The QuickTime Media Player is often the default choice for many users, as it comes with the macOS and is handy to use. However, it seems the popular player doesn't support some file formats occasionally, for instance, MP4 and AVI. Hence comes the question: can QuickTime play AVI? If not, how to play AVI properly and smoothly? Don't worry, your question will be answered in this article. Just keep reading.

Part 1: Can QuickTime Play AVI?

QuickTime Player supports a good variety of formats such as video, picture, sound, and many more. Apart from that, the player can play iTunes DRM encrypted media files, which is a feature you don't get with most media players. However, when it comes to regular media formats like AVI, QuickTime doesn't turn out well. So, can QuickTime play AVI? Let's take a look at the file format first.

AVI, also known as Audio Video Interleave, was first created as VFW(Video For Windows) to work smoothly on PC. AVI is an open-source multimedia container format that contains audio and video codecs simultaneously. Even though QuickTime 7 and QuickTime X claim to be AVI compatible, it seems in most cases, AVI doesn't work well on QuickTime Player.

Part 2: Why Can't QuickTime Play AVI?

Can QuickTime play AVI? The playback of AVI on QuickTime Player is largely relevant to the type of compression, or say the codecs of AVI. Codecs are different from Video format. Imagine AVI as a container that can box all codecs like video codec, audio codec, metadata in. The container format AVI determines how these codecs are stored in the box. Sometimes you even change the codecs within without modifying the container format.

Still don't get it? Here's something more specific.

Codecs: Codecs compress raw audio and video so they can fit in a proper amount of space. The video and audio quality determines how the compression is done.

File formats: The container that packs the output of video and audio compression. There are rules on how to unpack the container and extract the video and audio.

Here's a complete list of the formats and codecs compatible with QuickTime Player.

Video Audio
File formats Codecs File formats Codecs
QuickTime Movie (.mov) MPEG-2 (OS X Lion or later) iTunes Audio (.m4a, .m4b, .m4p) AAC (MPEG-4 Audio)
MPEG-4 (.mp4, .m4v) MPEG-4 (Part 2) MP3 HE-AAC
MPEG-2 (OS X Lion or later) H.264 Core Audio (.caf) Apple Lossless
MPEG-1 H.263 AIFF MP3
3GPP H.261 AU AMR Narrowband
3GPP2 Apple ProRes SD2 MS ADPCM
AVCHD (OS X Mountain Lion or later) Apple Pixlet WAV QDesign Music 2
AVI (Motion JPEG only) Animation SND Qualcomm PureVoice (QCELP)
DV Cinepak AMR IMA 4:1
Component Video MACE 3:1 (Mac OS X v10.6.x only)
DV MACE 6:1 (Mac OS X v10.6.x only)
DVC Pro 50 ALaw 2:1
Graphics ULaw 2:1
Motion JPEG 24-Bit Integer
Photo JPEG 32-Bit Integer
Sorenson Video 2 32-Bit Floating Point
Sorenson Video 3 64-Bit Floating Point

The answer to "Can QuickTime play AVI?" depends on the codecs of AVI itself. When some codecs are not supported on QuickTime Player, the AVI file just doesn't seem to play.

Part 3: What Should You Do to Play AVI in QuickTime?

Now you know the answer to "Can QuickTime play AVI?" There can be multiple reasons for the AVI playback error. It could be just a glitch, or a corrupted file, or a more complex software issue. To begin with, you can try to restart QuickTime Player and computer, or try a different player, or update your QuickTime Player (if you have an older version) to rule out the normal glitches. If none of these seem to do the trick, then it's likely codecs compatibility causes the playback error or the file is damaged. For a damaged AVI file, you can try to download it again with Leawo Video Downloader. For the cause of the codecs, you can convert the file format to a supported one, for instance, MP4 or MOV. Here's how to convert AVI files and fix the issue with 3 useful methods.

Use a professional converter

To convert AVI to a compatible format, you might as well go with a powerful converter.

Convert AVI with Leawo Video Converter

With Leawo Video Converter, you can convert, copy music and video, burn videos and images to DVD/Blu-ray, make video and audio editing with fast speed.

  • Leawo Video Converter
  • Leawo Video Converter

    1. Convert video and audio files between 180+ formats without quality loss
    2. Support 720P, 1080P and even real 4K video output
    3. Create photo slideshows from photos stored on camera, computer, camcorder, etc
    4. Built-in video editor to trim, crop, add watermark, apply special effect, etc
    5. 2D to 3D converter with 6 different 3D movie effects available

Leawo Video Converter can satisfy all your needs for media editing. If you want to make the file smaller without losing video quality or convert FLAC to AIFF, Leawo Video Converter is the best choice. What makes it stand out is that the converter can even help you make your side-by-side 3D movies at home!

Now let's see how to convert AVI files with Leawo Video Converter. First off, you will need to download Leawo Video Converter from the links above.

Step 1. Launch Leawo Video Converter

Leawo Video Converter is a module of Leawo Prof. Media. Click the "Video Converter" on the main screen to enter the module.

Step 2. Add Source Files

Click the "Add Video'' button and add video files from the local drive. You can also drag and drop.

