# How do I play an avi file on a Mac ?



## speckledmind (Jan 12, 2005)

Hi everyone,

Can someone tell me how to play an avi file on a Mac ?
A Freeware app would be nice : )
My digital camera takes short clips / movies in avi, problem is that I can't watch them on my Mac.


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## J-F Desfossés (Oct 15, 2003)

Try an app (freeware) called VLC. It works great for pretty much all movie formats with greater quality than most native (such as Media Player).

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

Cheers

JF


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

I second VLC. I use it all the time to play AVI video files and it works fabulously.


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## insertclevername (Apr 8, 2003)

I also use VLC.....

Great app, worked for playing divx movies on a 400 mhz iMac, now thats pretty immpressive.


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## fozy (Jul 18, 2006)

I'd say download the perian drivers for quicktime.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

fozy said:


> I'd say download the perian drivers for quicktime.


I wasn't even aware of this driver. Thanks.  For those who are interested:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/perian.html


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## kwmike (Oct 25, 2006)

I use Divx Player, it is free and it works fine on my G4 400. I was surprised that it even worked with only 400 Mhz, PC's seem to need at least 700 Mhz to decode divx.

http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/


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## winwintoo (Nov 9, 2004)

Hmmm. I don't recall ever downloading special drivers for Quicktime

BUT

My camera also creates .avi files for movies and I play them just fine in Quicktime - and it's free.

If your .avi files aren't opening in Quicktime, right-click (or control click) on one of them and select "get info" then pick quicktime from the drop down list in the "open with" section. 

Take care, Margaret


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## speckledmind (Jan 12, 2005)

Lars said:


> I wasn't even aware of this driver. Thanks.  For those who are interested:
> http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/perian.html


Nor was I, but it says " System Requirements Mac OS X 10.4.7 or later "
Bummer, I'm on 10.3.9 ; (
I will dig a bit


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## winwintoo (Nov 9, 2004)

Have you tried Quicktime?


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## PrettyFly (Jun 6, 2005)

VLC has played 98% of what I throw at it. Loves it.
The other 2% I use QT with F4M.


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## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

No one mentions the Flip4Mac plug-in for Quicktime??


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## PrettyFly (Jun 6, 2005)

Thats what QT with F4M meant. F4M = Flip4Mac


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## RatsOnMacAttack (Mar 5, 2005)

Isnt F4M for .WMV files? What was the question again?


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## PrettyFly (Jun 6, 2005)

Ha! Touche. Well played


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## Repeater04 (Nov 29, 2004)

My camera also does Avi files,......and I have no problem playing them in Quicktime. When I double click an Avi, Quicktime opens Automatically.


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## Aero (Mar 2, 2006)

Remember that AVI is a container. Not all AVI are the same. An AVI might contain a divx for video or mp3 for audio or xvid for video and ac3 for audio.

Your best bet is to get VLC it will play 99% of avi files and then some.

Quicktime with some codecs installed is good because quicktime feels and look better than VLC unless its non-pro (it a pain coz no full screen).

Anyway if you want some codec for quicktime you can use perian. I have some compiled codecs in my quicktime folder if you want I can upload it. Perian is good but its a little bit incomplete.


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## speckledmind (Jan 12, 2005)

Here's a back up question to my first on the avi file.

How in the heck to I dopnwload the avi file from my camera ?
I know, read the book, thing is, I don't want to install the software that came with the camera, I'm hoping that what I presently have will do the job, you know, iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, I have iLife 04 and OS 10.3.9
When I plug in my camera, it opens iPhoto, I have tried to get the file from the camera, but it does not recognise it or let me fetch it, what gives ?


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## winwintoo (Nov 9, 2004)

When you plug in the camera, go to the finder - the camera should show up in the left hand pane of the finder window - if it's there, just click on it and the contents will open up. You should see the .avi file and a couple other files with the same name but different extensions (my camera does it that way).

Click on the file(s) and copy them to a folder on your desktop. Then navigate to that folder and double click on the .avi file - it should open in quicktime.

Others - I think maybe I'm on UCGrafix ignore list - maybe somebody else could repeat this.

Take care, Margaret


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## darkscot (Nov 13, 2003)

When you plug in the camera, go to the finder - the camera should show up in the left hand pane of the finder window - if it's there, just click on it and the contents will open up. You should see the .avi file and a couple other files with the same name but different extensions (my camera does it that way).

Click on the file(s) and copy them to a folder on your desktop. Then navigate to that folder and double click on the .avi file - it should open in quicktime.

Others - I think maybe I'm on UCGrafix ignore list - maybe somebody else could repeat this.

Take care, Margaret
__________________
I love my computer because all my friends live in it


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## Calgary Guru (Apr 25, 2006)

Actually, I use the Apple program called Image Capture for all stuff coming from my digital camera. It's much better and let's you save video clips to a different folder. It's already on your computer in the Applications folder.

In iPhoto, there is a preference that lets you specify WHAT program to use when the camera is attached. Just change it to Image Capture and I think you'll prefer the interface and features offered.


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## speckledmind (Jan 12, 2005)

winwintoo said:


> I think maybe I'm on UCGrafix ignore list - maybe somebody else could repeat this.


You are not.
I'm just so busy latterly, that I read things all crooked, and that's when I don't miss things all together : (
Sorry.

Image capture did the trick : )


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## winwintoo (Nov 9, 2004)

Glad you got it sorted.

Take care, Margaret


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