Quicktime under Mac OS X Leopard can’t play movie or video files saved in .avi format encoded with DivX format without a little help. Also if you get no sound from avi files on your Mac, the following avi audio codec will solve that problem for you.
Here’s what you need to make Quicktime on Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) play .avi movie files:
Quicktime Video Codec – Free Xvid Quicktime Component for DivX codec avi files
Quicktime Audio Codec – A52 avi audio codec for Quicktime
Download both of these disk image files (.dmg) and double click them to mount these files (make them visible and accessible through Finder as another Device (top left hand corner of Finder) on your Mac.
Next we need to put these components into the right folders. Within Finder, click on the Xvid Alpha device. Within this Finder window, you should see a file named Xvid_Codec 1.0 alpha.component. You need to copy and paste this item into /Library/QuickTime/ folder on your Mac. The easiest way to find this folder is click on the first device (looks like a metal hard disk) within Finder (mine is called Leopard), then find the folder named Library, and within that, another folder named QuickTime. Paste the Xvid Alpha file into this folder (or drag and drop it if you have two Finder windows open).
For the audio part of playing .avi files in QuickTime you need to place the A52 codec component into /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/Components/ folder. Luckily the author of the A52 audio codec for playing avi files in Mac made shortcuts right within the .dmg file for A52 Codec. When you double click the A52Codec .dmg file you’ll see two huge arrows pointing from the codec files to the folders they should be dropped into so simply drag and drop the two files into the folders (which are actually shortcuts to the correct folders on your Mac machine).
If you want QuickTime to recognize and play Dolby AC3 encoded audio from movies, copy the AC3MovieImport component into the /Library/QuickTime folder as well. This definitely won’t hurt and you’ll probably enjoy it later.
After this if you already have QuickTime running, Quit QuickTime (Command + Q), don’t just Close it, since QuickTime will still be running in the background. You need to fully quit QuickTime and restart it for the codecs to be loaded by QuickTime, so this step is necessary.
After all this try double-clicking your .avi movie file again and see if both audio and video are now being displayed by QuickTime.
Of course you can skip all this downloading and divx encoding nonsense, sign up for blockbuster total access, get 1 month free and rip to your heart’s content. It’s a nice way to build up a collection I hear…
Enjoy your movies.
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December 7, 2007 at 2:11 pm
No Sound in QuickTime with DivX Movie Files « Mac OS X Leopard & Tiger Dual Boot
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January 10, 2008 at 12:40 am
aONe
good post. But I really just need A52 component and Xvid, copy to /Library/Components and all works.
One question, u know something about mpga audio codec?
January 17, 2008 at 12:52 am
donkeyhotay
Wow! Just when I was at a low point I discovered your post. I had already found the Xvid component (not realizing it was only for video) and was frustrated to get audio only on some AVI files. Goggle found your post for me, and thanks to you, I downloaded the A52 and AC3 components and now have audio AND video!
I just need to say that I’m constantly amazed by the generosity of people like you who post helpful information like this. You didn’t have to post this, but you did, making my life (and hopefully others’) easier and more enjoyable. Thank you VERY, VERY much!
January 24, 2008 at 9:06 pm
paulsmyth45
Thanks so much very helpful! im new to using a Mac you’ve saved me from pulling my hair out!
January 24, 2008 at 9:42 pm
hanlons
Hi
Great Post!
I also stumbled across this and thought it might be my saving grace!
All connected to my TV/Decoder:
I get video (AVI’s) – no problem
I get DVD’s through Front Row (with AC3/5.1) – no problem
I get System Sound – no problem
I get iTunes Music (sound) – no problem
But can I get sound my AC3 encoded (via handbrake) AVI files – No – Urrggghhh!
Can you think of anything I could try?
I have made your recommendations and I have also followed this great link :
http://geekwithfamily.com/2007/07/05/home-theater/howto-5-easy-steps-to-output-dolby-digital-from-quicktime-player/#more-228
But still AC3 Sound escapes me.
Any help, much appreciated.
Scott
January 26, 2008 at 7:03 am
ringostar69
Ok, I installed the A52 codec in both the library/Components and the Library/audio/plug-ins/components directories. Then I rebooted the Mac just to make sure they took. Still no audio.
In other words I am having the same luck as Scott.
The Video file I have was created with a flash to Xvid converter program on an IBM. According to Gspot the audio codec is MPEG (MP1/MP2), ISO/IEC. I am beginning to think this converter is a piece of s..t because it really seems odd to me that it wouldn’t use the A52 codec. So my next step is to find an MPEG codec to shove into quicktime.
I have VLC player loaded and it works great.
Anyway Scott you might want to try another DivX movie. Get a demo from somewhere.
If any of you geniuses have any other ideas I would sure love to hear them.
Thanks,
January 26, 2008 at 12:56 pm
deckard
Have you guys given Perian a try? I ran into an issue trying to play mkv HD video files and it seemed like Perian (a collection of various codecs packaged into an easy to install package) was the solution of choice for me. Here was my short post on that: http://installingcats.wordpress.com/2008/01/01/play-mkv-movies-on-quicktime-in-mac-os-x-leopard/
January 27, 2008 at 2:50 am
ringostar69
In regards to my post above. I found that the converter I was using is converting audio to Mpeg, which, for some reason does not work with my quicktime. It does function with the VLC because the VLC has the proper codec loaded.
After digging around and trying several converter programs I found that the AVS4YOU will do the conversion. It is the only converter that I found that allows you to select the codecs you want! The MP3,ISO MPEG-1 Layer 3 works great in my quicktime. I think, but I am not sure, that it uses the A52 codec, if not it is using one that comes in quicktime.
The following converters, in my opinion, are junk. They use oddball codecs, and there is no way to change them: YouTube FLV to AVI suite Pro and APlusFLV2DivX. The Aplus converter is so bad that not only didn’t it work in quicktime, in failed to function in WMP 9 and Gspot failed to recognize the video codec at all. Whoever makes that sould be….
The movies I have made with AVS4YOU work on both Quicktime and WMP9 with standard DivX codecs. They are fairly compact and appear to stream well on my IBM Servers.
The only disadvantage is AVS4YOU is IBM only.
Cheers,
Ringo
April 9, 2008 at 5:59 pm
k0rneliuz
Nice one mate… worked a treat. Thanks
April 28, 2008 at 12:53 am
erisedilla
This worked for my video just fine but the audio was still an issue until I downloaded perian and then it all worked. Thanks for posting this!
April 28, 2008 at 1:54 am
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May 15, 2008 at 12:48 pm
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[...] directory and replace it with Xvid_Codec 1.0 alpha.component which is detailed in another post on how to watch xvid encoded avi files on Mac OS X. To move these two files elsewhere, create a backup directory on your home directory (mkdir [...]
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