Mac OS X: Newer Quicktime can't read Matlab generated avi files

[Ken Prager]

I haven't worked with Matlab-generated avi files in a while. They used
to be playable in Quicktime but not anymore. What is the recommended
approach for viewing avi files?

Thanks in advance,

Ken Prager

[Doug Schwarz]

Post by Ken Prager
I haven't worked with Matlab-generated avi files in a while. They used
to be playable in Quicktime but not anymore. What is the recommended
approach for viewing avi files?
Thanks in advance,
Ken Prager

You need to use QuickTime Player 7 which can coexist with the new
QuickTime Player. It is on the Snow Leopard installation DVD in the
optional installs folder or it should be downloadable from Apple. I
don't have Lion, so I don't know about it, but I assume the same is true,

[Ken Prager]

Post by Doug Schwarz

Post by Ken Prager
I haven't worked with Matlab-generated avi files in a while. They used
to be playable in Quicktime but not anymore. What is the recommended
approach for viewing avi files?
Thanks in advance,
Ken Prager

You need to use QuickTime Player 7 which can coexist with the new
QuickTime Player. It is on the Snow Leopard installation DVD in the
optional installs folder or it should be downloadable from Apple. I
don't have Lion, so I don't know about it, but I assume the same is true,

Oh that's right. I remember hearing something to that effect when the
newer QuickTIme came out.

Thanks,

Ken P.

[Cat]

The only application that reads my uncompressed .avi files is VLC. Quicktime insists that a codec is missing, though I have Perian and Flip4Mac installed. I uninstalled DivX Player because I read that too many codecs besides the former two could cause the problem-- but it didn't Quicktime's inability to read the .avi file. One problem remains though: without a working codec in the library Matlab can't read the file either. VLC doesn't share its codecs with the system. Does anybody have a system wide solution to this problem? Thanks!!

Post by Ken Prager

Post by Doug Schwarz

Post by Ken Prager
I haven't worked with Matlab-generated avi files in a while. They used
to be playable in Quicktime but not anymore. What is the recommended
approach for viewing avi files?
Thanks in advance,
Ken Prager

You need to use QuickTime Player 7 which can coexist with the new
QuickTime Player. It is on the Snow Leopard installation DVD in the
optional installs folder or it should be downloadable from Apple. I
don't have Lion, so I don't know about it, but I assume the same is true,

Oh that's right. I remember hearing something to that effect when the
newer QuickTIme came out.
Thanks,
Ken P.

[Doug Schwarz]

[top posting repaired]

Post by Cat

Post by Ken Prager

Post by Doug Schwarz

Post by Ken Prager
I haven't worked with Matlab-generated avi files in a while. They used
to be playable in Quicktime but not anymore. What is the recommended
approach for viewing avi files?
Thanks in advance,
Ken Prager

You need to use QuickTime Player 7 which can coexist with the new
QuickTime Player. It is on the Snow Leopard installation DVD in the
optional installs folder or it should be downloadable from Apple. I
don't have Lion, so I don't know about it, but I assume the same is true,

Oh that's right. I remember hearing something to that effect when the
newer QuickTIme came out.
Thanks,
Ken P.

The only application that reads my uncompressed .avi files is VLC. Quicktime
insists that a codec is missing, though I have Perian and Flip4Mac installed.
I uninstalled DivX Player because I read that too many codecs besides the
former two could cause the problem-- but it didn't Quicktime's inability to
read the .avi file. One problem remains though: without a working codec in
the library Matlab can't read the file either. VLC doesn't share its codecs
with the system. Does anybody have a system wide solution to this problem?
Thanks!!

Did you read my post above? Use QuickTime Player 7. It's not the same
program as QuickTime Player.

[Robert]

WARNING: Installing DivX breaks QuickTime Player 7's ability to play Matlab avi files as well, as I just discovered. Uninstalling DivX fixed it. Dear Matlab: wtf?

Post by Doug Schwarz
You need to use QuickTime Player 7 which can coexist with the new
QuickTime Player. It is on the Snow Leopard installation DVD in the
optional installs folder or it should be downloadable from Apple. I
don't have Lion, so I don't know about it, but I assume the same is true,
--
Doug Schwarz
dmschwarz&ieee,org
Make obvious changes to get real email address.

[Steven_Lord]

Post by Robert
WARNING: Installing DivX breaks QuickTime Player 7's ability to play
Matlab avi files as well, as I just discovered. Uninstalling DivX fixed
it. Dear Matlab: wtf?

Define "breaks" -- does QuickTimePlayer display an error message when you
try to play an AVI file generated using MATLAB if DivX is installed? Does it
display the AVI but garbled? Does it do something else (and if so, what?)

I suggest you contact DivX Technical Support for help with this issue as a
first step. Since installing their software interferes with the operation of
another software program, QuickTime Player 7, that was operating correctly
prior to the installation IMO they should be the first people to
investigate. If they cannot determine the cause of the problem but they can
rule out the problem being caused by DivX, then you should contact Apple's
support staff and/or MathWorks Technical Support depending on the results of
the DivX support investigation.

[Steve Van Hooser]

Here is a solution that worked for me today:

Note: to play the Matlab-produced AVI file on a current Mac, one will need to download the old Quicktime 7 Player (free): http://support.apple.com/kb/DL923

The installer puts the application in Applications/Utilities

Best
Steve

[Marrie]

QuickTime only natively plays AVI files encoded with Motion JPEG; QuickTime won't play AVI videos encoded with DivX, XviD, WMV and other video codecs.

In order to play any video and audio encoded AVI files in any version of QuickTime and Mac OS X or Windows, a recommended solution is to convert AVI to QuickTime more supported video format like MOV or MP4 with some AVI to QuickTime Converter at http://www.idealshare.net/itunes-quicktime/quicktime-avi-solution.html

[Carina Howard]

Post by Ken Prager
I haven't worked with Matlab-generated avi files in a while. They used
to be playable in Quicktime but not anymore. What is the recommended
approach for viewing avi files?
Thanks in advance,
Ken Prager

Why QuickTime Won't Play AVI Files?

AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) is a container format designed by Microsoft to wrap audio and video stream together. The video in AVI file can be compressed by many kinds of codec, such as MJPEG (Motion JPEG), MPEG-1, MPEG-2, DivX, XviD, WMV and others. To play all AVI files, your player must support all of these codecs. So far, no matter you are a Windows user or a Mac user, QuickTime only natively plays AVI files with MJPEG video.

As a great open-source QuickTime component, Perian is the saver to allow QuickTime to play all kinds of AVI videos for Mac users. Unfortunately, the latest version 1.2.3 of Perian is not compatible with Mac OS X Mavericks (10.9), Mountain Lion (10.8) and Lion (10.7).

In order to solve "QuickTime won't play AVI" on Mac (Mavericks included) and Windows, it is best to convert AVI to QuickTime more popular formats like MP4, MOV with this step by step guide at: http://www.faasoft.com/articles/quicktime-avi.html