QuickTime will not play AVI files after updating to Mavericks

Download Handbrake which is free, and batch convert all of your AVIs to MP4s.

"I will just delete all these old videos."

This is a **** shame.

We have to trash any files that are a couple years old, just because QT wants to support FEWER and FEWER formats with every re-write?

Even if we can convert them, they take a big hit in quality every ******* time we do. QT used to open mpg1, but they actually went to the trouble of removing that support. And why? *Nobody* has any memories they want to save more than 5yrs? Or is there some limit to how many codecs one app can access? *No*. VLC opens at least 4 times as many formats as QTx, without any extra downloads, or any waiting for conversions.

Considering how many *years* it's been since QTx came out, I'm betting they ony have ONE developer working on it. I've never seen software improve so slowly - not even Photoshop. What other explaination can there be - it's *one guy*. And he can't even achieve what VLC did 10yrs ago.

Many people encountered the similar issue. To play AVI in QuickTime on Mavericks, you'd better to convert AVI to QuickTime MP4, MOV.

If it's not Mavericks, you also can give Perian a try. As a great open-source QuickTime component, Perian is the saver to allow QuickTime to play all kinds of AVI videos for Mac users. Unfortunately, the latest version 1.2.3 of Perian is not compatible with Mac OS X Mavericks(10.9), Mountain Lion(10.8) and Lion(10.7).

For ajdolby; try ATK Player lite, which is free and works for me. I have used VLC in the past too, but not installed on my new machine. Good luck!

Thank you soooooo much!

I'm not great with any technology so your simple walk through got me to where I needed in making my audio work 🙂 Now I feel like a genuis lol

Thank you Deborah for providing a solution that actually works.

Most of the rest of you are just grand-standing. This is a support site not a bully pulpit.

Thanks Deborah again for sensible, practical solutions that work.

Trevo, I couldn't agree more with all of your Comments!! I H A T E Mavericks!! NOTHING works properly anymore and yes, the only reason I 'upgraded' was because it was free; should've wondered why first - it's evidently because Apple knew that, once word got out, no-one wld buy the god-**** thing! I appreciate and enjoy evolving technology as much as the next ordinary user, Jon Walker, but find your responses unnecessarily convoluted and patronising - if you're going to respond can you please just tell us how to get things to work that used to work fine and no longer do! I have wasted so many hours trying to re-jig everything on my MacBook since Maverikcs, installed extra RAM (which I realize was supposedly unnecessary with Mavericks but I was desperate) and still lots of things just don't work. I'm not a computer geek nor a developer just a user who would like to use my computer! Arrgghh!

(Haven't tried some of the other suggestions her yet, MPlayerX et al, so fingers crossed, but wanted to comment anyway. And in any case, some of my vids are already MOVs,so I can't figure out why NONE of them play anymore.)

Thanks all.

I appreciate and enjoy evolving technology as much as the next ordinary user, Jon Walker, but find your responses unnecessarily convoluted and patronising - if you're going to respond can you please just tell us how to get things to work that used to work fine and no longer do!

1. Since the AVI file container remains both QT structure and AVFoundation compatible, your current workflow has a codec issue.
2. If the files in questions are already supported by codecs installed by the Mavericks OS and you are using the QT X player, then send feedback to Apple requesting they re-program the QT X GUI to recognize and play the content.
3. If the files in question are already supported by codecs installed by the Mavericks OS and you do not need to use the QT X player, then download, install, and use a classic QT player like QT 7, MPEG Streamclip, or similar QT 7 based app.
4. If the files in question are not supported by the codecs currently installed by the Mavericks OS, either install the appropriate codecs or codec packages and download, install, and use a classic QT player like (QT 7 or MPEG Streamclip) or download, install, and use a third-party player that includes its own, built-in codec support (e.g., VLC, MPlayer, FFmpegX converter/player package, etc).
5. If the files in question are not supported by the codecs currently installed by the Mavericks OS and you want the files to be natively compatible with all versions of QT X, QL, QT 7, and/or IOS device players, then download, install, and use any preferred converter to transcode your AVI content to H.264/AAC or MPEG-4/AAC compressed data in MOV, MP4, and/or M4V file containers.

The above is as simple as I can make the flow of logic for solving your problem without knowing which specific codecs are involved, which Mavericks embedded structure you are using, your specific workflow requirements, and/or your overall goals for the use of the AVI content. Unlike you, I cannot provide specific solutions to problems that remain undefined—especially in terms of your individual needs. If all you want is a list of things to try, then follow Deborah Terrreson's suggestions since they will either allow you to fix or work around most AVI non-playing issues without actually determining their cause. Unfortunately, her suggestions will not

1. Tell you what the specific problem is.
2. Solve all possible problems.
3. Tell you when there is no possible solution.

As to my response being "unnecessarily convoluted and patronizing"—you can't have it both ways. Either the response was "unnecessarily convoluted" but you understood it (meaning the response was not "patronizing" because you share the same superior level of knowledge and expertise) or the response was simply more "convoluted" than you prefer and you did not understand it (which means the response was not "patronizing" because the knowledge and expertise was, in fact, superior to your current level of comprehension).

And in any case, some of my vids are already MOVs,so I can't figure out why NONE of them play anymore.)

