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Search for looped QuickTime files in Mac?

I’m looking for a way to set up a search for looped QuickTime files in my Mac. Any ideas, anyone?

MacBook, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), PowerBook G4 with OS 10.5.8.

Posted on Feb 19, 2015 10:00 PM

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6 replies

Feb 20, 2015 6:50 AM in response to Leigh Oats

Maybe. A very simple test follows.


I'd search for the word LOOP within each file. Below are hex-level displays (I used 0xED for this purpose) of two files. They were identical until I added a loop to the one on the right and resaved it. See the difference?


User uploaded file


Spotlight isn't going to help you here. You need something that will search at a lower level. If all your movies are in one folder, you could use EasyFind or an equivalent to search all the files in the folder for the LOOP string in file content. If your movie files are spread all over your HDD, you could scan the entire drive, but it will take (at least) several hours and then you'll still need to filter the results so that you're looking only at movies files. Just an idea . . . .

Feb 20, 2015 8:30 PM in response to mns579

Thanks, mns579. Your suggestion about EasyFind has prompted me to download it, but I’ve failed to persuade it to find my looped QuickTime files. Never mind.


Anyway, I did persuade EasyFind to solve a different problem for me by managing to find a file that for some occult reason had become invisible to Spotlight and its filename etcetera in its folder window had become inert and was missing the custom icon that I had made for it. Once I had found the file via EasyFind I found that Spotlight had regained its ability to find it and the file was again active in its folder window, complete with its custom icon. Such mysteries are what computers are all about in these early days of their existence.

Feb 21, 2015 5:33 AM in response to Leigh Oats

One more try with EasyFind:

User uploaded file


But there may be other ways of looping a file that wouldn't leave LOOP in the file. I don't know.


As to your second issue, I would guess that when EasyFind "touched" the file--and then perhaps you opened it or altered it in some way--that Spotlight reindexed the file, which made it findable via Spotlight again. Or, as you say, it's just a mystery.

Feb 24, 2015 12:00 PM in response to mns579

Thanks again, mns579, especially for your green arrows, but I still can’t persuade EasyFind to find even one of my looped QuickTime files (for the purpose of unlooping it, of course). As far as I’m concerned the case is now closed, because I don’t want to spend any more time on it.


Now for the “second issue”: Soon after my last post I found that the custom icons of many of my files had become invisible and the filenames inert, probably because I had absentmindedly switched an external disc off without properly closing it in the usual way, so your incidental mention of reindexing prompted me to spend some time invoking the system’s routine for reindexing everything. That did the trick.

Search for looped QuickTime files in Mac?

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