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.AVI media files
- Thread starter jbrown
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Again?
Man, this question comes up a lot, and I'm surprised by the number of responses that are completely uninformed. Doesn't anyone google the subject or look it up on wikipedia before posting here?
First and foremost, .avi is a *container* format, just like .mov is Apple's container format. It has *nothing* to do with the codec used to produce the content in the container. Telling someone to use flip4mac, simply because he has a .avi file is nonsense. Flip4mac is only suitable if the contents of the .avi file are wmv/wma encoded. If the contents of the .avi were encoded with xvid/divx, the flip4mac isn't going to do squat for you. Conversely, Perian will not help if the contents are wmv/wma, but will play xvid/divx.
So, the first thing to ask when someone asks about playing a .avi file is: What codec was used to encode the content of said .avi file? Only then can you answer the question correctly.
Man, this question comes up a lot, and I'm surprised by the number of responses that are completely uninformed. Doesn't anyone google the subject or look it up on wikipedia before posting here?
First and foremost, .avi is a *container* format, just like .mov is Apple's container format. It has *nothing* to do with the codec used to produce the content in the container. Telling someone to use flip4mac, simply because he has a .avi file is nonsense. Flip4mac is only suitable if the contents of the .avi file are wmv/wma encoded. If the contents of the .avi were encoded with xvid/divx, the flip4mac isn't going to do squat for you. Conversely, Perian will not help if the contents are wmv/wma, but will play xvid/divx.
So, the first thing to ask when someone asks about playing a .avi file is: What codec was used to encode the content of said .avi file? Only then can you answer the question correctly.
Thanks for the help guys.....
Eidorian - That did the trick perfectly
DaveL - I ask the questions here because I feel that there is a collection of knowledge that is a tool within the Mac community ( which I don't feel about google or god forbid wikipedia ) - try to imagine that there are people who are not computer technonerds versed in the language of codec....
Eidorian - That did the trick perfectly
DaveL - I ask the questions here because I feel that there is a collection of knowledge that is a tool within the Mac community ( which I don't feel about google or god forbid wikipedia ) - try to imagine that there are people who are not computer technonerds versed in the language of codec....
I was just going to provide a broad purpose plug-in. I didn't know what was actually in the .avi container since the OP just provided basic information. God forbid it's Indeo.
I'm glad Perian did the trick since VLC wasn't working out. Their 1.0 version should be out soon so keep an eye on that. They make a lot of great improvements that I've seen in the beta.
I'm glad Perian did the trick since VLC wasn't working out. Their 1.0 version should be out soon so keep an eye on that. They make a lot of great improvements that I've seen in the beta.
Convert it using www.isquint.org (free).
If you don' want to convert them, and they are in the Divx codec, download the Divx player. www.divx.com (free).
If you don' want to convert them, and they are in the Divx codec, download the Divx player. www.divx.com (free).
This may sound dim, but have you ever just tried dropping the files into iPhoto? I have never had a phone that made videos that iPhoto couldn't accept into its library and play. Of course, I do have a couple of codecs like Flip4Mac and DivX installed in my system.