1. How To Watch Avi On Macbook Pro
2. Watch Avi On Mac

Playing AVI and DivX files

This chapter from our book Troubleshooting Mac® OS X discusses why some Audio Video Interleaved (AVI) multimedia files do not play in QuickTime and provides methods for playing AVIs on Mac OS X.

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. Fix and Watch Partially Downloaded AVI on Mac. AVI files are now the most widely used video file format on the planet. They are used on many popular applications such as MSN Live Messenger, Skype, etc. However unfortunately, similar to any other video file format AVI video files are also vulnerable to problems such as corruption and damage. Quickly convert online video with FREE or premium options to MP4, AVI, MOV, MKV, FLV, 3GP, WMV, etc. Convert and compress video to a smaller size or convert online video to Full HD (720p, 1080p) or Ultra quality HD 4K (2160p) with no file size limit. The best and safest online video converter to high quality video. Convert video to iPhone, Android, MAC, PC, Windows, etc. Convert online fast. This AVI player for Mac sets the stage by allowing for a seamless experience when interacting with playback controls like setting speed, tweaking subtitles, syncing audio or video, and so on. Bookmarking is another welcomed feature that gives users an additional sense of control over their library and content, which is always appreciated.

AVI player for Mac can act as a free 4K/8K/HD video player. It enables you to play 4K/8K videos and HD videos, including 1080p/1080i/720p videos smoothly on wide screen. Most of the 4K/HD video formats are highly supported, such as MP4, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, H.265/HEVC, TS, MKV, AVI, MOV, FLV and WebM.

About AVIs

There has been confusion over AVI files since QuickTime® added support for such. AVI is a media container very similar to QuickTime, but with a unique data format. AVI was originally called Video for Windows® (VFW) and QuickTime supports the VFW format.

However, most, if not all AVI playback issues arise with movies that have been compressed using CODECs (Compressor - Decompressor) that are unavailable for QuickTime in Mac OS X. In particular, the Indeo® CODEC, popular for video compression on PCs, has not been ported to Mac OS X.

To further confuse the issue, many DivX®-encoded files carry the .avi extension. QuickTime does not include native DivX support, even though QuickTime 6 and later support the ISO Standard MPEG-4 media compression format and DivX is based on the MPEG-4 standard.

QuickTime X and AVIs

Under Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard®, QuickTime Player — aka QuickTime X — does not support third-party components, i.e. QuickTime plug-ins. Nevertheless, Snow Leopard includes QuickTime Player 7 as an optional install: QuickTime X will invoke QuickTime Player 7 to play videos supported by the latter or by QuickTime Player 7 components.

If you have an existing QuickTime Pro key, QuickTime Player 7 is installed automatically and Pro functionality is available in QuickTime Player 7. If you elect not to install QuickTime Player 7, it can be installed later. Likewise, if you attempt to open a media file that requires QuickTime Player 7, you are offered the opportunity to install it. QuickTime Player 7 is installed in the Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities folder.

Playing AVIs on Mac OS X

We have found that the following four methods will enable viewing most AVI files that do not play in QuickTime. While none of these methods are foolproof and some AVI files still refuse to play, one of these methods will usually work.

Use VLC

Probably the easiest way to play AVI and DivX files on Mac OS X is to download and install the freeware VLC Media Player for OS X. VLC is also often referred to by its original name, VideoLAN Client.

Install Perian

Perian is an excellent, free, and open source QuickTime component.

Install the 3ivx® D4 CODEC

Download and install the 3ivx MPEG-4 CODEC per the installation instructions in the associated ReadMe file. This CODEC adds support for a variety of DivX and other formats which often carry the .avi extension.

Convert AVIs to QuickTime movies

If all else fails and you are running Mac OS X 10.6 or earlier, it may be possibles to convert the .avi files to QuickTime .mov files using tools from 3ivx.

You will need...

• QuickTime 6 or later.
• 3ivx MPEG-4 CODEC.
• 3ivx DivX Doctor II.

