Can Quicktime play AVI movies?

jimdadjimdad
Posted:
in Mac Software edited May 2014
I'm having trouble playing an AVI file on my imac with Quicktime 5. A message pops up telling me that the required compressor couldn't be found and that I may have problems viewing it. It then refuses to play. On the Quicktime page at Apple it mentions that Quicktime can import AVI files. Is this not the same as playing them? Is there any way I can fix this? Would upgrading to Quicktime Pro help and if not are there any other Mac programs which would play this file?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    .avi is a container format that can accept a variety of codecs...one of which is DivX...



    QuickTime 5 cannot play DivX encoded .avi files by default, but there are a few hacked up plugins available out there that will let you play DivX on your Mac. The best solution seems to be the one that converts your .avi file and its .mp3 track into a .mov.



    I forget the name...



    Search VersionTracker for "divx"
  • Reply 2 of 14
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Yes it is time for an AI MacPorn thread.
  • Reply 3 of 14
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    what os are you in? if you are in 9 then go to divx.st and click mac and follow their instructions to download DivX b10 and WMP 6.3 - if you are in os x go to apple.com and to their os x software download section and grab 1.1.8 i believe of a divx plugin, it's a self installing package. after that you'll probably have to run avi2mov on it, inlucded in the package, and then double click the mov to play it. . . in my experience os x is much better at handling divx files, the same .avi in x and 9 plays much smoother in x
  • Reply 4 of 14
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Is there anything other than porn in .avi format?
  • Reply 5 of 14
    michael greymichael grey Posts: 384member
    Don't confuse the guy. Not all .avi files are Divx. You might have luck opening your movies with a Divx player, but then again you might not.



    Despite its large file size and marginal quality AVI is the video format that won't seem to die, and it takes many forms...few of which are playable through Quicktime and probably never will be. I know it seems weird since Apple prides itself on being this great homemovie platform, but it's true. I've heard many reasons for this but the most common seems to be codec licensing issues. I think Apple was betting .mov or .mpg would have wiped out .avi a long time ago, but it just keeps hanging around.



    Probably because all the good porn is .avi.
  • Reply 6 of 14
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Oh sheesh. If you come across a .avi file QuickTime can't play, it's 99% likely it's DivX. And .avi isn't dead because it's versatile enough to accept modern codecs like DivX.



    Lots of people I know compress their movies in DivX anyway. It's because we're in the Mac community that we've been sheltered from it. Ask a PC person and they'd rather watch a DivX .avi than a Sorenson 3 .mov.



    Porn, pirated movies, whatever, DivX .avi files are all over the place.
  • Reply 7 of 14
    michael greymichael grey Posts: 384member
    Ask a person if he'd rather watch an .avi or an .mpg! Then ask him if he wants to give up the 10-15x the disc space for his lower-quality .avi.



    And 99% likely that it's Divx? Well, maybe in porn, but there's still lots of vids out there that use the Intel codecs (and then there's that weird "IV41" thing).



    And just because it has been hacked six-ways-to-Sunday hardly means AVI is "versatile." If it was versatile to begin with we wouldn't need the hacks.



    But you're right about the Apple community being sheltered from .avi and Divx. Like I said, I think Apple ignored it hoping it would go away or figuring that QT would replace it. Maybe with QT6/MPG4 we'll get closer, but I doubt it is going anywhere for a while.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    solishusolishu Posts: 124member
    One arena where .avi/divx files are hugely popular is in the anime community. Virtually all fansubs of unliscensed series are distributed as divx files, and I can tell you that sometimes the quality they can sqeeze out of 200megs of video is incredible. Lately a 30 minute, 220 meg episode will be pretty much indistinguishable from broadcast quality video. No way in hell .mpg files are going to pull that off.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Here we go again. .avi was not hacked...DivX was a hack of MS's codec used in .asf. .avi just happened to be perfect, open container format like .mov is to accept it.



    And yes, .avi is used all over the place. A lot of webcam software out there also encodes to DivX. A lot of people use DivX. When Tom's Hardware posted the video of the Athlon chips getting toasted, that was DivX. When I downloaded a copy of Don Hertzfeldt's Rejected cartoon, that was also DivX. When I go to download humorous video files from various archives, half are DivX .avi and half are .mpg.



    When you ask someone whether they would rather download 3 MB of DivX .avi or 10 MB of .mpg, what do you think the answer would be? A lot of people are bandwidth impaired.



    DivX is rampant.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    [quote]Originally posted by Matsu:

    <strong>Is there anything other than porn in .avi format?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    on my hd...



    Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.avi

    Pulp Fiction.avi

    The Usual Suspects.avi

    The Matrix.avi

    The Siege.avi

    Reservoir Dogs.avi
  • Reply 11 of 14
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    And most futurama and ST episodes on the net
  • Reply 12 of 14
    jimdadjimdad Posts: 209member
    Could i just say thanks to everyone who responded and that i haven't understood a THING you've said.

    However, i have downloaded DIVXosx (?) and used avi to .mov which solved my problem immediately.

    I'm envious of you guys' knowledge.

    Thanks
  • Reply 13 of 14
    kidredkidred Posts: 2,402member
    [quote]Originally posted by Matsu:

    <strong>Is there anything other than porn in .avi format?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Go download a full movie to burn on DVD and more then half is AVI and only some mpg. Porn is just more popular which is why everyone assumes avi=porn without giving it much thought.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    marieballancemarieballance Posts: 1member
    Officially, QuickTime only natively plays AVI files encoded with Motion JPEG; QuickTime won't play AVI videos encoded with DivX, XviD, WMV and other video codecs.

    In order to play any video and audio encoded AVI files in any version of QuickTime and Mac OS X or Windows, a recommended solution is to convert AVI to QuickTime more supported video format like MOV or MP4 with some AVI to QuickTime Converter.

    I use a powerful AVI to QuickTime Conversion app called iDealshare VideoGo which can easily convert AVI to QuickTime supported MOV or MP4 video format, it even supports converting AVI to QuickTime supported audio format like MP3, AIFF, M4A and etc.
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