MOV and AVI are both simply generic file containers. As I have repeatedly tried to point out before, it is what you have stored in the file container and how you are trying to play that content that causes non-playback problems and many of the same fixes that work for AVI files also work for MOV file content. Contrary to what some people seem to think, simply placing third-party data in an MOV file container does not make the MOV file playback compatible with all Mac systems and IOS devices. If your files previously played in the QT 7 player, then they likely will continue to play in that player just as files that previously "only" played in the QT X player will continue to "only" play in the QT X player while some files that previously played in both QT X and QT 7 players may not be supported or not be fully supported by the QT X player under Mavericks. (I.e., I suspect that when you say "NONE of them play anymore," what you really mean is that they won't play in the QT X player or QL and that you have not tried to play them in the QT 7 player. [I.e., QT X is supported by a new "engine" (the AVFoundation embed) that's fueled by (plays back) content using a more limited number of codecs than previous Mac OS X systems could using the embedded 64-bit QT structure and/or accessing user configured add-on codecs.]

I Did find a relatively good VLC player that played all my old .avi files. I'm not against they conversion that version x is supposed to do but it usually doesn't work. I find it strange that apple would publish such a universal failure at what the software is supposed to do. It's like some crappy freeware that's been under developed by some woefully under qualified hack.

I'm with you - on all counts!! And yes, thanks to Deborah Terreson for providing a simple solution that actually worked - without all the convoluted and totally unnecessary, grand-standing 'expertise'! Sooooo simple! 🙂

To everyone finding success with my directions, you are all welcome! 🙂

Also have a added note that *so far* this workaround is stable in the update to Yosemite!

I took the beta test of OS X 10.10 and have it installed over Mavericks that is in my MacBook Pro - and so far, so good. 100% functionality still.

Regards,

Deb.

Ack! Much to my chagrin, flip-4-mac has become a paid component.

So after a bit of digging, I have found an older yet still functional version that is free - so here's the complete updated list and instructions with corrected links.

You need to install some other stuff to get the full file functionality back.

Here's the list.

Start with QT 7.6.6. - http://support.apple.com/kb/DL923 (This will install into the Applications/Utilities folder)

Get Perian, and install it. - http://perian.org

then VLC, - http://videolan.org

and the Flip4Mac 3.0.0.126 here: http://flip4mac.en.uptodown.com/mac/download

A52/AC3 downloader: https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/21875/a52codec - In this installer package there is an audio A52Codec.component. DO NOT USE IT! Throw it out and use the one that is linked below.

This is what I've put into my system and so far I've gotten every file to run fine, even my oldest videos.

These are codecs you should see.

In System/Library/QuickTime

AppleIntermediateCodec.component

AppleMPEG2Codec.component* (*optional if you've bought it)

Flip4Mac WMV Advanced.component

Flip4Mac WMV Export.component

Flip4Mac WMV Import.component

In your Home/Library/QuickTime/

AC3MovieImport.component (you may or may not want this component, in some instances it causes conflicts. In my system, it doesn't. Who knows why? I don't.)

Perian.component

For AC3 sound that is in most .mkv files, you need the A52Codec.component, this is the one you want, here:https://code.google.com/p/subler/downloads/detail?name=A52Codec.component.zip - unzip the file and put the component into the System/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/Components

Go back to your Perian settings (It should be in the System Preferences, at the bottom) and in the Audio Output button, set it to 'Multi Channel Sound' - Ignore the message Perian puts up and select it.

By doing a 'Get Info' on your files and where it says 'Open With' - default them to the QuickTime 7 program. Perian no longer will work with QuickTime Player X so you must have QT 7.6.6 and set it so it is the default for all the filetypes you use.

If you DO decide to do this, just do NOT delete the QuickTimeX. For some reason, the OS gets a bit peevish that it is not there anymore and it's a real pain to have to re-install. Just leave it.

Everything works perfectly with QT7 - and you CAN buy a Pro Key from Apple if you want to unlock it and access it's full editing/transcoding capabilities.

So far I've gotten ALL my old videos to play.

.avi, .mov (with the AC3 sound), .wmv, .flv, .mp4 and .m4v. all run fine as do all the older formats.

Good luck!

Deb.

interesting because every time I use QT X in till screen it seems to lock itself out among other 'minor' glitches and can only regain control of my computer by doing a forced shutdown. So I am not using QT X anymore until I see Apple supply a sizeable update to the software. I,am quite disappointed in the functionality. Your solution is quite useful and easy for most to do. It is pretty much what I did and I think most people can handle it. kudos

My solution was to purchase Emicsoft Media Converter for Mac. Cost about 30$, converts virtually any format into any other. Hope that helps.

Regards, Reinhart

Officially, QuickTime only natively plays AVI files encoded with Motion JPEG; QuickTime won't play AVI videos encoded with DivX, XviD, WMV and other video codecs.

Though we can make QuickTime play more AVI types by installing Perian component, this only works on QuickTime with Mac OS X Snow Leopard or lower version, and it does work on QuickTime with Mac Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion and Lion.

In order to play any video and audio encoded AVI files in any version of QuickTime and Mac OS X or Windows, a recommended solution is to convert AVI to QuickTime more supported video format like MOV or MP4 with some AVI to QuickTime Converter.