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Divx movies in quicktime? The answer is yes but no. Can you watch them? Yes. Can you hear them? No. If you download some codecs the video should play fine but I don't think theres a way to get the sound to work. And even if there is as the previous poster stated VLC or Mplayer are much better options. Quicktime can't even do full screen video so why anyone would use it is beyond me. Now my personal favorite player is VLC it used to be much more stable then Mplayer but I know Mplayer has had lots of update. My advice is try them both and see which one you prefer.

And to the poster who used Windows Media 9 to play Divx movies please switch to one of these players. Unfortunatley WM9 is a neccesary evil on the Mac system to play some files but for everything else use VLC or Mplayer.

Also a quick hint because this took me a while to discover. Even though quicktime can't play .AVI files it wants to play them all. In order to change it so they open by default with VLC or Mplayer. Do a get info command on a .AVI file and then go to the section called Open with and select your favorite player. Then simply click change all and all your files will now open with that player.
 
I actually play almost all .avi files using Quicktime (and yes, sound and video both work), I only very rarely come across one that won't work, but then other programs tend to have issues with them too. You just need to make sure that you have the appropriate Quicktime plugins, and you'll be fine. I was going to attach the files you need, but they are too big for MacRumors (limit is only 100kb), but if you PM me your email address I can send them to you.

The plugins I use are Divx, 3ivx, and an AC3 audio plugin. Those 3 seem to handle everything. There are a couple other plugins in my Quicktime folder, but I don't remember putting them there, or what they are for, so I don't think they are important. Just download the above 3 and you should be good to go.
 
Check what version of an .avi you're trying to watch, then type that into versiontracker.com (use the OSX tab).

That'll pull up several codecs to decode .avi content. Install the one you need. Play movie.

.avi is a media container, it can contain a number of codec types.
 
better late than never

I've used perian for .avi and flip4mac for .wmv--they add themselves to your SystemPreferences and allow Quicktime to play those formats (as opposed to just getting Windows Media Player for Mac or VLC).

NOTE: there are a whole bunch of codecs; flip4mac and perian do a good job of covering a lot of them (i.e. not 100%, but at least the more common ones).
 
Guys, you are aware that this thread is five years old, right? Or that the OP hasn't been active in three years?
😀
 
I've used perian for .avi and flip4mac for .wmv--they add themselves to your SystemPreferences and allow Quicktime to play those formats (as opposed to just getting Windows Media Player for Mac or VLC).

NOTE: there are a whole bunch of codecs; flip4mac and perian do a good job of covering a lot of them (i.e. not 100%, but at least the more common ones).

Perian and Flip4Mac are both "must haves" for Mac video

But I am curious as to why you felt you needed to answer a question from 5 years ago and resurrect this thread? You weren't searching for an answer to a problem, and the question was being currently asked by a poster.
 
But I am curious as to why you felt you needed to answer a question from 5 years ago and resurrect this thread? You weren't searching for an answer to a problem, and the question was being currently asked by a poster.
Post count +1.
 
why "better late than never"

curious as to why you felt you needed to answer a question from 5 years ago

I had searched for something else, curiosity clicked, and came across this. Since I'm one of those types who would rather get the built-in stuff working than add more software (i.e. albeit I suggested adding perian and flip4mac, but they work with the existing Quicktime), and this thread sort of left off with "install divx, media player, or vlc", I figured I'd add the alternatives in case anyone might read this (which people do read old forums, especially MacRumors!).
 
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