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Quicktime not playing .avi files. Needs to convert them first. Is there a plugin or codec to help?

Have quicktime 10 and os x 10.11.4

Several of my video files are .avi and now cannot play on quicktime without a loooooooong conversion process. Previewing them doesn't work either.
Is there any plug in or codec or anything I can use for this?

Ideally looking for something that will allow me to preview them without opening them in another app (i.e. VLC)

(I also downloaded and installed Perian but didn't seem to do anything)


Help! 🙂

Posted on Apr 8, 2016 2:16 PM

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Posted on Apr 8, 2016 2:22 PM

You need to install QuickTime 7 or similar software to be able to use Perian in Mac OS X 10.9 and newer.


(141352)

10 replies

Apr 8, 2016 4:53 PM in response to ZombiesAteMyParents

Only solution to this or is there a plugin for quicktime 10+?

AVI is a file type (container). Both QT 7 and QT X structure embeds are AVI compatible. However, the only AVI compression formats compatible with the QT X AVFoundation for native playback are those containing "properly" encoded Motion JPEG video with PCM audio. Further, the QT X AVFoundation playback structure does not posses an "open" third-party codec architecture. The installation of such codecs will normally only allow the QT X AVConvert structure to transcode AVI content other than MJPEG/PCM. QT 7, which does have an "open" codec architecture, can employ user installed third-party codecs for direct playback. However, the best solution for native AVI playback is to use a media player like VLC which has its own built-in codec package which is compatible with most common AVI compression formats.

User uploaded file

Apr 11, 2016 2:20 PM in response to ZombiesAteMyParents

Tried to install QT7 but my computer wont let me... says there's already QT on here. Do I need to uninstall that one? Just trash it?

  1. Trashing the QT X Player would cause problems later if you wanted to re-install it since it is part of the main Mac OS X installation and is not available as an independent download/installation package.
  2. If the system is telling you it cannot install QT 7, then you are probably trying to install the Leopard download version which normally is stored in the user's Application folder whereas the Snow Leopard through El Capitan version of QT 7 is programmed to be installed in the "Application > Utilities" folder and has been specially modified to run under Mac operating systems having both the QT X and QT 7 support structures embedded in them.
  3. Both versions of QT can be installed/run simultaneously under Snow Leopard through El Capitan operating systems.

User uploaded file

May 9, 2016 9:30 AM in response to Motordeasy

How come when I try to open an .avi file in either QT7 with Perian, FlipPlayer, or any other app, it only presents a file with a still shot, not the video? Whatever app I open in takes a video of any length (20 seconds, 1 minute, etc.) and "converts" it to a still shot. I can still select "play" and the play scroll scrolls, but there is no video, just a still shot? HELP!!!

Quicktime not playing .avi files. Needs to convert them first. Is there a plugin or codec to help?

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