Procedure

1. Download and install 3ivx MPEG-4 CODEC per the installation instructions in the ReadMe file.
2. Download and install 3ivx DivX Doctor II, again per its included instructions. Note that the installation instructions specify numerous additional downloads you can get, but we have found them unnecessary in Mac OS X 10.2 or later.
3. Drag and drop .avi files onto DivX Doctor II. They will be converted into .mov files and stored on your hard drive at the location you specify.
4. While some .avi files fail to convert — again, none of these methods are foolproof — the resulting .mov files generally play flawlessly in QuickTime. This method may also fix problems with the soundtrack on AVIs that do not play properly using only the DivX for Mac CODEC.

Try the DivX for Mac CODEC

Many AVIs can be played in QuickTime by installing the freeware DivX for Mac CODEC. While this plug-in has been continuously improved, the sound in some AVIs will sometimes be either missing or distorted. [1]

Related links

• VideoHelp is an excellent site offering a plethora of information on video formats.

Notes

[1] Both the 3ivx D4 and DivX for Mac CODECs must be installed in the Macintosh HD > Library > QuickTime folder. However, both CODECs can not be in this folder simultaneously and work with QuickTime as they conflict. If you decide to keep both CODECs , you must temporarily disable one while using the other. To do this:

1. Quit QuickTime Player.
2. Open the Macintosh HD > Library > QuickTime folder.
3. Move — click and drag while pressing the Command key — the CODEC you do not want to use to a temporary folder or to your Desktop.
4. Open QuickTime Player.

There are a plethora of Mac video players on the app market. From my perspective, the best video player for Mac should support a vast assortment of formats, crisp visual display, and user-friendly operating features. In this huge and intensely competitive market, we can't figure out which free Mac video player is the best choice at once. If you have the same doubts, then you come to the right place. In this article, I'd like to show you the best media player for Mac that can give you excellent visual enjoyment.

4 Tips on Choosing the Best Media Player for Mac

The best video player for Mac is supposed to:

1. Be free of ads, viruses, malware, and spyware.
2. Born with a slick and directive interface, making the app simple to navigate.
3. Come with strong coding skills and support wide-ranging video & audio format, so you can play any media file including 4K/5K video without losing quality.
4. Have compact and basic video playback functions, like play/pause, time display, volume control, etc.

Well, I’ve listed and tested a bunch of Mac video players and screened out the top 10 best free video player for Mac with the above reference in mind.

Top 10 Best Video Player for Mac 2021

Video player software isn’t rare, but top free video player for Mac users is not easy to come by. Hence we picked out the 10 best video players for Mac and give you some detailed information below.

#1. Cisdem Video Player for Mac

Compatibility: macOS 10.10 or later

Cisdem Video Player is an incredible program playing a vast assortment of media file formats. It’s fully compatible with all popular video formats (e.g. WMV, AVI, MOV, MP4, M4V, FLV, MKV, RMVB, MPEG, etc.), as well as audio files (e.g. MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV, M4A, etc.). The software supports all those codecs ensuring the playback of high-quality video files a breeze.

This best video player Mac takes care of your local media files and the music/videos downloaded from YouTube, Vimeo, or others. You can automatically or manually add subtitles in .ass and .srt formats. It offers smoother playback while other media players show a video jitter, choppy, or stalling.

Cisdem best Mac video player contains a built-in video converter, allowing you to media files to MP4, M4V, MOV, MP3, M4A, iPhone, iPad, Samsung, and so on. It's totally free to play video & audio files but to unlock the conversion function, you need to upgrade to the pro version.

Pros:

• Equipped with a concise and decent interface
• Play video/audio files in more than 100 formats
• Play 1080P, 4K, 5K, and even 8K videos
• Load subtitles in any language, or import subtitles, as you want
• Choose the audio soundtracks and stereo
• Capture snapshots of each frame
• Turn volume up or down
• Take less occupancy on CPU memory of your Mac

FAQ: What're the differences between Cisdem Video Player and Cisdem Video Converter?

How To Watch Avi On Macbook Pro

Both programs support playing and converting features. But as their names indicate, the former is mainly used to play videos, while the latter is a professional video converter & downloader.

