avi-files to mpeg files or how can I watch it ...

phatlizardphatlizard
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I want to watch a clip from the Rugby World Cup which is a avi-file!

It is here by the way. I just have standard software that came with my OSX 10.2.8 and Quicktime doesn't seem to like avis. I have absolutely now clue about video-files. Is there an easy solution or a shareware???



Thanks a lot!



phaty

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    gabidgabid Posts: 477member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by phatlizard

    I want to watch a clip from the Rugby World Cup which is a avi-file!

    It is here by the way. I just have standard software that came with my OSX 10.2.8 and Quicktime doesn't seem to like avis. I have absolutely now clue about video-files. Is there an easy solution or a shareware???



    Thanks a lot!



    phaty





    I'm not at my Mac right now so I can't test this, but you might want to try either the DivX codec here or the 3ivx codec here. Both are free.



    Good luck!
  • Reply 2 of 4
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    While this isn't exactly the optimal solution, there are two apps that play a variety of media files that QuickTime won't/can't load properly. I tried this avi file and both of them played it okay.



    MPlayer OS X



    VLC



    The drawbacks to these other video players? Well, my biggest gripe is that they don't offer the same reliable controls and options that QuickTime gives. They're still pretty useful for those occasional quirky files, though.
  • Reply 3 of 4
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Install both those codecs and QuickTime should be able to play just about any AVI file you throw at it. However, it's also a good idea to download MPlayer (http://sourceforge.net/projects/mplayerosx/) and VLC (www.videolan.org). Those can play many other types of files, including some really weird formats and ones where the extension doesn't match the actual file type. When QuickTime doesn't work, try those two and if neither of those work either, then you probably just can't watch the video.



    EDIT: Brad beat me to it. Oh, and I've found the biggest drawback (with MPlayer especially) is that the sound and video gets unsynchronized. This happens especially with very long videos. But it happens with QuickTime as well. Also, MPlayer isn't very good at resizing because it doesn't maintain the aspect ratio. VLC will maintain the aspect ratio however, and it seems to suffer less from the unsynchronization problem.
  • Reply 4 of 4
    gabidgabid Posts: 477member
    I'm glad you guys mentioned the players (I knew there was something I forgot to add ).



    I've actually found that for some files I need one of the codecs I mentioned above PLUS VLC. Sometimes, without the right codec neother QuickTime Player nor VLC will be able to do anything with the file. Then you add a codec, get all excited that you can actually view the file, then have QuickTime Player be able to only give you video. Then, you run VLC, and life is good.
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