Quicktime player just won't play .mov files after Mavericks update....WHY?????

Same here - cannot play .mov files taken on an old digital camera, on Yosemite. :-(

I'm having an issue with Apple here as well. I've been working on iMovie projects and only using Apple products. I have saved my completed work to be able to share my projects and watch them on my Mac. The files are saved using Mac as .MOV (the default ) and now they are not recognized by the default media player, which is Quick time. ??? Is this self inflicted?

??? Is this self inflicted?

Impossible to say without complete background information and/or sample files to examine. The problem is that there are several potential issues here. Basically, Apple is making a transition from QT 7 based software to QT X based software and doing it over a number of different operating system and security releases. As a result, files could be physically corrupted, files could good but contain "security" issues, resource data could be orphaned, users can have problems associated with changes in codec support under different operating systems, you could have workflow issues, etc.

The files are saved using Mac as .MOV (the default ) and now they are not recognized by the default media player, which is Quick time.

Can you be more specific regarding the compression formats stored in your MOV files, as well as, the app, version of the app, operating system under which you are working, and whether you are editing and playing the videos on the same system. Am confused by what you mean when you say you are saving files as MOV. While the default generic file type for the Mac is MOV, this container format can be used to store any form of valid data compatible with the system configuration on which the file is created—including compression formats not compatible with the QT X embedded structure.

I've been working on iMovie projects and only using Apple products.

This tends to imply your files should contain H.264 video with AAC audio in MOV, MP4, or M4V file containers—all of which should normally be both QT 7 and QT X compatible baring corruption or security issues.

Dear John

1st i want to thank you for all your responses and the enormous time you have put into trying to help us, unfortunately, since i am not quite computer literate they are very hard for me to understand in general.

I do have a similar problem. Created videos with photo booth. All my videos are still playing in my mac, yet the ones i created today, when i transfer to my pc and try to play, give me an error message about a codec not being supported.

I have spent 2 hrs reading your posts, trying to figure out a media info app to download to be able to send you the info, but even that i haven't been able to do. I don't want to get malware/virus on my PC and for some reason can't find the $0.99 version on app store :-(

The old videos created on photo booth that i transferred back then to my PC, all still play in my PC, but as a test i resend today and old video, from photo booth to my PC and it doesn't play anymore. The same video that i transferred a month ago, plays with no problem, so i assume something changed in my mac that now the videos do not play in my windows media player anymore, nor in movie maker.

The problem is i send this videos to my clients, so if i can't play them on my PC, most likely they will not be able to play them in theirs, which means i need to stop using my mac altogether and create all these videos again in a PC, or is there anything i can do?

Probably you have answered this before, but after spending more than 2 hours reading your answers, i still can't figure it out and make my videos work on my PC.

I understand you say this my be self inflicted, although i have no idea how i may have done that. I am merely a computer user and have no technical knowledge whatsoever,, so this has already been a very big headache for me. I understand other people here saying that this should no happen and that apple need to take consumers like us into consideration and i can totally relate to that, because i honestly have no idea how this happen and why after i believe i have done nothing different then suddenly my videos don't play :-(

I would love to send you more info of my videos but i have absolutely no idea how to do that :-(

Any ways, i really appreciate all the answers you have provided here and anything you may be able to do for us. Thanks a lot.

I do have a similar problem. Created videos with photo booth. All my videos are still playing in my mac, yet the ones i created today, when i transfer to my pc and try to play, give me an error message about a codec not being supported.

Normally, the thing to do here is to examine the file transferred to the PC as it is currently stored on that system. However, if the file won't open in any player, you do not have access to a dedicated media information utility, and the PC operating system does not have a system level file properties function analogous to the Mac Finder "Info" window, then you might consider posting a copy of the file to the internet for examination by other users. The only other thing you could try would be to start with the file created by Photo Both on the Mac and test each phase of your transfer workflow to try an locate some action that may be causing the problem on your PC. (I.e., Photo Booth should, I assume, create an H.264 (video codec) MOV file with AAC (audio codec) that should be compatible with most common media players. (E.g., sample below...)