#2. VLC Media Player for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.7.5 or newer

VLC Media Player, an uncluttered, open-source and cross-platform program, supports DivX and MPEG streaming. It can play DVDs, CDs, VCDs, network streaming protocols, and various types of video files. The best video player Mac offers playlist for viewing multiple videos one after the other.

Meanwhile, VLC empowers you to open Zip media files without unpacking them. And you can simply tweak the playback controls and audio volume (up to 200%). But it’s a little delayed while playing, 'Each time I click on run video network it plays other audio and DVDs, etc. and after a million times it finally plays the YouTube video.'

Pros:

1. Help you enjoy Windows Media, MP3, QuickTime, and OGG files.
2. Record the movies/music you are playing with VLC
3. Adjust playback speed (slower, normal, and faster)
4. Support external subtitles and Closed Captions

Cons:

1. Outdated user interface
2. Delay a little while playing the media files

#3. MPlayerX for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.7 or above

MPlayerX is one of the fastest choices to play MPEG (damaged MPEG files included), MP4, AVI, ASF, WMV, MOV, WAV, OGG/OGM, CD audio, etc. Plus, this best media player for Mac supports multi-touch, gesture, auto-encode subtitles, and online YouTube/Vimeo playback. But don't confuse MPlayerX and MPlayer OSX Extended. They are two completely different programs.

Pros:

1. Stand-alone video player for Mac
2. Support various output formats and devices
3. Auto convert subtitles for media files

Cons:

1. Injects pop-up ads or advertising banners which may bring a virus
2. Take up too much CPU
3. Encounter problem when open the software and ask you to eject the disk image

#4. QuickTime Player for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or above

QuickTime Player, bundled with the Mac operating system, is Apple's flagship software. It ensures you to view Internet video, HD movie trailers, and personal media. This best media player for Mac is slick and easy to use. You can quickly export your videos to 4k, 1080p, 720p, 480p (based on original resolution) or extract them as M4A audio. It also functions as a screen recorder. You can record your playing movie, track, or anything on your current desktop.

However, it supports limited video formats. For more formats available like FLV, you have to install external plug-in Perian.

Pros:

1. No additional installation required
2. Provide you with advanced H.264 video compression technology to help deliver perfect HD video with less storage space.
3. Record your Mac screen

Cons:

1. A bit slow to launch
2. Can’t work with common subtitle files
3. Can’t open MKV, WMV, WMA, AVI, FLV, etc.

#5. Elmedia Player for Mac

Compatibility: OS X 10.9.0 or later

A multifunctional free media player for Mac, Elmedia Player supports a wide range of common and not so common audio & video formats, including FLV, SWF, WMV, AVI, MOV, MP4, MP3, DAT, FLAC, M4V, MPG, MKV, and more. It can play virtually all media files on your Mac. Although it has some other special features, such as downloading online videos from YouTube and adjusting audio settings, they are not free and need to be upgraded.

Pros:

1. Play online videos without ads
2. Support embedded and external subtitles
3. Save and load playlist
4. Reset audio delay

Cons:

1. Consume major CPU
2. Might lose video quality when swiping back and forth
3. Only pro version allows to take screenshots

#6. 5KPlayer for Mac

Compatibility: OS X 10.8.0 or higher

5KPlayer is a mixture of free AirPlay media streamer, online video downloader, music player and movie player for Mac. All HD, 4K, 5K videos including MKV, MTS, AVCHD are supported. With AirPlay streaming tech, you can as AirPlay sender/receiver: stream video music from iPhone, iPad to PC or from PC to Apple TV. Although the best Mac video player lets you download videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc., the download process will be bit slower.

Pros:

1. Embedded copious codecs for playing different audio, video, and DVD.
2. No need to install additional codec or pack.
3. Import subtitle and switch soundtrack
4. Manage YouTube downloaded videos, DLNA server, and playlist in library

Cons:

1. Install Bonjour voluntarily without any hint when you need to make AirPlay work
2. The media player will get stuck when playing high resolution & long videos

#7. Realplayer for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.9 or later

Realplayer can play all formats of videos. This best video player Mac is a universal media player that automatically recognizes the file format of the video or audio file you want to play. So you can count on it to reliably play the most popular audio and video file formats including AVI, MP4, MP3, WMA, WAV, FLV, MPEG, and more. It requires a fairly powerful machine for some functions. Several applications need to be installed in advance to launch the application properly.

