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How to play .flv files?

Sir Loin Steak

Sir Loin Steak

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 2, 2009
258
0
England
When I had the pc and windows, I used GOM player as my main video player.

I still have some .flv files, but Quicktime cannot play them.

It looks like GOM player does not work on mac.

How can I play the flv files?

ps, I note that a few of the files are .flv.avi, and these do play.
 

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VLC

EDIT: Beaten by annk :p

The reason the ones with .flv.avi on the end are playing is because it's reading solely the .avi extension, which is another type of video file. You could try adding .avi onto the end of one of the non-playing files and see what happens. If it starts playing then just change the extension on all the other videos too.
 
Thanks Annk et al. I have VLC now, and it works nicely here.

I still had to tell it to open .mpeg files, but that's no deal.

Seems like QT is the player that the mac wants to play by default.

As long as they play, I don't care which one it is, although I was never a fan of QT anyway.
 
You can instruct your computer to open a certain file type in a certain program. Just right-click (or ctrl-click) on one of those mpeg files, and choose "Get Info". In the info window that comes up, take a look at the "Open with" section. There, you can choose the program (VLC, for example). Then click on "change all", and from then on, all files of that type will open in the program you've chosen as default.

If at any time you have a specific file you'd like to open in a different program for any reason, just right-click on the file and choose "Open with" to choose an alternate program. You don't ruin your default setting that way, you just make a one-time exception for that particular file. :)
 
I usually convert the files using Handbrake then import them into iTunes. Then I can play them on my iPhone as well as on the computer.
 
I use Handbrake because I want to be able to play my videos on my iPhone. It has to be in the mp4 or m4v format. Mov files will play in iTunes but will not load on an iPhone or iPod.

I know there are other convertors on the market but Handbrake does a good job and has done everything I need. One stop shopping.
 
ravenvii said:
Is MPEG Streamclip better than Handbrake? Because HB is what I've been using to convert .flv files.
Click to expand...

Handbrake re-encodes to mp4 which will play in iTunes and on an iPod but will cause some quality loss. MPEG Streamclip just makes a mov container which iTunes plays doesnt play on an iPod and results in quality loss.
 
Guys, how can I play .flv on the iPod, then? I mean, vlc is not on the iPod, it's on the mac.

Should I perhaps go backto you tube, and convert the videos I want using File2HD.com and select mpeg? Something the iPod can recognise?
 
Sir Loin Steak said:
Guys, how can I play .flv on the iPod, then? I mean, vlc is not on the iPod, it's on the mac.

Should I perhaps go backto you tube, and convert the videos I want using File2HD.com and select mpeg? Something the iPod can recognise?
Click to expand...

You'll need to convert them, you can use handbrake to do it.
 
Thanks. I'll go and answer that other thread now (about getting the movies onto the iPod).

Hmm, I have about 15 .flv files in Handbrake to convert, queued up I mean, but the program crashes. I can restart it and the files are still in the queue, but it does it again - crashes.

Am I trying to do too many files?
 
I found out what the error was (on my part, naturally)..

See attached screengrab. i had not checked iPod in the presets window on the right. edit: I had it on 'Basic, Normal'.

btw, I like doing these screen grabs, they are very useful to explain what I can't always put into words. However, I find Preview a little limited, in that I cannot annotate, with arrows, for example. Is there a graphics program on the mac that I can do that sort of thing with?

Thanks.
 

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Sir Loin Steak said:
btw, I like doing these screen grabs, they are very useful to explain what I can't always put into words. However, I find Preview a little limited, in that I cannot annotate, with arrows, for example. Is there a graphics program on the mac that I can do that sort of thing with?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

You can annotate in Preview, but there is a bug. You must add the Annotate button to the toolbar.
 
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