Although you can play AVI videos on Mac, sometimes users might encounter these issues due to some coding-decoding errors. The good news is that there are several techniques to bypass this problem and play AVI on Mac. In this post, I will teach you how to open AVI files on Mac without any issue. Detailed Steps to Open AVI on Mac with Leawo Blu-ray Player Mac For your information, unlike Mac OS default player-Quick Time, there is no format restriction using this splendid program. Second of all, this app supports Mac OS X 10.6 and above version for both 32 bits and 64 bits, including the newest Mac version.
To play AVI files on Macs, we need to get a clear knowledge of the AVI format and its feature, and then choose the best video player to play AVI movies smoothly.
AVI, Audio Video Interleaved, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft as part of its Video for Windows software. To open AVI files, your player must support all of these codecs. But Mac's built-in video player - QuickTime is unable to recognize and play AVI files. This article would introduce the best AVI player for Mac, and show you the step-by-step guide on how to play AVI on Mac.
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- >> How to Play AVI on Macs with the Best Video Player
- >> How to Play AVI Files on Macs Using QuickTime
- >> Recommend More AVI Players for Mac
How to Play AVI on Mac with the Best AVI Player?
Cisdem Video Player is a 100% FREE AVI player for Mac to play video / audio files of more than 50 formats (including 4K/5K/1080p HD videos) with no codec packs needed, like WMV, AVI, ASF, 3GP, MPG, MP4, M2T, MOV, MP3, OGG, and all popular HD video formats, etc.
It offers lots personalized video playing features, like load subtitle files automatically and manually, take snapshots, De-interlacing, set soundtracks, etc. All images are displayed clearly and crisply. It lets you enjoy smooth video playing without any bugs and artifacts. Every image, every action, still or moving, is delicately displayed. In all, it is absolutely one of the best AVI players for Mac that you shouldn’t miss out.
Steps to play AVI on Mac with Cisdem Video Player
Step 1. Download and launch the freeware.
Step 2. Drag AVI movie to the software
Open the software. You can see a pretty crisp and elegant interface. Drag any format video directly from your movie folder to the app.
Step 3. Open AVI file on Mac
Click the play button, and start to watch your AVI movie imported.
If you want to watch another one when playing one movie with this video player, you can drag the second one to replace the first one and start your new watching.
Look at the toolbar on the top menu. There are many practical tools in this professional AVI player that can be used for some personalized settings.
1. In the 'Audio' or , you can choose the stereo from Mono, Stereo, Left Channel, Right Channel.
2. Use its feature of 'Subtitle' and add external subtitles in .ASS, .SRT format and in the language you are familiar with.
3. Control the 'Playback' progress, stop, step forward, step backward, take screenshots, etc.
4. Retain file open recently and playback at your will.
5. Click “Window” or the sign at right top corner of the screen to check the media info of the loaded video.
6. Click to take a snapshot of your favorite video visual image as save as wallpaper or poster.
7. This free AVI player Mac enables you to make the video screen to the biggest ratio. You can just drag its corner to the bigger screen size, or go to click 'Playback' > 'Full Screen'.
Opening Avi File On Mac
8. In-app purchase: It needs to pay $9.99 to unlock the conversion function. So you can convert AVI to MP4, M4V, MKV, iPhone, and more.
A Professional Video Converter: Easily Convert, Download & Rip Videos
Use the best AVI converter for Mac to:
- Convert videos up to 200+ formats, including AVI, MOV, M4V, FLV, MKV, etc.
- Edit AVI videos with a built-in tool, like Trim, Crop, Rotate, 3D Effects, Watermark, Subtitles, etc.
- Rip DVD movies to AVI, MP4 or other formats for playing on portable devices
- Merge all converted AVI videos into a large file
- Download online videos from 1000+ sites with the supplied media downloader
How to Play AVI Files on Macs Using QuickTime Player?
QuickTime, a popular multimedia technology with a built-in media player, lets you play and view Internet video, HD movie trailers, and personal media in a wide range of file formats. But QuickTime Player only natively plays AVI (Motion JPEG), not all .avi movies.
In this case, you can install a plug-in like Perian, which is a free open-source QuickTime component that enables your Mac to play almost any movie format including AVI files. So you can open AVI files on Mac as easily as it does the native QuickTime video format.
Note: 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). Moreover, since QuickTime version 10, Perian has no longer been supported.
Steps to play AVI on Mac OS X 10.4.7 or higher via QuickTime (10 or later not included):
Step 1. Download and install Perian from https://perian.org/.
After installation, it will be listed inside System Preferences, not the Applications folder, as it's a preference pane.
Step 2. Right-click the AVI file, and open it with QuickTime Player.
To uninstall Perian, navigate to 'System Preferences', right-click on the Perian icon and simply click the Remove “Perian” Preference Pane command.
Another way is to use the 3ivx MPEG-4 codec.
QuickTime 6 or 7 can open 3ivx MPEG-4 encoded videos including 3ivx AVI files without installing Perian or other components.
If the above method is not compatible with your QuickTime or Mac, and you still rely on QuickTime, I advise you to convert AVI to other formats that QuickTime supported, like .mov, .mp4, .m4v, MPEG-1, 3GPP, 3GPP2, AVCHD, DV, etc.
Recommend More AVI Players for Mac
#1. VLC
VLC is a free video player for you to play AVI on Mac. It supports playing multiple media formats. You are able to add subtitles to your video files, set the audio and video’s preferences as well, and easily control the playing process. But it comes with a basic interface, less awesome video visual effect, and less intuitive.
Just launch the application and, in the resulting VLC media player window, drag in the movie you want to watch and it will start playing.
