- To learn how to open AVI files on Mac, you can take the assistance of VLC Media Player. It is one of the most popular and freely available video players that work on almost every platform. You can just go to its official website to first download it on your Mac. Afterward, you can launch VLC Media Player on Mac and drag-and-drop your AVI file.
- Step 1 Load the source AVI video. Free download the video converting software, and then run this program. Click 'Add File' button to browse the AVI video you want to convert to iMovie. You can convert multiple AVI files at a time. Step 2 Choose the output format. Select 'iMovie' in the output format area.
- Go to the official site and click on the “Download AVI player for Mac”. When the download is done, install the package properly. Launch the free AVI player for Mac and add AVI content. There is a big box of “Open File” in the middle of the screen. Simply click it to search for AVI files and open.
We'll show you how to download codec and Perian to make QuickTime play AVI on Mac, how to play AVI file on Mac with an alternative player, and how to convert AVI to Mac playable format.
I've exported some video at University in uncompressed Microsoft AVI and it doesn't play in quicktime or vlc at home on my MacBook.
Install DivX for Mac free codec to fix AVI files in Quick time: While you can play the majority of AVI files after you install this free codec for Mac, its major disadvantage is that the audio sometimes might be distorted or only the video is played. For this reason, the DivX codec for Mac is a secondary option when compared to 3ivx D4 codec. Use Perian, an open source QuickTime plugin to play AVI files on Mac. It is easy to install and would open AVI files on Mac’s QuickTime automatically. Perian is only available for QuickTime 7.6.6. The latest version, Perian 1.2.3 supports macOS X 10.4.7 and above.
My MacBook Pro won't play AVI videos. When I try to watch it, it just shows a white screen with garbled video. Anybody know what the problem is?
Why QuickTime and VLC won't play AVI on Mac? There're two main reasons. One is that the AVI uses a codec format that QuickTime/VLC can't support, the other is that your AVI file is corrupted. In this article we'll show you how to play AVI on Mac smoothly.
Table of Contents
Solution 1. Convert AVI Video to Mac Supported Formats
When Mac QuickTime can't play AVI files, you can convert AVI format to Mac supported formats, such as MOV, M4V or MP4.
MacX Video Converter Pro has proven to be great in the realm of video conversion. The software enables you to watch AVI on Mac with no formats limits by converting AVI to QuickTime supported formats like MP4, with ZERO quality loss and super faster speed.
It is fully compatible with macOS Big Sur, Catalina, and other Mac systems. Just free download it to have a try!
How to Convert AVI Files for Smooth Playback on Mac
To begin with, free download the AVI video converter on your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac mini, or Mac Pro. Install and run it.
Step 1: Click '+ Video' button to load the AVI file you want to convert for playback on Mac.
Step 2: Select an Mac compatible output format. On the Output Profile panel, you can scroll down to 'Mac General Video' and choose 'MP4 Video (H264)', 'MP4 Video (MPEG4)', 'MOV Video (H264)', or any profile you like. And, hit 'Done'.
Besides H.264 and MPEG4 video codec, it also supports converting AVI video to HEVC/H.265 codec which can release more space for your Mac's hard drive. All Macs on High Sierra and later support HEVC playback.
Step 3: Click 'Browse' button to choose a destination folder to save converted AVI files. Bluestacks 1 apk.
Step 4: Click 'RUN' button to start converting AVI file for Mac. Hardware acceleration is by default enabled to boost video conversion speed.
Besides converting AVI to Mac, MacX Video Converter Pro has many other features you'll love.
- The program is able to convert among video files, like AVI to MP4, MKV to MOV, M2TS to AVI, to name just a few.
- It allows reducing video file size by lowering resolution, bit rate, etc.
- It provides some basic editing features, like cut, crop, and merge.
- It can record screen and video.
- It allows you to download video and music from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Metacafe, Facebook, and more 1000+ sites.
Solution 2. Watch AVI File on Mac with 3rd-party Player
When QuickTime won't play AVI on Mac, you still have many other AVI players for Mac to choose from, such as 5KPlayer. 5KPlayer works like a charm, without requiring to install codec pack.
5KPlayer is a 100% free and clean media player, enabling you to play SD HD 4K UHD AVI video on MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, etc. It supports AVI files with codecs DivX, Xvid or 3ivX etc. It delivers surprisingly great audio and image quality. With frequent update, it fully supports macOS Big Sur, Catalina, High Sierra, and earlier OS.
Now free download 5KPlayer so that you can play AVI on Mac without converting.
In fact, 5KPlayer can also play 720p/1080p/4K UHD/8K videos in MKV, M2TS, FLV, MOV, MP4, AVCHD and more, music audio in MP3, AAC, AC3, DVDs, and many more on Mac and Windows (including Win 10). Additionally, it can download video and music from YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, Vevo, over 300 sites for free.
How to Use 5KPlayer to Play AVI Video on Mac
Step 1. Download and install 5KPlayer. Once done, open it.
Step 2. Load target AVI file to play. There're 3 ways to do so.
- Click 'Video' to browse and open the source AVI file on the main interface;
- Drag and drop AVI video to the main window;
- Right click AVI file, choose to open with 5KPlayer.
Solution 3. Install the Right Codec to Make QuickTime Play AVI on Mac
That QuickTime fails to play your AVI files may be because it doesn't support the AVI' codec. AVI is a container format. It can package various codecs, such as Xvid, DivX and 3ivX. So you need to know how the AVI file is coded and download the right codec for QuickTime to decode it on Mac.
To figure out the codec used to encode AVI, you can open the file with QuickTime and choose Show Movie Info from the Window menu. Then you should be able to find codec information after format properties. Next, you should check if the codec is supported by QuickTime or not. If it is an unsupportive codec, you can download the codec online.
The most popular codecs that can be installed to play AVI on Mac are:
Both add support for a variety of DivX and other formats which often carry the .avi extension. You can download and install either one codec. Once done, open QuickTime and see if it can play your AVI file on Mac now.
But this method isn't foolproof. Some users report that after installing DivX for Mac, the sound in some AVIs will sometimes be either missing or distorted.
Solution 4. Install Perian to Help QuickTime Play AVI on Mac
If you don't want to download codec but still want to use QuickTime to play AVI video, you can install Perian. This is a free and open-source QuickTime component which can bring necessary codecs or components to help QuickTime play AVI, MKV, FLV, MTS, DivX, WMA and more on Mac. Certainly even if Perian is installed, QuickTime won't play all media types.
How to Use Perian to Play AVI on Mac
Step 1. Download and install Perian from https://perian.org/. once done, it will be listed inside System Preferences.
Step 2. Right click on the AVI file and then choose QuickTime to open it.
How To Play Avi Files On Macbook
So, above are all the ways to play AVI file on Mac. You'll surely find a workable way.