. Audio Video Interleaved (AVI) files are a common format for compressed video clips. Files downloaded from the internet often use this format. There are several ways to view them in Mac OS X.

Mac OS X by default doesn’t natively support playback of.avi file format. But AVI is widely used across the internet for video clips,movies etc. So, here are 3 Different ways to play & watch avi files on Mac OS X. Way 1 – Using External Video Players Although, the default media & video player for Mac OS X – Quicktime 10 doesn’t support playback of.avi format. External Media players like VLC, UMPlayer, 5kPlayer etc do support it. These external media player are sometimes free or they may be even paid, we came across a good article which covers the free video players available to watch.avi videos.

VLC Player is a cross platform application with a mac version available for download from the VLC website. MPlayer has a simpler interface but fewer features. It is available from the MPlayer website.

Any remaining AVIs not compatible with the above two, should be able to be handled by Mac OS 9 QuickTime or QuickTime for Windows, each of which have the older versions of the Intel Indeo codec. Windows Media Player 9 is an application developed by Microsoft for Mac OS X. Elmedia Player is an application developed by Eltima Software for Mac OS X. Note: Microsoft has ceased the software’s development for Mac OS X and instead promotes another third party plugin for QuickTime called Flip4Mac (See below).

Way 2 – Using Quicktime Plug-Ins on Mac OS X This method is probably the good method to watch.avi video files on Mac OS X as these files would be played within Quicktime itself! For example, Perian is a codec tool for Mac OS X which installs the codecs for non-supported file formats so that they can be played within Quicktime itself. QuickTime Plug-Ins Several third party plug-ins are available to allow users to watch.avi files using Apple’s native multimedia media program. These are installed into the QuickTime plug-ins folder and usually require little or no setting up. Currently the best and most all-encompassing Quicktime plugin that will guarentee to play almost any codec within an AVI file.Includes support for MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivX, H.264, FLV1, FSV1, VP6, H263I, VP3, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, MPEG1 & MPEG2 Video, Fraps, Windows Media Audio v1 & v2, Flash ADPCM, Xiph Vorbis (in Matroska), MPEG Layer II Audio, AAC, AC3 Audio, H.264, MPEG4, and VBR MP3, (i.e loads of Codecs), to play windows media (.wma.wmv) files you will also need Flip4Mac (See below). 3ivX codec.

A free version of this MPEG4 codec is available for Mac users on their download page. This codec is very useful for viewing.avi files encoded with A52 audio. This codec is very useful for viewing.avi files encoded with AC3 audio. DivX for Mac codec.

A free version is available for watching DivX movies, a commercial solution for encoding movies is available as a free 15 day demo. Free beta versions (including DivX 6 for Intel based macs) are also available from labs.divx.com.

Flip4Mac. A free solution, offering playback of AVI, ASF, ASX and non-DRM protected WMA and WMV files. Way 3 – Converting the AVI Files on Mac & then Playing them This option is the least recommended one as it takes some time to Convert Videos, and you may want to view the videos urgently. Also long videos may take some time to convert, while nevertheless converting is a good enough option after the VLC & external media player one as long as you’re a Quicktime player fan. Apple Quicktime can play formats like.mp4 formats so you can use video converters to convert the files into mp4 format to play them in default Quicktime Player. We have compiled a list of top Video converters for Mac OS X which are free as well and will surely get the job done.

We only suggest you the best AVI converter for Mac -. With it, you can convert any AVI (including SD/HD/4K/2D/3D AVI) on Mac ((macOS Sierra, El Capitan Yosemite, Mavericks, Lion included) for playing AVI on QuickTime, MacBook etc smoothly.

Windows user get to convert AVI on Windows (Windows 10 included) for playing AVI on Windows Media Player etc. Hot search: ǀ ǀ ǀ ǀ ǀ.

VLC Media Player supports a number of audio and video compression methods and file formats, including DVD-Video, video CD and streaming protocols. The user can stream over a computer network and transcode multimedia files. Transcoding is the process of converting a media file or object from one format to another, for example converting video formats like Beta to VHS, VHS to QuickTime, or QuickTime to MPEG, among others. It was the first player to support playback of encrypted DVDs on Linux and OS X by using the libdvdcss DVD decryption library. Pros:. It is a cross-platform media player compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.

