EVERY .MOV file I have - when I open it in Quicktime - is forced into 'conversion' mode. Which then seems to stall - every time. So basically, I can't open or play any .MOV file I have. Any suggestions on how to get these files to play? They won't play in VLC either. Ok, thanks!
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017), macOS High Sierra (10.13.4)
Perhaps elaborate about the origin of these MOV files. Often if even VLC won’t play a file, then the file is not a valid media file.
A tool like MediaInfo will try to look inside the media file to inform the user on the media details (meta data), such as video codec and audio codec, which are important factors in playback compatibility.
E.g. ‘rescued’ files may have problems, in that they do not contain the data anymore with which they were once thought to have been saved. Or some copying may have failed, resulting in 0 byte files. Et cetera.
Perhaps elaborate about the origin of these MOV files. Often if even VLC won’t play a file, then the file is not a valid media file.
A tool like MediaInfo will try to look inside the media file to inform the user on the media details (meta data), such as video codec and audio codec, which are important factors in playback compatibility.
E.g. ‘rescued’ files may have problems, in that they do not contain the data anymore with which they were once thought to have been saved. Or some copying may have failed, resulting in 0 byte files. Et cetera.
The QuickTime X 10.x did away with many legacy codecs. The conversion will try to update the content to modern codecs (H.264/AAC), and sometimes conclude that such is not possible for certain formats with this converter.
It is still possible to have the old QuickTime 7.6.6 (from 2010) installed side-by-side the new one, as new OSs didn’t delete it, for those that are no ready to say farewell yet. Not sure if the original installer still works on todays OS, though. It is 32-bit, so it has no future going onwards.
How do I get Quicktime to play MOV files?
The short answer is to simply allow the QTX player to convert the files to a compatible compression format and keep the newly created file for playback thereafter.
EVERY .MOV file I have - when I open it in Quicktime - is forced into 'conversion' mode. Which then seems to stall - every time. So basically, I can't open or play any .MOV file I have. Any suggestions on how to get these files to play? They won't play in VLC either.
If the files won't play in VLC, then the MOV files are most likely either corrupt or were created using a "legacy" Apple proprietary compression format. In the former case the files probably won't play in any media player and in the latter case, the files should continue to play in the QT7 Player app as long as the required codecs are still available on your system. Basically, the release of the Mavericks macOS marked the end of active support for a wide range of "legacy" codecs which were previously "turned off" by default with the release of the Lion/Mountain Lion macOS in preparation of separating the QTX (closed codec support for "modern" codecs only) and QT7 (open codec support for legacy and Apple/third-party proprietary codecs) structures embedded in Mavericks and later operating systems.
I realize this is probably not what you want to hear, but you facing a decision requiring you to either update the files for playback compatibility with current media players or or losing playback for these files altogether when the 32-bit QT7 app is finally phased out in the relatively near future.
Normal .mov files I've had for anywhere from a few years to many years. It seems to only be .mov files, which older Macs (and older versions of Quicktime) had no problem, and seemed to prefer. New Quicktime on my new Mac 'converts' and it takes an excrutiating long time to open, if they even open.
How do I get Quicktime to play MOV files?
