Maclord's Blog

This page features all the essential software you need to install on your Mac enabling you to play all major video formats including DivX, XviD, Windows Media Format (wmv), mkv, flv, etc.

Flip4Mac WMV Components for QuickTime

Flip4Mac WMV Components allow you to import, export and play Windows Media video and audio files on your Mac. Flip4Mac WMV plug-ins can be used with most QuickTime based applications, including QuickTime Player, iMovie ’06, Final Cut Pro and more.

Optimized for High-Definition Playback

Windows Media® Components for QuickTime has been highly optimized for Power Mac G4 and G5 and Intel computers and supports playback of high-definition Windows Media video files.

Upgrade to Advanced Features

Windows Media playback is provided free of charge. By purchasing an upgrade directly from Flip4Mac, you can import Windows Media files for editing and create Windows Media files for distribution. To learn more about these advanced features, visit the Flip4Mac Web site.

System Requirements

• Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later
• QuickTime version 7.0 or later (7.1.6 or higher recommended)

Download Link: Windows Media Components for QuickTime by Flip4Mac (641)

Perian

Perian is an open source plug-in which enables QuickTime to play several popular video formats not supported natively by QuickTime on Mac OS X. It is largely based on the FFmpeg project, as it uses libavcodec and libavformat. It also uses liba52 and libmatroska.
Perian aims at providing a single package to provide all your playback needs. It is a collection of QuickTime components incorporating several libraries:

• libavcodec, from the ffmpeg project, along with code from the old FFusion component:
• MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2
• DivX
• 3ivX
• H.264
• FLV1
• FSV1
• VP6
• H263I
• VP3
• HuffYUV
• ffvhuff
• MPEG-1 & 2 video
• FRAPS
• Windows Media Audio v1 & v2
• Flash ADPCM
• Xiph Vorbis (in Matroska)
• MPEG Layer II Audio
• libavformat, from the ffmpeg project. along with AVIImporter.component:
• AVI file format
• FLV file format
• libmatroska, along with matroska-qt.component:
• MKV file format
• Subtitle parsing
• SSA
• SRT
• liba52, via A52Codec
• AC3 audio

Download Link: Perian (486)

VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player is the ultimate cross-platform software, yet open-source and free, which enables playing of all major video and audio formats including MPEG-4, Flash video (.flv), MPEG-2,  H.264, DivX, MPEG-1, mp3, ogg, and AAC, as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.

It also can be used as a streming video server as well as a video format conversion utility.

Mac OS X version can be downloaded from the following link: VLC Media Player for Mac OS X (universal binary) (423) (28 MB)

The Project’s web site featuring more info and downloads for other platforms such as Windows and Linux can be reached from here.