It can cater for any type of multimedia files including DVD, Audio CD, VCD, among others. It supports multiple codecs like MPEG-2, DivX, H.264, MKV, WebM, WMV, and MP3. It is a lightweight media player that uses relatively few system resources. It uses very little memory or processor power, and the program files themselves use very little space on the hard drive.

This means that VLC can be run simultaneously with other programs without worrying about the system freezing or crashing. Cons:. It cannot play a few less common file formats. It offers limited support, for example, for some formats, e.g. The RealMedia format. It does not support certain versions of the Indeo Video codec.

MPlayerX is a free, open source, simple-to-use media player for almost any format. This is one of the most widely used WMV players for Mac users. It supports most of the MPEG/VOB, ASF/WMA/WMV, VIVO, QT/MOV/MP4, AVI, Ogg/OGM, RealMedia, Matroska, NUT, NuppelVideo among many others. A valuable adjunct is MPlayer's capacity to output audio files in wav format.

Pros:. Good online support.

Allows for decoding of almost any format of files on your computer. Smooth playback. Plays every video format using the best codecs. No additional plug-ins needed to get the software up and running Cons:.

Really only suitable for advanced users. DIVX Plus Software is a desktop media player, and a video conversion application. DivX is a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc., including the DivX Codec which became popular due to its ability to compress long video segments into small sizes while retaining relatively high visual quality. Pros:. High-quality movies, TV shows and web video clips. Smooth video playback experience. Accommodates different formats, such as WMV, AVI, DIVX, MKV, MP4 among others.

Cons:. Quite complicated for novices. It's a big program, and quite memory intensive which slows the computer down. It takes a long time to install.

Codecs are not free. QuickTime + Flip4Mac is a free multi-format video player available from software developer, Telestream. No plug in is needed if you are running QuickTime Player 7 which has better supports for codecs. Even though there are newer updates, Flip4Mac player works best on QuickTime Player 7. Pros:. Supports a wide range of audio, video and streaming formats.

Simple user interface. Not memory-intensive. Platform-independent. Can output videos to iPhone or iPod. Can stream videos over a network.

Best Wmv Player For Mac

Can play broken or incomplete downloads. Installs as a group of components that Quicktime player uses to display Windows video. Cons:. Does not support third-party system software modi?cations (the so-called mavericks). Lacks multiple selection feature. Escape key cannot be used to exit full-screen view.

Help documentation is minimal. Upgrade required to export files. Wondershare Player is a very popular player because of its wide audio and video format support, user-friendly interface as well as excellent design features. In addition to WMV files, it also supports and playbacks other video formats that QuickTime does not support. Wondershare Player is bundled with other applications, but it can also be downloaded separately. Pros:. Neat, tidy interface;.

Easy to use and can play most formats in high quality;. Creative design;. Supports various audio and video file types and operating systems;.

Light on memory usage. Cons:. There are several bugs and error handling is not user-friendly;. Confidentiality/security is compromised by having to register an account and supply an email address;. Interface is not customizable;. It does not allow for playing online clips directly from a URL;.

Best Wmv Player

Not as feature-rich as other players;. No option to create CDs or burn audio-only discs. How to Play WMV with Any Player It is not possible simply to play WMV with any player. In order to play WMV files on Windows computers it normally requires the appropriate CODEC or software application such as Windows Media Player. For use on non-Windows computers, WMV files normally need to be converted to another format such as MP4 or MOV or any other Mac-compatible formats first. The best way to get your WMV video compatible with any player Since WMV cannot be played by Apple products, the easy solution would be to convert all these WMV files to MP4, MOV or M4V, which are natively supported on Mac. There are many third-party tools out there to convert media files on Mac, but i will recommend EaseFab for its ease of use and reliability.

It is a full-featured media video converter. You will be able to convert to not only Apple-friendly formats but also other formats that are suitable for other devices. The EaseFab Video Converter for Mac allows you to convert any file format in 3 easy steps: Load files, choose output format and click the Convert button to begin transform the files to any player compatible format.