QuickTime convert .avi to .mov with OS X Mavericks

Please read my post in this thread: Perian is an QuickTime extension, QuickTime is only available for 32 bit applications and was replaced with "AV Foundation" for 64 bit applications.

In other words: Perian still works on Mavericks, but is only used if QuickTime is used. Which means: only for 32 bit applications like the old "QuickTime Player".

The new "QuickTime Player" on Mavericks is 64 bit and based on "AV Foundation" - this is the reason why it has to convert all videos which are not MP4, M4V, H264 (and may be some more formats). Same problem as with iOS (which uses "AV Foundation", too).

Apple should really rename the new "QuickTime Player" to "AV Foundation Player" because it has nothing to do with QuickTime. And people seems to be confused by its name.

I compared MP4 files that would preview with QuickLook and MP4 files that would NOT preview and found that the difference was that the MP4s that would not preview were compressed with Streaming Hints checked. I and others tested my theory and when the same file was compressed without Streaming Hints checked in Compressor then that MP4 would Finder preview with QuickLook (spacebar play). If the MP4 was compressed with Streaming Hints checked then it would not Finder preview with QuickLook. This is all under Mavericks of course. No problem with Hints-enabled MP4s under Mountain Lion.

After experiencing the problem in playing MP4 files with QT and reading all the posts here, I came up with a better solution. Instead of using QT to play MP4 files, I use Flip Player. To make it the default player, I associated the file with the player (in Finder, right click the file, select get info, and select Flip Player in Open With drop down menu.

If you do not have Flip Player, you can download from: http://download.cnet.com/Flip-Player/3000-13632_4-87679.html

OG,

The problem here is to make Quicklook works with all the video file.

If QuickTime X isn't working but there's alternatives like vlc, QuickTime 7 and many other video players...

We all need a solution for Quick-look being able to preview videos again....

Please apple !!!

I had removed Perian quite some time ago and I understood that the developers were retiring the project to work on other things.

The recent update to Mac OS X 10.9 prevented me from accessing AVIs through QuickTime Player (10.3), QuickTime Player 7 Pro (7.6.6) and Flip Player (3.2.1.2). All three were also unable to convert the AVI files.

On reinstalling Perian (1.2.3) I have now been able to view AVIs through all players and I am also able to convert them to other formats.

I'm taking this 'opportunity' to convert all AVI files to MOV format which I hope is a worthwhile move.

The fans are whirring!

Converting in Quicktime Player X (like it starts doing when opening an .avi, .flv...) would be a solution if these files wouldn't get 2 to 4 times bigger than the original file! :-(

Hope I'm not being patronising but I right-click my original file and at the bottom end of the drop-down menu I use 'Encode Selected Video Files'.

The available options give me all I need for relatively quick conversion without having the player running.

I've just done several hundred small AVI files to MOV and even using 1080p didn't cause too much increase in file size.

eg. 3.6MB to 4.8MB, 5.2MB to 5.9MB, 4.2MB to 5.8MB

Bigger, yes, but absolutely none of them were anywhere close to double.

The increases you are seeing would have definitely put me off!

You are looking for the fountain of youth with your plea for Apple to fix Quick Look. Apple couldn't care an ***. That's the nature of the company. It's purist... my way or the highway.

So look somewhere else for a solution.

I've just tried a flv-file from 305MB and converted it (the way you describe) at 480p and the outcome was an m4v from 658MB...

thomasselis:

Your experience is nothing new. I've belabored Apple in many previous posts that it does not do a good job of efficiently converting files to its favored format. Take for example converting Word documents to Pages. The result is about 2x bloat. So I am reluctant to be purely Apple when it comes to using its apps. I look at what does the job efficiently.

Wanya_23, the issue of QuickLook not working for the favorite file formats we use is that Apple didn't make them! As the OS gets more integratd with the 'cloud' and is online all the time, the functions that are nested inside the system will be more and more walled off.

The codecs to run most of the videos we get online now have their own security (like Flash which presents it's own headaches, hence Apple and Adobe getting spiky with each other after nearly 2 decades of playing together well) or are open source and prone to a faster upgrade cycle than Apple's security can vet for safety. (Just try and open an application that isn't from the App Store - I use an old version of iStat for my menus and in order to get MenuCracker to launch so iStat would run in the first place, I had to add it to a security exemption list!)