Pros:

1. Offer several visualization ways for listening and locates your media files automatically.
2. Include handy downloading and conversion features that may benefit some users.

#8. DivX Player for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.5.0 or above

DivX Player delivers high-quality video playback for AVI, DIVX, MKV, MP4, and more. It is the best video player Mac to watch DivX, MKV, and HEVC up to 4K films. You can use its built-in TransferWizard to burn videos to DVD/USB/computer. It also comes with DivX Codec Pack and a free 15-day trial of DivX Plus Converter for those who plan to convert.

Pros:

1. Support playing HD 720P/1080P, UHD 4K video movies
2. Open video directly with URL
3. Import video files into library

Cons:

1. Large installation file and install other software without permission
2. Poor compatibility with the latest system
3. Lack some key features, e.g. rewind and forward

#9. Movist Video Player for Mac

Compatibility: OS X 10.10.0 or late

Movist, based on QuickTime and FFmpeg, is another best media player for Mac. It has the ability to encode/decode a multitude of formats and add subtitles. You can do some general and advanced settings for better and convenient video playback. However, the new versions like 2.4.2, 2.4.3 are not free now, which charge $4.99 or $7.99 (Movist Pro). To get Movist free video player for Mac, you should install the old version like 0.6.8 or before.

Pros:

1. Simple to operate
2. Support playlist
3. Many customizable options

#10. NicePlayer for Mac

Compatibility: Mac OS X 10.5 or above

NicePlayer is the best Video Player for Mac with a multi-engine player designed for playing movies nicely. This program features full-screen or borderless floating windows, useful controls for scrubbing or queuing movies, and on-the-fly playlist creation.

Pros:

1. Lightweight and compatible with most formats
2. Can adjust the aspect ratio
3. Make a suitable presentation with the aid of toolbar (Half Size, Double Size, Fill Screen, Fill Width, etc.)

Cons:

1. Can’t handle AVI, MKV or MPG videos.
2. No support for subtitles and changing audio sources, etc.
3. Unable to play the videos by dragging it to the software
4. Not convenient to switch to another video

What is Media Player (Software)？

We often need the best media player for Mac, but before installing new software it is good to get some knowledge about it.

According to the explanation from Wikipedia, a media player (software) is a handy program that can help you play videos, music, movies, and other multimedia files on the computer. All media players display standard media control icons: play, pause, fast-forward, back forward, and stop buttons.

How to Use the Best Video Player for Mac?

All video players mentioned above are easy to use. Let's take Cisdem Video Player as an example:

Step 1. Download and install the best free video player for Mac, then launch it.

Step 2. Drag and drop the video file you wish to watch to the interface of the software.

Step 3. Click button to start video play on Mac.

How to Change the Default Video Player on Mac?

QuickTime Player is the default Mac media player. You can change it into the best video player for Mac you think.

Step 1. Locate the media file you wish to play.

Step 2. Right-click on it, a drop-down menu will appear.

Step 3. Choose “Open With” > “Other”, which brings up a dialog for selecting the application to open your media file.

Step 4. Choose your best media player Mac, check the box- “Always Open With”, and click on “Open”.

Conclusion

Watch Avi On Mac

I deem that you already have the best media player for Mac in your mind, just download it on Mac and have a try if it is right the thing as you expected. Here I advise those who still feel a little confused to choose from, I push Cisdem Video Player for Mac in front of you. it gets more and more reputation and becomes a stable status among the market. 4K video, 5K/1080p HD videos, all of popular SD & HD standard video formats which other free video player tools unable to support, or add subtitle files, Cisdem Video Player for Mac can all fix it. What’s the best I enjoy, it offers crisp and clear visual image, I feel the video playing quite high quality.