.mov file doesn't open in QuickTime but opens in VLC, and doens't import into iPhoto

[SamIchi]

Video noob here. I've searched google and can't seem to find an answer.

I have a few .mov files I've tried importing into iPhoto from my camera, but I get an error. So i just manually pulled them onto my desktop. I try opening them in Quicktime, but I get these errors:

"An invalid public movie atom was found in the movie."

"The document “MVI_1944.MOV” could not be opened."

"The document “MVI_1811.MOV” could not be opened. The movie is not in a format that QuickTime Player understands."

But them seems to open fine in VLC. I can't get them into iMovie either.

Any thoughts?

 

[jahala]

Probably wrong codecs

MOV is a highly flexible container format that, in my experience, can handle just about any type of video and audio stream. It is possible that the .mov files are using video or audio codecs that quicktime does not support out of the box. You might try installing the Perian codecs, flip4mac, and the Xiph QT components to increase the codecs Quicktime can use. In my experience, after installing those extra QT plugins, Quicktime can play anything VLC can. And all those avi, divx, xvid, etc files can be saved as .mov files without any transcoding. Helpful for making iTunes-friendly files without a lot of time/work.

Once Quicktime can open the files, iPhoto may import them, but I am not sure about this point.