the file won't work for the OP in either QT Player X nor 7.6.6, though, it would seem that either the AMR file is in a different wrapper that QT doesn't support or the support article is incorrect.

Regards.

I was under the impression that 3GPP and AMR support had been dropped, but I may well be wrong. Since the file won't work for the OP in either QT Player X nor 7.6.6, though, it would seem that either the AMR file is in a different wrapper that QT doesn't support or the support article is incorrect.

Article could be incorrect even though it carries a recent DTG. (E.g., Apple site still indicates AVI file container is supposed to be supported by mobile devices which implies iTunes should also support it for sync purposes but have not tried to create a specified content-file container combination to see if specific statment remains correct.) Also, article cited above refers to playback only and I suspect "legacy" audio formats may have been turned off by default under Lion and Mountain Lion in the same manner as "legacy" video compressors like Motion JPEG and Motion PNG which is probabnly another thing to be checked by users wanting to use the codec for export if available.

Added:

Just checked and "legacy" audio codecs were, in fact, turned off. Just turned them on. However, while 3G export window settings still lists AMR-NB as an export option, it remains grayed out no matter what settings combination I try. System audio changes begun in Lion and completed in Mountain Lion may or may not prevent active/passive use of this codec. As I don't normally use the legacy audio codecs I cannot say when or if a compatibility issue arose. Suggest this item be reported video QT product feedback for to see if Apple has comments on issue (unlikely) and/or corrects the QT interface to reflect the apparent current lack of support.

How do you turn on the legacy codecs?

Use the Terminal app.

To check to see if the legacy audio codecs are already enabled, use the following command:

qtdefaults read LegacyAudioCodecsEnabled

All legacy audio codecs can be turned on using the following command line:

qtdefaults write LegacyAudioCodecsEnabled yes

to which your system should respond with the fillowing:

audio encoders have been enabled.

NOTES: This only affects the option to export legacy compression formats. All "compatible" codecs are supposed to be available for playback. For audio, a single command affects all legacy audio codecs while video legacy codecs must be enabled individually. To get a complete list of QT preference commands, simply enter the following:

qtdefaults

The above should be enough to get you started. Have fun and good luck!