Every Mac user is faced with a situation where a standard player refuses to play some kind of video. Especially often this happens to those who have just switched from Windows to macOS and still do not know about native formats.
The macOS operating system has a default video player. Many are aware of its existence. In many ways, it is not bad, but there are cases when you need to change the proportions of the image or size, adjust the brightness or contrast, turn off the PC after a while, watch streaming video, etc. If you want to get wider settings, then the standard player will not be enough. And you want to know how to play mkv on mac?
What App Can Play .mkv Files on Mac?
Jun 05, 2020 The best players to open the MKV extension with include Elmedia Player, Windows Media Player, 5KPlayer (containing MKV codec) and VLC (although sound and subtitles may be unavailable). MKA files These are mostly used as audio files and normally contain various audio compression formats such as MP2, MP3, AAC, AC3, DTS among others. May 30, 2018 Part 1: Why Can't I Play MKV Files Smoothly on VLC Player. Many people find that when they play their MKV videos with VLC player, the MKV video becomes choppy, unstable and sometimes there is no sound at all. Even more, some people complain on the forum that he cannot even open MKV file on VLC Player, let alone playing it! We have to say that. Do not like Windows Media Player or Movies and TV app on Windows 10? Here is a list of 10 best video players for Windows (free) you can use. After that, simply double-click the MKV file would open it with VLC. Way 2: Open VLC media player and select MediaOpen File and then go to the location of the MKV video, as shown below, select the target file and click Open. VLC Not Playing HD MKV Media File Issue. According to the official VLC feature, MKV is supported by default.
To get Mac to play .mkv files, all you need to do is download and install one of 5 applications below to play .mkv files and many others on your Mac!
VLC
VLC was released in 2001 as part of the VideoLan project. Perhaps this is one of the most powerful media player files. It supports almost all modern video and audio formats without the additional installation of codecs. The player offers a friendly interface and contains no ads.
If you like to watch videos over the network, then VLC will also be indispensable. In this player, you can: play a video directly on your desktop, convert necessary files, stream videos from YouTube, view photos, remotely control playback, save streaming content and much more. The player play .mkv on Mac without any problems or lags, just install it once.
MPV Player
The MPV project is developing an open video player based on a branch from the MPlayer2 codebase. The player has all the basic functions and capabilities as in VLC, as well as the smooth-motion function – one of the forms of interpolation between two frames for a smooth transition between them. Many video and audio formats as well as subtitles are supported. Just like VLC and Plex MPV player is compatible with macOS, Windows and Linux.
Plex
Plex is not just a video player for macOS. This is a large media platform with cross-platrom support features and great solution for remote (via Wi-Fi or internet) access to your media library located on your computer. The PLEX provides convenient viewing of clips, movies, photos and listening to music.
Read more:Make your Photos Awesome with Editing in iOS
The program is capable of much: for movies it will find posters, ratings and other data; it will distribute the series into seasons and episodes; it will arrange the music collection from any kind. There is support for its own cloud service, which allows you to watch Plex Live TV & DVR, plus a growing catalog of great web shows, news, and podcasts, making it easier than ever to find and enjoy all the media you love in a single app, on any device, no matter where you are.
Elmedia Player
The developers of Elmedia Player have offered one of the most functional Mac players with some unique features. It supports almost all video formats: FLV, SWF, XAP, WMV (Silverlight), RM, RV (Real), AVI, MOV, MP4, DIVX, etc. With it, there is no need to keep multiple players or install the same Perian.
QuickTime Player with Perian Plugin
The main disadvantage of QuickTime is limited format support from the box, so it is useful primarily for video in MOV and MP4 formats. But Perian plugin could help us with such inconvenient case. Perian is a free component for QuickTime that adds support for many popular video formats and especially play mkv files on your Mac. Unlike other analogues, it allows you to work not only with the QuickTime player itself, but also with other compatible applications. Universal set for fans to download videos from various sources, where different codecs are used every time.
Conclusion
As you can see there are many solutions for play .mkv files in macOS. In this article, I shared only those of them that I ever used and I confident in their performance. At the moment I use VLC. Which player is best suited for you will be exclusively your choice!
Watching movies on a laptop is not the best way to do it but you can’t carry a TV on the Plane, yet. While the Quicktime Player handles all of my media content with ease, there are certain formats that it still can’t recognize. The MKV format is one of the popular ones in the movie industry because of it’s unlimited storage capacity. In this guide, I’ll show you how to play MKV files on a mac. Let’s get started.
The MKV format is an open and free container format that can hold an infinite number of audio, video, and text files in a single file. Typescript sdk for visual studio 2017 macos. This makes it an excellent format for TV shows, movies, etc.