The old videos created on photo booth that i transferred back then to my PC, all still play in my PC, but as a test i resend today and old video, from photo booth to my PC and it doesn't play anymore. The same video that i transferred a month ago, plays with no problem, so i assume something changed in my mac that now the videos do not play in my windows media player anymore, nor in movie maker.

Once again, comparing the codecs used to create the videos that still play on the PC with the codecs in the source files on your Mac should confirm format compatibilities and may help to pinpoint what has changed with respect to non-playing files—assuming the non-playing files can be analyzed one way or another. The "change" may either be in the software you use for normal processing or a change in the workflow itself. Have, you, for instance, changed your method of transferring files from one system to the other? (I.e., this might be an example of a self-inflicted problem.)

Basically, a codec error message implies that either the codec(s) used to create the source file has/have changed or that the file has undergone some sort of conversion during the transfer from one system to the other. Since you say you sent the same file on two separate occasions and it played correctly after the first transfer but did not open/play following the second transfer, the most likely issue would be some sort of a change in the method you are using to transfer the files from one computer to the other. Therefore, you may want to provide more detailed information on how you are "sending" the files/making these transfers.

Dear Jon

thanks soooo much for your prompt reply.

I didn't change the method of transferring the file, in both cases i did both via email and via uploading to dropbox.

I tried playing it with windows media player and with VLC none worked.

I tried playing the video on my phone (galaxy 4) and the old transferred still plays, while the new one doesn't.

I have no idea how to compare the codecs, i don't even know where to look for it.

Here are links to both videos

New transfer, same video

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9g7zy5zegpd4npp/Movie%20on%201-28-16%20at%202.22%20PM. mov?dl=0

Old transfer, same video

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sg1msodoft7k210/Movie%20on%201-28-16%20at%202.22%20PM. mov?dl=0

Cute picture you sent by the way :-) tks so much

How do i do the "inspector" you used on your file?

Again thanks sooo much, i really appreciate

Have a great day.

How do i do the "inspector" you used on your file?

The "Inspector" window is a window you can open in the QuickTime Player or QuickTime Player 7 app that provides information about the media file currently open/active in the QuickTime media player. For example:

This is the QuickTime Player "Inspector" window for the playable file you posted.

While this is the QuickTime Player 7 "Inspector" window for the same file.

And this is the analogous VLC "Media Information" Codec Details tab for the same file.

Virtually all media players have some sort of information window display that provides supplemental data for the media file it is playing. You can access these windows on your Mac in each of the above apps using the appropriate display option found under the app's "Window" menu. In this case, all of the above apps also use the same keyboard shortcut ("Command-I") to toggle (open/close) the display of the media information window.

Another window you may wish to use on the Mac is the Finder "Info" window. This window is sometimes handy because it may provide information about files that will not otherwise open and play in the various media player apps like QT, QT 7, or VLC. This window can be opened by selecting the file you wish to examine in the Finder window and then either selecting the "Get Info" option under the Finder "File" menu or pressing the "Command-I" keyboard shortcut or using the "Context" menu ("Control-Mouse Click shortcut) and selecting the "Get Info" menu option to see what is depicted below:

View of the "Get Info" windows for your playing and non-playing file transfers.

The information provided by the above images clears up most of the mystery as to why one file plays and the other doesn't. The playable file on the left is what is called a "Standalone" file. As you can see by its file size (8.9 MBs), this file physically contains all of the audio and video data needed for playback by the media player. The non-playing file on the right, however, is what is called a "Reference" file. It is a very small file (only 33 KBs) that "points" to a "Standalone" file but contains no playable data of its own. Basically, at some point in your workflow, you created a reference file that "points" to the original "Standalone" file on the Mac. When you send/transfer the "Standalone" file to the PC, it plays without problem. However, if you send/transfer a copy of the "Reference" file from your Mac to the PC, then the playable data still on your Mac becomes "orphaned" and is not accessible for playback on the PC.

Here are links to both videos

New transfer, same video

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9g7zy5zegpd4npp/Movie%20on%201-28-16%20at%202.22%20PM. mov?dl=0

Old transfer, same video

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sg1msodoft7k210/Movie%20on%201-28-16%20at%202.22%20PM. mov?dl=0

Thanks for providing the links to the files. It really helped here.

This is an image of the non-playing M3U file actually stored on DropBox. DropBox initially tries to locate the "Standalone" file for preview/download, but when it can't find it, DropBox issues an "Unable to preview this item" message and downloads the "Reference" file contained in the M3U file.

In this case, the basic problem appears to be in your current transfer workflow. It seems that at some point you may have viewed your files in a media player that automatically creates a "playlist" (i.e., an app like VLC) and then intentionally or inadvertently saved the playlist as a default M3U file. Essentially, a "playlist" is a list of "Reference" files that point to the original "Standalone" files. Later, when you sent/transferred your files from the Mac to the PC, you sent/transferred the playlist or "Reference" file(s) instead of the "Standalone" version(s) of your video(s). The solution to your current problem is to simply make sure you are sending the correct copy ("Standalone") of the file and to make sure your email attachments are small enough to be supported by the ISP/client software you are using. (I.e., large files may have to be transferred by a means other than email—DropBox, USB drive, FTP, IM, shared local network, etc.)

Hope this helps but am not sure if I was able to explain the problem and solution in terms that you will easily understand.

I followed your instructions and attach two images of the data from the .mov file my friend sent me, presumably from her iPhone!

Would be very grateful for some really clear steps I can use to save and view this file on my mac. Thanks

Dear Jon

You are super

I understand what you say, believe it or not

What i do not know is how in the world i created the reference file.

I made other short videos on my mac, and then immediately transferred using drop box and the same happened. So i need to figure it out, if i do (hopefully) will let you know, maybe i did something on photo booth that is creating the reference files instead of saving the files as it used to. I will see if i can restore my mac to a previous date (i am thinking windows here, i have no idea if this can be done on a mac hahaha).

thanks a million

I followed your instructions and attach two images of the data from the .mov file my friend sent me, presumably from her iPhone!

vidpic1.jpg

vidpic 2.jpg

Would be very grateful for some really clear steps I can use to save and view this file on my mac.

First off, lets cover the imaged data in order to consider the potential problems:

1. The Format is described as a QuickTime (MOV) file container containing 4 tracks of data.
2. The first track contains H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC) compressed video video data having a 0 X 0 resolution.
3. The second track contains AAC (MPEG-4) compressed audio data.
4. Tracks three and four contain unidentified data, either or both of which is presumed to contain Motion JPEG 2000 but with nothing to indicate its use.

Since I don't have a copy of the file to examine and/or test, I can only discuss things I might try based on the above observations.

My first worry is the indicated "Width 0" and "Height 0" resolution entries. I am not sure how the different media players would be trapped to handle/display such specifications. That is, I don't know if your media player is refusing to open the file, opening the file as an audio file, simply ignoring the inconsistency and opening the file as a normal video file but refusing to play the data, or if it is opening and playing the file normally but with MJPEG 2000 content layered/composited over the H.264 video track. (I.e., it would have been nice to know more about what the file is or is not doing that you think it should. Either that or post sample file for more "in-depth" examination on my computer.) Basically, the width and height parameters may or may not be a significant issue here since they are normally non-zero. Normally, I might try to recover the encoded resolution and then try to restore the correct values using QT 7 Pro, Subler utility, or some sort of "atom" level utility.)

My second concern here are tracks three and four. Since I don't know how they are being used, I would probably use an app like QT 7 Pro or MPEG Streamclip to delete/strip them from the file if the file can be opened by either application. If they can't be opened, I would probably check to see if an app like Subler could extract just the H.264 video and AAC audio tracks for re-muxing to an MP4 or M4V file container. Again, I don't know if these tracks are preventing viewing of the file as you expect, but they are not part of a normal iPhone encoded file. Therefore, they are suspicious and may indicate some sort extra processing in the file recording, editing, and/or transfer workflow.

