Media Player Codec Pack for Microsoft Windows, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, 2008, 2003, x64. Plays most codecs with no codec packs needed - MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, MKV, WebM, WMV, MP3. Get VLC for Mac OS X. Get VLC for iOS. Get VLC for Apple TV.
Apple apps such as QuickTime Player, Photos, and Keynote work with many kinds of audio and video formats. Some apps prefer specific formats, but QuickTime movie files (.mov), most MPEG files (.mp4, .m4v, .m4a, .mp3, .mpg), some AVI and WAV files, and many other formats usually work in most apps without additional software.
Older or specialized media formats might not work in your app, because the format requires software designed to support it. If that happens, your app won't open the file or won't play back its audio or video.
How to search for an app that works with your file
You might already have an app that supports the format of your file. If you don't know which of your installed apps to try, your Mac might be able to suggest one:
Control-click (or right-click) the file in the Finder.
From the shortcut menu that opens, choose Open With. You should see a submenu listing all of the other installed apps that your Mac thinks might be able to open the file.
If none of your installed apps can open the file, search the Internet or Mac App Store for apps that can play or convert the file:
Include the name of the media format in your search. To find the format, select the file and press Command-I to open an Info window. The format might appear after the label Kind, such as ”Kind: Matroska Video File.”
Include the filename extension in your search. The extension is the letters shown at the end of the file's name, such as .avi,.wmv, or .mkv.
Learn more
QuickTime Player (version 10.0 and later) in OS X Mavericks through macOS Mojave converts legacy media files that use certain older or third-party compression formats.
Learn about incompatible media in Final Cut Pro X and iMovie.
We receive several sorts of video files from various locations in different ways. For instance, we
Download video files, which are available online.
Get video clips that are recorded using our friend’s gadgets.
Obtain video clips from distant locations via email.
Transfer videos from other systems, devices to ours etc.
But, typically when any user tries to play external (received) video clips on their computer, they may face one or the other playback issues. Sometimes, these video files fail to play properly, at other times they never play at all.
And, at this minute definitely, you will try to get another copy of the unplayable video, if possible (if it is downloaded from the internet or a friend sent you that video). If you cannot obtain the photocopy of the file, then you will try to repair the video file. But, it is not always the corruption, which makes your video file unplayable or results in playback issues. Even codec problem can cause general issues in playing your videos. and, for fixing videos tools you choose must be compatible with codec of the video. For fixing MPEG4 video files you need tool that supports this codec. Likewise, for other codecs too. Hence, it is important to know the codec of video file.
What is Codec?
A codec is a computer software, which encodes and decodes a video or audio file. Every single audio, as well as a video file, is made up of a codec since it keeps your video/audio file tiny and makes playback easy. And, codec usually functions with your system media player as a part of it.
Codec installed on your system decodes your videos, music files, which are encoded with a specific codec and allows the media player to play them. If you are experiencing any issue while playing your videos, then you can have a guess that one of your codecs used to play the video might have got corrupted. If not, it might be that you don’t have the right codec on your computer to play the video appropriately.
Many media player including VLC has their own set of built-in codecs. But, if you are employing any other player then how to find the codec of a video that you are playing? Well, here is the way to do it.
Codecs For Mac Mp4 Video Player
How to find the codec of a video file using the manual method?
You can easily get video codec information on your Windows and Mac computers using your own operating system functionalities. Just follow these step by step guidance to do so.
On Windows:
Go to the location where the video file is stored
Select the video, whose codec info you want to know
Right click on the file
Select Properties
Switch to Summary tab
Check description
You will see audio format and the video compression
These are the used codecs for your video clip
On Mac:
Video To Mp4 Converter Mac
Navigate the folder that holds your video clip
Pick the video to get its codec info
Right-click on the selected file
Click on Get Info option
Jump to Summary
Go through the information
You can see codecs of both audio and video format
Via VLC:
Open the video in VLC, to know its codec
Go to the playlist and right click on it
Choose Tools
Select MediaInformation
Don’t forget to mark the checkbox Codec Details
Codecs For Mac Os X
Note down the codecs that are used to create the video file. Now, you can download the required (noted) codecs from their official websites. Once you completed the download process, install them and open the video file using your regular media player.
Best Codec For Mp4
If you cannot find out the codec information of your video file or if you feel difficulty in checking it manually or the video clip is still not playing even after you have installed the codec, then you can make use of various available tools like MediaInfo, VideoInspector, Codec Installer, GSpot, AVIcodec etc. to get adequate codec and play your video.