Avi. file won't open on Mac?

Question

I have some avi. video files I want to play on my Apple Mac (version 10.5) - so, firstly, quicktime didn't work, saying 'this is not a movie file' - so I Googled and downloaded VLC, but when I opened the file with that, it just seemed to play the sound (really speeded up) and nothing else. So I downloaded DivX Player, and it won't play the file at all, it seems. So I'm completely baffled! Do I need some other codec or something?

Please help!

Answer 1

Perhaps the video files you have are corrupted.

Answer 2

download vlc player to try it,

Answer 3

I hate video/audio codecs - they bring me out in a rash so I sympathize! A long shot maybe but try MPEG Streamclip for MacOSX

- free here

http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-stre...

I hope it helps.

Answer 4

You've tried all the likely solutions. The problem with avi is that it's not a real file type, but a container for many different types of audio and video files. It's all too common with companies that sell video surveillance gear because they can use the avi wrapper for a proprietary file format that causes vendor lock-in because it won't play with any other hardware or software. Numerous governmental jurisdictions have fallen into the same trap. Another problem is the codec used to compress the video, which I suspect is the problem you are having. If you don't have the right codec, you are out of luck

For a few more on codecs and the details of avi, try this site:

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/avidivx.html

I've had success with their methods, but there have been a few files over the last few years that I couldn't get to work on a Mac or a PC because of the previously mentioned proprietary approach.

Did you try all of the solutions described at the Web site I mentioned? Converting to a .mov file via 3ivx DivX Doctor II is particularly worth a try. If that works, you are home free because .mov is Quicktime's format.