All of this 'not working' nonsense is Apple firming up internal security in the OS. Until Apple decides to incorporate some sort of a sandbox around video codecs through the QuickLook, don't hold your breath.

You'll just have to go back to the old fashioned way of watching videos..

In the QT 7 player.

Hi, quciktime cannot open AVI files, but after converting them to MOV, it can play the video. And here, to do the conversion, what we need is a AVI to MOV converter, this tool can help you convert avi files to mov freely.

So far, this is what I found out:

1. You need a codec to use quick look for mp4 usually Perian, but this open project has stopped offering updates, so it won't fully work on Mavericks.
2. Some mp4 files will play others will not, specifically the "H.264, AAC, Hint" seems to be the problem. The files whit out the "Hint" spec plays fine, you can check this whit the Get Info Command.
3. If you open the mp4 file on Quick Time, its converted to a codec that can be use on quick look.

I'm sure that soon, some developer will provide a project similar to Perian. Until then you can also use Quick Time 7 to view the mp4 hinted files whit out conversion, but some HD videos will play slow or stop responding because the 32 bit compatibility.

So, in resume, install Perian, also install Flip4Mac and Quick Time 7, and specially, try to download or create not hinted mp4 movies.

Hope this to be useful.

QuickLook in Mavericks would appear to be using AV Foundation and therefore be limited to the Apple supported formats, i.e. not AVI.

Apple have deliberately chosen not to reveal to thirdparty developers how to write AV Foundation codecs becuse they want everyone to use H.264 etc. i.e. AV Foundation formats as their video format. If they allowed thirdparty codecs to support old formats then this would allow people to be lazy and leave their videos unconverted.

Why do Apple want people to only use the new(er) formats? Apart from making their code simpler, it allows Apple to optimise processing these handful of formats both for speed and power. Apparently Apple have provided a library called QTMovieModernizer which while it does not allow playing older formats does allow them to be converted. However from what people have been saying here it makes the files much bigger. There are plenty of thirdparty tools to convert formats many are free, and in some cases could do things more simply like taking an FLV containing H.264 and simply put it in a new MOV envelope without having to reconvert the H.264 video itself. In some cases VLC can do this for example.

In conclusion it would appear you have no chance of getting AVI etc. supported by QuickLook but by installing QuickTime Player 7 and Perian you can play them still.

It might be worth reading the following.

http://asciiwwdc.com/2013/sessions/606

Note: While I see Apple's reasoning I would still like AV Foundation to be able to support more codecs.

PS. In case you think it is any better on the Windows side of the fence, when Microsoft launched Windows7 they introduced Media Foundation as an intended replacement for DirectShow filters. This could be considered to be equivalent to Apple replacing QuickTime with AV Foundation. Whilst I believe Microsoft have released the details on how to write Media Foundation codecs, the reality is that practically zero have been written so far and we are now on Windows 8.1! It is still possible to use DirectShow filters in Windows Media Player (thankfully) and hence I can still use the Apple Lossless DirectShow filter to play my music files.

John Lockwood wrote:

Why do Apple want people to only use the new(er) formats? Apart from making their code simpler, it allows Apple to optimise processing these handful of formats both for speed and power.

Speed and power should be the same if the video is H264 and the container is AVI or MOV.

John Lockwood wrote:

Apparently Apple have provided a library called QTMovieModernizer which while it does not allow playing older formats does allow them to be converted.

1.) I have thousends of videos, some very short (no problem), some very long (time consuming).

2.) Every decoding and re-encoding - and this is what QTMovieModernizer does - means less quality.

3.) My camera records H264 in a AVI container. Apple's new strategy means to wait each time I want to edit a movie. If the movie is long, I can go to sleep and work the next morning?

John Lockwood wrote:

There are plenty of thirdparty tools to convert formats ... like taking an FLV containing H.264 and simply put it in a new MOV envelope without having to reconvert the H.264 video itself..

This would be helpful - may be some one should write a handy tool for this. I know VLC - but did not know that it can put H264 from AVI to MOV without de- and re-encoding. Any hints?