Playing WMV files

I received a WMV file from a friend and it won't open in QuickTime Player. I have ver. 10.0. I downloaded an app called Flip4Mac but that doesn't work. How can I open this file?

Try Perian - The swiss-army knife of QuickTime components

Flip4Mac should work though. Have you checked for a software update?

VCL is also a workable player u can try
OR u can use handbrake or mpeg streamclip to convert wmv to mp4 or mov for playback on your Quicktime, although it is not easy to use for newbies.

I checked for an update for Flip4Mac and I downloaded the latest. I keep getting "The movie is not in a format that Quicktime player understands". What am I doing wrong? The file is a WMV file. Should I download Windows Media Player? I appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Windows Media Player is years obsolete and won't help.

If you have both the latest Flip4Mac WMV Player and Perian, then the next thing to try would be to download VLC and see if it will play it.

The basic problem is that Windows is a slut.

By which I mean it tries to support literally every codec anyone out there (except Apple) comes up with instead of picking a format that seems to do the best job and making that the preferred standard.

I downloaded Perian and nothing shows. It doesn't appear in the applications folder. Should I be configuring settings? I went to the VLC site. Which version should I download? I now have Flip4Mac and Perian and they both don't work. I think I may be doing something wrong or not setting the apps up correctly.

Did you install them after you downloaded them?
If they're not both now showing in System Preferences, then you haven't installed them.

It is also possible that particular file has DRM depending on where your friend go it. If so, there is nothing on OS X that will play it. (Although, I have yet to run into a wmv file I couldn't play on my Mac.)

It is also possible the file has become corrupt during the upload/download process.

The 2 apps do show in System Preferences under "Other". My friend runs Windows 7. I don't know if that will make a difference with the wmv file. I'll try running the wmv file from my netbook tomorrow and see if it will work under XP.

Then you have not installed them.

You need to open them up after you download them and run their installer.

They are both in the Systems Preferences under "Other". When I click on Perian, it says installed and gives an option to uninstall it and there are also some settings that could be configured. When I click on Flip4Mac I get options to configure settings. The Flip4Mac The Flip4Mac also shows in the Applications folder. So I think they are installed, but they don't work. Maybe I should tell my friend to resend the file and see what happens.

Sorry, I mis-read and put a "not" in system preferences somehow. Long day, getting longer and cross-eyed here.

Wouldn't hurt having them re-send it. The combination of Flip, Perian and trying VLC will play just about anything. You shouldn't need to do any configuring.

I've had issues with the latest version of Flip in Snow Leopard, but certainly Perian and VLC work for me too.

There are a few downloads listed on the VLC website. Which one do I download?

Err, the latest version for your OS. It should state which version OS it's for, but even then, if there's an update once installed you will get a prompt.

The file opened OK in Windows Media Player on my netbook after downloading a codec. I forgot the number.

I'm not sure which file to download from the VLC websit.

Latest platform specific packages for 10.5 and later (release 1.0.5)

32 bits Package for Intel-based Macs (19.1MB)

Latest Web browser plugins for 10.5 and later (release 1.0.5)

Web Browser plugin for Intel-based Macs (11.8MB)

I'm new to Apple and I don't want to download the wrong thing. Do I download the 32 bit package for Intel-based Macs or the Web Browser plug in for Intel-based Macs?

Intel package to install VLC on the Mac
The web browser plug in is quite cool too, it means you can play any audio file you encounter on the web.

I downloaded VLC and I got the following message: "No suitable decoder module - VLC does not support the audio or video format "WVP2". Unfortunately there is no way for you to fix this" I guess this file can't be played on my computer. Just on my Windows computer.

WVP2 is the key piece of info I wish we'd had earlier, would have made this thread a LOT shorter!

Flip4Mac doesn't support this, in fact nothing on the Mac fully supports it, because it is a "Microsoft PhotoStory" (aka "dumb POS") project file.

This would be like me sending an iMovie *project file* (not the actual movie) to a PC user. Sigh.

There *is* a sort-of Mac solution, however: upload the .wmv file to YouTube. It will convert it to MP4 for you. You can then download a copy, and finally delete the thing off YouTube.