Step 3. Set Output Format

Click the "MP4 Video" button and you'll see a drop-down menu. Select the "Change" option and enter the "Profile" panel to set the output format.

Select tab "Format" and "Common audio" to set your output format as MOV or MP4.

Step 4. Set Output Parameters

Go back to the main screen. Click the "MP4 Video" button and "Edit" to set parameters such as audio codec, sample rate, bit rate, and channel.

Step 5. Set Output Directory

Click the big green "Convert" button. Set the output directory in the pop-up sidebar, and click the "Convert" button down below to start conversion.

That's it. When your QuickTime Player can't open AVI, just convert it with Leawo Video Converter. This is the simplest solution to the issue.

Convert AVI with FFmpeg

Alternatively, you can go with FFmpeg, the open-source software for multimedia processing and editing. FFmpeg is a command-based software that requires you to use single-line commands to edit video, audio, and streams. Before you convert AVI files, you will need to download and configure FFmpeg on your computer. Here's how.

Step 1. Go to the FFmpeg official site and download "Windows build." Right-click on the Zip folder to extract the file.

Step 2. Rename the folder as FFmpeg-20180424-d9706f7-win64-static to FFmpeg

Step 3. Copy and paste the FFmpeg folder to the root of the C drive.

Now enable FFmpeg with the command prompt with the steps below.

Step 1. Search "Edit the system environment variables" in the Windows menu to open the system properties window.

Step 2. Click on the "Advanced" button and "Environment Variables." Choose a variable path and click "Edit" to change the variable.

Step 3. Click on "New," enter the path of FFmpeg like: "C:\ffmpeg\bin\" and click "OK."

Step 4. Enter the directory of the FFmpeg folder. Click "OK" to apply all the changes.

Launch Command prompt, type command "FFmpeg" and press "Enter" to see if the command prompt will display the information of FFmpeg, such as the version number, configuration, etc. If yes, then FFmpeg is properly installed.

Now you can convert the AVI file to MP4 with the command below:

  • ffmpeg -i input_filename.avi -c:v copy -c:a copy -y output_filename.mp4

With this command, you instruct FFmpeg to copy the audio and video from AVI container format to MP4 container format. Here, FFmpeg will re-encode the content unless you ask it not to. Re-encoding is the default option and that's why the command above instructs FFmpeg to copy the audio and video only.

If you want to convert the AVI file to MP4 with re-encoding. Run the command down below:

  • ffprobe -i file_example_AVI_1280_1_5MG.avi

You will get strings that show codecs and parameters. Now you can convert the AVI file to MP4 with a different codec, for instance, VP9 instead of H.264/AVC. Just go with the command below:

  • ffmpeg -i file_example_AVI_1280_1_5MG.avi -c:a copy -c:v vp9 -b:v 100K outputVP9.mp4

With this command, you are instructing FFmpeg to copy the audio(the audio codec remains the same), re-encode the video using VP9 at a bit rate of 100kbps, and output video as an MP4.

You can also convert an AVI file to MOV on Linux with the command below:

FFmpeg- i path / video1.avi path / movie2.mov.

Simply change the path/video1.avi with a preferred file name and location of the MOV file, and change path / movie2.mov as your preferred destination folder.

Use Leawo Blu-ray Player

Another practical method to play AVI files is to go with a different media player. Here you might consider using Leawo Blu-ray Player. When QuickTime can't open the AVI file for codecs compatibility, you can use Leawo Blu-ray Player as the best alternative. Just like the VLC Media Player, Leawo Blu-ray supports all formats. You can check out the product page for more information.

  • Leawo Blu-ray Player
  • Leawo Blu-ray Player

    Region-free Blu-ray player software to play Blu-ray disc and DVD disc for free, regardless of disc protection and region restriction.
    Play 4K FLV videos, 4K MKV videos, 4K MP4 videos, etc. without quality loss.
    Play 1080P videos, 720P videos with lossless quality.

With Leawo Blu-ray Player, you can play Blu-ray discs, DVDs, HD videos (4K), audio, BDAV movie folder, and Blu-ray ISO image files, and many more. When it comes to Blu-ray and DVD playback, Leawo Blu-ray is the expert. It's the best player for 4K Blu-ray because it can play all Blu-ray and DVDs by breaking regional restrictions, which means you can avoid all sorts of complicated decryption.

FAQ about QuickTime

With the guide above, you know the answer to "Can QuickTime play AVI?" If you often use QuickTime, here're the frequently asked questions about QuickTime and AVI files.

1.What is the QuickTime file format?

MOV. The format is developed by Apple and works with the QuickTime player only.

2.What's the difference between AVI and MOV?

MOV is smaller than AVI files for the same quality. MOV is developed by Apple while AVI is developed by Window. AVI is compatible with almost any computer or device. MOV is natively supported on Apple devices.

3.AVI and MOV, which one is better?

With the same quality, MOV has a smaller size. You can also find the subtitles supported natively without third-party applications.

Wrap Up

Can QuickTime play AVI? Well, the answer doesn't seem to be important anymore. As long as you use the best alternative, Leawo Blu-ray Player to open the AVI file or convert the AVI file with Leawo Video Converter. You can always go with FFmpeg if you are tech-savvy, just follow the commands above and you are good to go.