Unfortunately, without physical examination of a sample file to determine specific issues at play here, I cannot really provide step-by-step instructions to "fix" the file on your end. In such cases it is often easier to resend/retransfer the source file—assuming the source file is not itself the problem here. Once again, the mere presence of the Motion JPEG data is unusual for an iPhone file and likely indicates a processing problem somewhere in the workflow which probably also affected the H.264 video track resolution parameters.

I made other short videos on my mac, and then immediately transferred using drop box and the same happened.

Unfortunately, you are not describing the specific workflow here. The "Reference" file can be created physically on the Mac or possibly created during an iCloud emailing of the file attachment. In the first case you are probably trying to email the wrong file and in the second, the iCloud "Standalone" file would probably be deleted automatically when more storage space is needed to hold later video email attachments. If you did not physically download a copy of the iCloud stored video to your PC platform immediately upon receipt, then sooner or later, the "Reference" file attachment contained in the PC copy of the email will be "orphaned" and you will no longer be able to access the data for playback on the PC. Based on your latest post here, this sounds like this may be your main problem. If so, then the solution to your problem is to ensure that you download and store a copy of the "Standalone" iCloud file to your PC hard drive as soon as you receive the email and then delete the email from the PC platform since the video attachment (as stored in the email) will eventually become "orphaned" when more space is needed by your iCloud account. (I.e. deleting the email will prevent you from accidentally attempting to access any "orphaned" data at a later time.)

If this does not solve your problem and you don't know how to share files wirelessly over a local network (assuming you are using one), consider purchasing and using a USB drive to transfer files from your Mac to your PC. (I.e., simply plug the USB drive into your Mac, allow it to mount, copy the file to the USB drive, dismount the USB drive, remove the drive from the Mac, plug it into the PC, allow it to mount, and finally copy the video to the PC.) For some, the use of a USB drive is more intuitive than file sharing or iCloud account storage/retrieval issues.

I will ask them to resend as an MP4 I guess, thanks for looking at it... And in answer to your question QuickTime is failing to open the file at all.

I will ask them to resend as an MP4 I guess, thanks for looking at it... And in answer to your question QuickTime is failing to open the file at all.

Specific error (modal) messages can be helpful in that they sometimes indicate if the problem is the file container itself, the data within the container, codec support, Finder filename/path issues, etc. When the system is working nobody pays much attention to it. On the other hand, when the's is a problem while operating under the latest operating systems, there are frequently several different potential problem areas that must be investigated.

Best of luck,

You seem really knowledgable. I can't get my files to open/play with Yosemite, although some of them could until I did the latest update. I don't understand most of your response, but you all keep mentioning QuickTime 7.6.6. When I open "About QuickTime" my version says that it's 10.4. My finder window says that it's only in iCloud. (even though I don't store anything in iCloud) I went to the website and tried to download to my hard drive but it says that it couldn't install. Any ideas where I'm going wrong?

Thanks.

You seem really knowledgable. I can't get my files to open/play with Yosemite, although some of them could until I did the latest update. I don't understand most of your response, but you all keep mentioning QuickTime 7.6.6. When I open "About QuickTime" my version says that it's 10.4. My finder window says that it's only in iCloud. (even though I don't store anything in iCloud) I went to the website and tried to download to my hard drive but it says that it couldn't install. Any ideas where I'm going wrong?

Basically, all version of Mac OS X since Snow Leopard have supported the use of two versions of QT— QT X and QT 7. Initially both were supported by a combined support structure embedded in the Mac operating system so both could essentially play most of the same files. However, beginning with Mavericks, the embedded support was divided into two separate and distinct structures with each capable of playing mutually exclusive file and compression formats. To really know what your problem is, is is usually necessary to know which types of files you really want to play and use the appropriate version of the QT player that supports those particular files or can be made to support them. However, as most Mac users don't normally want to go onto such details, we here normally recommend the use of a third-party player like VLC. This free player has built in codec support for most common, non-proprietary compression formats supported by both QT X and QT 7 players. You may want to take a similar approach. Otherwise, it is normally recommended that you convert your non-playing files to compression formats supported by your current QT X v10.4 player app using an app like the free HandBrake converter.