Keep reading for a list short list of free software that will empower your Mac to play virtually any type of video.

History

One of the most pervasive video file formats on the web is the Audio Video Interleave or AVI. AVI was introduced by Microsoft back in 1992. Apple, in the late 90’s was heavily pushing Quicktime and since then has introduced H.264 video which scales beatifully across a variety of sizes from tiny hand-held devices to large-scale HD screens. Because of Apple’s video strategy, you can see how a new Apple Computer won’t play an AVI or a WMV (Windows Media) file out-of-the-box.

Codecs

For every type of video file out there, you’re computer needs a specific codec to be able to convert the bits of data into audio and video information. Simple right? Well sure until you try to scour the web looking for a dozen different codecs. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get all the major codecs in one package?

Perian

Perian is aptly-named “the Swiss Army Knife for Quicktime.” Its an open source (e.g. “free”) software component for Quicktime that allows playback of a long list of video/audio formats. Simply download the Perian .dmg file from the Perian website. Once the .dmg mounts, double-click the file called Perian.prefPane. Easy.

Windows Media

Does anyone wrestle with Windows Media anymore? Probably. Well if you really need to watch a WMV file on your Mac, and Perian doesn’t help, install the Flip4Mac plugin and you’re off to the races!

VLC

Of course, installing codecs may be a pleasant way for a geek to spend part of an afternoon, but your garden variety Mac user might want something simple that gets the whole job done. For this, I suggest using an alternate video player. VLC is an open-source media player that plays almost anything because it comes with a wealth of codecs already on board. It also has some powerful features like the ability to play subtitles for those of us who are multi-linguistically challenged. But, matching subtitles to video is a post for another day …