How to Play AVI with QuickTime on Mac (Lion included)

Have troubles in playing AVI in QuickTime because of codec issues? The problem is, QuickTime will only play AVI files that have audio and video compressed by a codec QuickTime recognizes. If that doesn't describe your file, you won't be able to play AVI smoothly on QuickTime. In fact, many Mac users, who upgraded their Macs to Snow Leopard or Lion, have figured out that QuickTime X can't even recognize their AVI videos which used to play smoothly in previous versions. What to do?

Since AVI is one of the most widely used video formats period, it's depressing when you can't play AVI on Mac. Is there any easy way to fix this problem? Definitely!

Below are three seperate solutions to play AVI on Mac: Perian, VLC Player, Video Converter for Mac. All are tested and proven. Find the one that fits you best.

Solution 1. Get Mac Perian—QuickTime Component

Perian Perian is a free QuickTime component which adds native support for a good number of popular video formats. The current version (1.2.3) of Mac Perian is compatible with Snow Leopard and it works for most of the AVI videos. You can download Perian for Mac here:

Download Perian

Note: The latest version 1.2.3 of Perian doesn't work on Mac OS X Lion. So if you have a Mac running Mac OS X 10.7, say, Lion, you have to downgrade the previous version, say 1.2.2. The version of 1.2.3 of Perian does not support QuickTime 10 in Lion and fails to fix the loss of audio after one second in xvid files with ac3. So if you have a Mac with Lion, converting video to QuickTime is highly recommended.

Solution 2. Switch to Other Media Players

VLC player Media player for Mac OS X Snow Leopard Plex and VLC player are two possible players and in most cases they work like a charm under Mac. If your operating system is Snow Leopard or Lion, VLC Mac player would be a better choice. But to use the media player, you need to install Front Row. And what you should know is that you can only play your files on Mac, that's to say, you can't import your AVI into iMovie for editing, add AVI to iTunes library for sync edc. If you wanna do more with your AVI files additional to the AVI playback, a AVI to QuickTime Mac conversion is the final solution.

Solution 3. Convert the AVI file to QuickTime MOV on Mac

This solution enables you to play AVI on QuickTime without any trouble, no componet and additioanl media player required. You can use Video Converter for Mac, which helps you easily and quickly convert AVI to QuickTime compatible formats like MOV, MP4 and M4V. After that, you can not only play AVI on QuickTime smoothly, but also transfer the files to your iPhone, iPod or iPad for playback and so on.

Download Intel version

twitter-228378697 2012-01-29 01:09
Perian's great! Thanks a lot. :)
ManiacMidget 2012-01-26 17:32
Perian seems to work great! Thank you so much, this has helped me a lot. I was ready to throw my sister's Mac out the window out of frustration but now it's all good.
Fr0nik 2012-01-14 08:25
Thank you very much! Thats a good point!
Cass_292 2012-01-04 04:42
"Solution 3" worked well on my computer (which has Lion), the only thing I strongly dislike is that only after you download it and transfer files then click "convert" does the program tell you that unless you purchase the $35 version, it will shorten your videos to 3 minutes or insert a watermark on all of your personal videos. I just want to post this so people know that the "Free" trial is not the full version.
M W 2011-12-26 22:56
restart your computer. Mine only worked after restarting.
iSkysoft Employee 2011-12-21 08:31
Hi, 1. Flip4Mac is a QuickTime component for playing WMV, so you can't use it to play AVI; 2. As the article has mentioned, The latest version 1.2.3 of Perian doesn't work on Mac OS X Lion. So if you have a Mac running Mac OS X 10.7, say, Lion, you have to downgrade the previous version, say 1.2.2. Or you can use the Video Converter for Mac to convert AVI to QuickTime MOV or other compatible formats: http://www.iskysoft.com/video-converter-mac.html 3. And it may due to a tool came with DivX you have installed. If you still wanna use Perian, you have to uninstall DivX -> restart -> uninstall Perian -> restart -> reinstall Perian ->If you were asked to replace the existing one in system preference, choose Yes -> restart, then it's possible for you to play AVI via QuickTime.
Cdennie 2011-12-21 04:04
I have downloaded Flip4Mac, Perian, VLC and none of these get my AVI files to work on Lion. I am extremely frustrated and feel that I should never have downloaded Lion for Mac. Any other suggestions?
iSkysoft Employee 2011-12-06 01:26
Hi, thanks for using our product. Our Video Converter for Mac shows the first frame of the video as the thumbnail. Just like what Ola said, you can try Video Studio Express for Mac to remove the first few seconds of the video. Please go to http://www.iskysoft.com/video-editor-mac.html
Ola 2011-12-05 07:26
That's probably because the first frame of your video is black. If it bothers you that much, simply use a video editor to remove the first few seconds of the video.
Asksharpe 2011-12-05 03:43
My videos are working fine when opened. I just can't view the thumbnails. It is driving me crazy,
john 2011-12-01 05:43
very helpful thanks - solution 2 worked for me!

Play AVI on Mac