With the increasing popularity of Apple devices, like MacBook, iPad, iPhone, iPod, and others, many problems concerning the format compatibility arise and among these problems, the failure to play WebM on iPhone is the most disturbing one for me. I just get sick of this and want desperately to solve this problem as soon as possible. Is there a way out?

Requests like the above mentioned one are not rare at all. It is shame that iPhone does not support WebM directly but the good thing is there are many third party apps to solve this problem for iPhone. We can dig more details from this article and figure out the best solution to play WebM on iPhone/ iPad in the end.

Part 1: What is WebM and Why We cannot Open WebM on iPhone?

Google launched and sponsored the WebM project, and WebM here indicates an audiovisual media file format. It is primarily intended to offer a royalty-free alternative to use in the HTML5 video and the HTML5 audio elements. It has a sister project WebP for images. By nature, VLC media player, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Google Chrome are able to read WebM files directly, but for Internet Explorer and Safari, the story is different because Apple's QuickTime player codec doesn't support WebM.

In 2011, the Google WebM Project Team released plugins for Internet Explorer and Safari to allow playback of WebM files through the standard HTML5 tag. Only by installing certain plugin can WebM file be open in Apple devices. This brings in extra work so instead of that, we can find another way around to solve the problem and save you from your troubles.

Part 2: How to Play WebM on iPhone/ iPad with Leawo Video Converter?

A dozen of third party apps are developed to tackle the incompatibility issues concerning Apple devices, among which Leawo Video Converter is one that can convert WebM to iPhone compatible formats so that WebM for iPhone is no longer a day dream. Basically, Leawo Video Converter is a program dedicated to converting files from one format to another, and preserving output file quality at 1:1, which is exactly the same as the original file. More than 180 formats are supported and 6x speed is provided, both of which are superior to that of other programs in the same category. This program is a professional video converter, presenting users with a pack of features, such as convert, merge, and edit videos. You can follow the procedure to make WebM on iPhone playable to get familiar with the program.

Step 1: Install Leawo Video Converter.

  • 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

Step 2: Import the source WebM file.

Click Add Video to import the source file.

Add videos

Step 3: Set the output format to iPhone compatible one.

Click Change from the format drop-down menu and select an iPhone compatible format from the Device category on the displayed Profile panel. 

Change the output format

Step 4: Edit the video.

This step is optional and only applies when you need to make modifications to the video. Do so to edit videos.

Click the editing icon to enter the Output Preview page, where you can trim, crop, add effects to the video.

Edit the video

Step 5: Set a directory to save the output file.

Click the big green button Convert on the toolbar and set a directory from the pop-up sidebar. Then, click the round button Convert to proceed with processing the file.

Set a directory

Step 6: Await the file conversion to complete.

View the conversion process from the green progress bar. Await completion and then transfer the converted video to iPhone for playing WebM on iPhone.

file conversion

Part 3: Transfer WebM files to iPhone through Leawo iTransfer

There is another utility that may help to transfer files from PC to iPhone efficiently. Leawo iTransfer for Mac, as its name tells, is capable of transferring photos/music/contacts/SMS and the like between iOS devices, iTunes, and computer. It is totally reliable and safe to use this app. There is a step-by-step guide to transfer files to iPhone. You can see this app is extremely easy to handle.

Step 1: Download and install Leawo iTransfer on your PC.

Click here to download the app.

  • itransfer
  • Leawo iTransfer

    - Transfer files among iOS devices, iTunes and PCs with ease.
    - 6x faster than iTunes
    - Transfer up to 14 kinds of data and files without iTunes.
    - Support the latest iOS devices like iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, etc.
    - Play back, view, and delete data and files on iOS devices.
    - Support Windows & Mac OS

Step 2: Connect iPhone to the PC.

After connecting your iPhone, Leawo iTransfer will show the details of your iPhone. e.g.how many songs, photos, movie are stored in your iPhone.

Connect iPhone to the PC

Step 3: Choose output directory.

Click LIBRARY on the left sidebar to add your converted WebM to a specific folder in your iPhone.

file conversion

Step 4: View the progress.

After all is done, the WebM files will be available on your iPhone now. You can open WebM on iPhone with ease.

file conversion

Part 4: How to Play WebM on iPhone/ iPad in Browser?

With WebM being a file format that Google is propagating, it comes no surprise that Apple devices do not readily work with it. Apple’s QuickTime does not have a codec that supports WebM videos. In order to play them on your iPhone, you will have to turn to other strategies.

Don't worry, there is a solution in the form of a third-party app. PlayerXtreme Media Player is a free app that allows you to play any WebM video, as long as you know the URL address of the WebM video. Before you proceed, make sure that you have installed the PlayerXtreme Media Player app from App Store. Here's how to do this.

Step 1. Download and install PlayerXtreme on your iPhone.

Note: PlayerXtreme has been removed from App Store since it allowed users to download YouTube videos (copyrighted content).

Step 2. Open Safari on your iPhone, find the WebM video you want to play.

Step 3. Try to play the video and then a new browser window will open. Now, tap the More (three dots) button and select "Copy to PlayerXtreme" option. Then, the WebM video will start playing on your iPhone.

Part 5: How to Play WebM on iPhone/ iPad with Player VLC?

If you are a multimedia lover, then you may have known about VLC. VLC is known as its amazing compatibility with most of the filee formats and as a result, it can stream files from SMB, FTP, UPnP/DLNA media servers and the web, and do more. So iPhone users can use it to play local and online WebM videos.

How to watch WebM videos on iPhone with VLC?

Step 1. Download and install VLC on your iPhone. The system version is required to be iOS 9.0 or later.

Step 2. Add the WebM videos you want to play to your VLC library. When you first launch VLC, a guidance will pop-out, which will show you how to add videos to VLC library for playback. Do as what the words say in the guidance.

Step 3. When you have imported the WebM files to VLC library, open the VLC app your iPhone, click "All Files", and then you will find your added WebM files. Then you simply need to tap on the selected WebM video and then it will start playing.

How to play online WebM videos on iPhone with VLC?

Step 1. Download and install VLC to your iPhone from App Store.

Step 2. Enter VLC. Find and tap "Open Network Stream".

Step 3. Paste the URL of target WebM video and tap "Open Network Stream" to play it.

So above are the solutions to open WebM video files on iPhone. Sometimes the VLC player will crash and doesn't work. So converting WebM to play on iPhone may be the better choice to pick. Anyway, you can try them all and find out which solutions suit you best. Hope they can work with you.