#2. Plex
Plex is an excellent AVI player for Mac that helps you play and manage AVI without glitch. This program optimizes playback of nearly any type of media file, like AVI, MP4, FLV, WMV, etc., and streams all of your media to all your devices anytime and anywhere. Meanwhile, Plex has a media server so you can save your AVI videos into the service. But the operation of it is a bit difficult for beginners who only want to play AVI files on Mac.
#3. Elmedia Player
Elmedia Player applied hardware acceleration technology capable of playing AVI in a softer manner. You can load all AVI files in a playlist, adjust their playback speed, and audio/subtitles delay. But most functions of this AVI player for Mac are not free, such as customizing video tuner/advanced streaming/audio settings, etc. and even capturing a screenshot.
Conclusion
After reading this article, you should know how to play AVI on Mac. The best free media player you can try is Cisdem Video Player. It comes with a more intuitive interface and lets you enjoy a more crisp and higher definition video visual effect. You can easily take snapshots, resume media files, and control the play process. Do you like this outstanding AVI player Mac? Come to download its free trial version and experience your AVI HD movies.
Summary:
Your AVI files cannot be played on Mac? Are you facing trouble playing your AVI video files on Mac QuickTime Player? If you are thinking why AVI files don’t play on Mac, here is a complete guide that explains why QuickTime cannot play AVI Files and how to open or play AVI files on Mac.
About AVI:
AVI is a multimedia container format developed by Microsoft. AVI files contain both Audio and video data in a file container that helps audio to synchronize with video playback. AVI is a sub format where data is stored in the form of tagged chunks of info.
AVI Format
If AVI files have issues playing on Mac’s QuickTime player, one of the main reasons could be incompatible codec. A codec is a compressor/decompressor that is useful in understanding the video or audio tracks in an AVI file for your Media player.If the codec existing in the AVI is not compatible with QuickTime, AVI files cannot be played on Mac.
AVI file Format is divided into 3 sub chunks.
- First one carries metadata that includes size of the file and frame rate.
- Second sub chunk is a movi tag that carries actual audio and video information of an AVI file.
- Third (idx1 tag) is an optional chunk that holds the information about the Offset (address of the destination or reaching point within the file).
Why AVI files Cannot be Played on Mac?
QuickTime fails to open or play video files if theAVI index is broken or any of the codecs(chunks) used to encode the video is not available in QuickTime Player. To overcome this, you need to include the codec that supports AVI files on Mac.
However, this is now usually one of the older problems unless you are using an outdated QuickTime version for AVI files to play on Mac (AVI was initially called video for Windows) as QuickTime supports VFM formats. Nevertheless, the issue with AVI files and QuickTime players exists.
Well, that’s enough tech terms here then. So you just realized your AVI file doesn’t play on Mac, don’t be disappointed, use the following ways to learn how to play an AVI file.
How To Play AVI files on Mac OS?
Here are the few methods explained to make .avi files play on Mac. Follow the below mentioned methods to solve the AVI file not compatible with QuickTime and make yourunplayable AVI files play.
Install Add-on or a plugin to play AVI file on Mac
The QuickTime may sometimes not be able to play your AVI file because of incompatibility. However, with help of a support program you can play the AVI file without much interruption.
Add-On or the Plugin is a supporting software that would help you in playing any video formats that you desire. Using a suitable plugin is one of the ways you can use to make your AVI file playable on Mac. Hence, download a suitable plugin to your QuickTime and enjoy your AVI files on Mac.
Download and Install the Supporting Codec
An AVI file will be created based on a particular compression technique. There are many ways in which an AVI file is created or compressed. If the QuickTime player is not compatible with that particular compression method, it fails to open the file. However, by installing the right codes to your Mac that supports the file to play, the AVI files can be played.
You can go to the Divx website and download the AVI supporting codec.
Try a Different Media Player to Play AVI Files
QuickTime should be enough to play an AVI file. But if it does not work despite downloading new codec or plugin, you may try a different media player altogether. One of the most widely used and recommended software to play AVI files is VLC media player. Download the Mac version of VLC player, and then play your AVI file flawlessly.
Additional Info: Also, if not for VLC you can browse the Mac app store to find a suitable AVI player to play your file. Do make sure to include the file extension (in this case .avi) in the search query to find the appropriate AVI media player.
Convert AVI to MOV
QuickTime is highly compatible with MOV videos. Hence, by converting the AVI to MOV file you will have a better chance to play the unplayable AVI file. To do so, you can download AVI converter software on Mac app store and convert the AVI to MOV. Once done, you can play the unplayable AVI files as MOV files on Mac.
If you have tried all the above-mentioned methods to play AVI files on Mac and still there exists problem playing AVI files on QuickTime, this could be due to the corruption in the video file. To fix corruption on AVI files. You can make use of the most recommended toolvideo repair tool.
Can't Open Avi On Mac
SFWare Video Repair tool is one of the most recommended tools to fix the issue with AVI files cannot play on Mac. the added advantage of the tool is it works only on read only mode therefore the integrity of the file is unaltered. The tool works by analyzing the audio and video streams separately to identify any audio & video issues.
How to Fix Corrupt AVI files and Play on Mac?
Download and install theSFWare AVI Repair tool on your Mac and follow the steps mentioned below
- From the main screen, select the AVI Repair option
- In the next step, Browse for the corrupted AVI file on your Mac
- Click on Repair to fix the corrupted AVI file
- After fixing the file browse, for a location and click on Save to save the fixed AVI file.
Open Avi Movie On Mac
Conclusion
Opening Avi Files On Mac
With the above-mentioned methods AVI files can be played easily on your Mac. If your AVI files are not playable on Mac, you should keep your QuickTime player updated in a timely manner to avoid any errors. Despite your cautious approach, if you are not able to open AVI files on Mac, try using SFWare Video repair tool.