There are various options to play MKV files on Mac but we’ll choose the easiest three;
1. Play MKV Files on Mac – QuickTime Plugin
Quicktime Player is the default video player for macOS. Yes, it does lack a few features which other players have but it’s nothing a plugin won’t fix. Perian is a popular Plugin for QuickTime Player which lets you play MKV videos on your Mac.
Download the Plugin setup file from the official website or by clicking this link.
Read: Best Font Manager for Mac
Your download should automatically start and once the file is downloaded, you can simply open the downloads by clicking the downloaded button on the tray. Click on ‘Perian.dmg’ to begin the setup.
It would show the error just like the figure below, which says “Perian can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer”. Fret not, you can easily remove this error, by temporarily disabling the security blanket of GateKeeper.
To disable Gatekeeper, open ‘System Preferences’ by searching in the Spotlight or from the Apple menu. It would open the settings window and you can click on ‘Security & Privacy’.
After that, you’d see the section which says ‘Allow apps downloaded from’ and a button ‘Open Anyway’. Click the button to override the default action.
If your Mac has a password, you need to enter it again to authenticate it. Make sure you enter the Administrator’s name and password or else it won’t install the plugin.
Best ntfs for mac yosemite 2017. Now, this will open the installer and you just have to click ‘Perian.prefPane’ to begin the installation.
Ignore this warning and allow it by clicking ‘Okay‘. It automatically installs all the necessary files and you just have to wait for it to finish.
After the installation is finished, you’ll see the window similar to one below. You can close it now as the Plugin is successfully installed.
Play the MKV file with Plugin
Now, you can open any file from your system with QuickTime Player and it would start loading instead of showing you an error. Depending on the Size of the file, it may take some time.
This Plugin converts the MKV file to MP4 and that’s why it takes a little while to load. Once it does, you can watch the video without any problems on your QuickTime Player. If you close the window, you’ll get a pop-up that would suggest you save the file in MP4 format. You can save the file in MP4 format and play that instead.
Pros
Cons
2. Play MKV Files on Mac with VLC
The last method works great if you want to keep using QuickTime Player as your main media player on the computer. The Plugin is still a workaround and slow when compared with other media players.
The VLC media player is one of the most popular video players out there and the popularity keeps growing because of its consistent and reliable performance and support for a wide range of formats and codecs. You can install VLC to play MKV files and other formats without installing any special plugin. You can even set it as a default media player on mac.
Go to the VLC’s website and download the latest package or click this link.
Better Macos Video Player For Mkv Files Than Vlc Download
It opens the download page and beings the download in a few seconds.
Once the download is finished. Double click the package in the Downloads to install it.
As it unwraps the container, you’ll see the window like the one below, you have to drag the traffic cone to the applications folder by clicking and holding the icon.
Must Read: VLC for Apple TV: Fixing 3 common problems
It would prompt you with an authentication pop-up, Click ‘Authenticate’ button to begin the installation.
It may ask you the login credentials. Enter the administrator username and password and click ‘Modify Settings‘.
VLC media player would install and now you can play any MKV file with VLC media player. Simply right-click the MKV file and select ‘Open With’. Click on the VLC icon. It begins to play the video without a hiccup.
Pros
Cons
3. Play MKV Files on Mac With Handbrake
If for any reason, you can’t use the above two methods. Converting the MKV files to a supported format is the best option. Using a web converter is both time-consuming and slow, considering you have to first upload, convert, and then download the converted file again.
Handbrake is an open-sourced video transcoder that is used to rip DVDs and it also lets you convert MKV files to mp4. Installing Handbrake on your mac would take no more than five minutes. Go to the website or click this link to download the installer package.
Start by clicking the downloaded package in the Downloads folder.
It would open the container and you can click on the Handbrake icon Bluestacks 4 for el capitan. to launch the converter.
To select an MKV file for conversion, click the ‘Open Source’ button on the top left corner of the window.
Select the file from the computer by browsing to the desired folder.
After selecting the file(s), you can select presets, and adjust video duration. You can edit dimensions, filters, video, audio of the output file. After you’re done with the tweaks, choose the output folder, and click start.
After the conversion, The output file is automatically stored to the destination address. You can open the folder and play the file on any media player or send to other devices using iTunes.
Pros
Vlc Player
Also Read: 5 Best Time tracking apps for Mac to boost your productivity
Better Macos Video Player For Mkv Files Than Vlc Windows 103 Ways to Play MKV Files on a Mac
These were 3 ways with which you can play MKV files on a Mac. Installing a Plugin is the easiest way to play MKV files if you don’t want to move to a new media player considering QuickTime is already powerful. Installing a VLC is my recommended choice because it gives you so much more than just MKV playback, even AirPlay(coming soon). Handbrake is best when you need to convert and transfer the file to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod. This gives you more control over the quality and you can optimize the video for specific devices. Tell us which method would you use to play MKV files on a mac.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |