Audio&Video Codecs released by or recommended by Apple

Joined
Jul 2, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Your Mac's Specs
3,06 Ghz intel dual core
Where to download the official codecs for iMac?

I rather don't want to install 3rd party video transcoding software. But what is the alternative? I would like to watch my movie collection. (avi,divx,xvid,dvd,matroska,mpg,wmv,mov) But what do I need to install for this?

Thanks for the help.
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
Where to download the official codecs for iMac?

I rather don't want to install 3rd party video transcoding software. But what is the alternative? I would like to watch my movie collection. (avi,divx,xvid,dvd,matroska,mpg,mpg2) But what do I need to install for this?

Thanks for the help.

Perian will add codecs to help Quicktime play back a wider variety of media, but quite frankly VLC does it all on its own and does a better job of it than QT with Perian does.
 
OP
ed81
Joined
Jul 2, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Your Mac's Specs
3,06 Ghz intel dual core
Perian will add codecs to help Quicktime play back a wider variety of media, but quite frankly VLC does it all on its own and does a better job of it than QT with Perian does.

Thank you for your reply.

I know about Perian and VLC. But actually I'm looking for a link to an 'official Apple site' or something that is released by Apple, where I can download something that will make my video's play without crashing my audio interface..

(I'm trying to prevent compatibility issues with codecs & audio-interface)
 

cwa107


Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 20, 2006
Messages
27,042
Reaction score
812
Points
113
Location
Lake Mary, Florida
Your Mac's Specs
14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
Thank you for your reply.

I know about Perian and VLC. But actually I'm looking for a link to an 'official Apple site' or something that is released by Apple, where I can download something that will make my video's play without crashing my audio interface..

(I'm trying to prevent compatibility issues with codecs & audio-interface)

Apple's own codec support is limited to their own native codecs (MOV, QT, AAC, etc) and some of the more ubiquitous ones like MP3. You'll need a third party package like Perian if you want to expand upon those capabilities.

In all fairness, I've never used an audio interface, but Perian is in pretty widespread use and I don't recall having ever seen a complaint here regarding compatibility with audio interfaces.

If you're having such an issue, perhaps it would be prudent to try to troubleshoot that issue here. To start with, we'd need some detail on the interface, your Mac, version of OS X and any specific error messages.
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2008
Messages
311
Reaction score
19
Points
18
Location
Shakopee, MN
Your Mac's Specs
iMac, late 2012 model, 21"
I highly recommend Handbrake. It's a free third party app that can take the formats listed above and re-encode them into an H.264 format (.m4v), which can be read by iTunes and various Apple devices. I know you said you didn't want a third party option, but unfortunately, Apple doesn't offer something like this as far as I know.
 
OP
ed81
Joined
Jul 2, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Your Mac's Specs
3,06 Ghz intel dual core
Thanks for your replies.
I was hoping to be able to say goodbye to incompatibilityproblems that windows machines have.

But I currently have an issue with a brand new iMac, which probably is caused by video transcoding software that makes the audiodrivers crash. The manufacturer of the audio interface advised me to use codecs from apple only. But I think this is not a reasonable solution.

Here's a topic about the audiointerface / codec issue:
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/music-audio-podcasting/239311-sound-card-drivers-disappear.html


I would like to figure out which specific codec causes the crash. But that is not an easy task as i'm quite new to the OS. Any help with this is much appreciated.
 
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
10,345
Reaction score
597
Points
113
Location
Margaritaville
Your Mac's Specs
3.4 Ghz i7 MacBook Pro (2015), iPad Pro (2014), iPhone Xs Max. Apple TV 4K
Perhaps if we knew more about the files in question it would be easier to asses.
 
C

chas_m

Guest
Apple's main "preferred" codecs are everything related to MPEG-4, which they helped create. Sorry to hear about the conflict, but Apple's QuickTime software ships with a plays a huge number of codecs, but not all of them, so third-party codecs are mandatory.
 
OP
ed81
Joined
Jul 2, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Your Mac's Specs
3,06 Ghz intel dual core
Perhaps if we knew more about the files in question it would be easier to asses.

There is 3 points i'm going / would like to check:

1. I would like to list all codecs. I'm currently looking for a way to list all codecs on iMac. There must be some kind of directory with them I suppose. What do you think of deleting and replacing a codec one by one and see if the crash still occurs? (I found these QT components, but I don't think those are all codecs, are they?)

2. I would like to know the name of the codecpack. I don't know the name of the codecpack anymore, can't find anything back of a codecpack on my iMac anymore.

3. I'm going to try to make a list of open audio/video applications while the crash occurs.

Thanks again for the interest & support!
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
1. I would like to list all codecs. I'm currently looking for a way to list all codecs on iMac. There must be some kind of directory with them I suppose. What do you think of deleting and replacing a codec one by one and see if the crash still occurs? (I found these QT components, but I don't think those are all codecs, are they?)

Don't touch those. Those are in a System folder, are part of the OS, and fiddling with those is most assuredly NOT recommended. The places you want to look are:
Macintosh HD/Library/QuickTime
yourhomefolder/Library/QuickTime (if it exists… it may not)

Those are the only places any 3rd party codecs should be.
 
OP
ed81
Joined
Jul 2, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Your Mac's Specs
3,06 Ghz intel dual core
@lifeisabeach: thanks, that will help. These are my 3rd party codecs from Macintosh HD/Library/QuickTime

I've just had a crash again:Not-Amused: Itunes and a youtube-player in safari were open, when I opened a video in Quicktime the soundcard driver disappeared.

Quicktime shows the following Videoproperties:
HPIM0799.AVI
Apple OpenDML JPEG, 640 x 479, Millions
16-bit Integer (Little Endian), Mono, 22,050 kHz
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
9,962
Reaction score
1,235
Points
113
Location
The Republic of Neptune
Your Mac's Specs
2019 iMac 27"; 2020 M1 MacBook Air; macOS up-to-date... always.
@lifeisabeach: thanks, that will help. These are my 3rd party codecs from Macintosh HD/Library/QuickTime

I've just had a crash again:Not-Amused: Itunes and a youtube-player in safari were open, when I opened a video in Quicktime the soundcard driver disappeared.

I would just start by making a backup copy of all those QuickTIme Components, then delete the originals. If you still have the problems, go ahead and restore the backups… they obviously aren't the problem. Next thing to do is uninstall Flash and see if that fixes it.
 
C

chas_m

Guest
But I currently have an issue with a brand new iMac, which probably is caused by video transcoding software that makes the audiodrivers crash. The manufacturer of the audio interface advised me to use codecs from apple only. But I think this is not a reasonable solution.

You're right. The problem is caused by, and will only ever really be fixed by, the manufacturer of the audio interface.

As for "official" codecs from or approved by Apple, that would be ... let me see here ... QuickTime (and all the codecs it supports).

Here's a list.

Apple also offers a list of "approved" codecs:
Apple - QuickTime - QuickTime Components

But truthfully, this won't help you. The audio interface company getting their act together and cleaning up their sloppy programming is what will help you, ultimately.
 
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
10,345
Reaction score
597
Points
113
Location
Margaritaville
Your Mac's Specs
3.4 Ghz i7 MacBook Pro (2015), iPad Pro (2014), iPhone Xs Max. Apple TV 4K
There is 3 points i'm going / would like to check:

1. I would like to list all codecs. I'm currently looking for a way to list all codecs on iMac. There must be some kind of directory with them I suppose. What do you think of deleting and replacing a codec one by one and see if the crash still occurs? (I found these QT components, but I don't think those are all codecs, are they?)

2. I would like to know the name of the codecpack. I don't know the name of the codecpack anymore, can't find anything back of a codecpack on my iMac anymore.

3. I'm going to try to make a list of open audio/video applications while the crash occurs.

Thanks again for the interest & support!

Thanks for ignoring my request

I would tell you to stop treating your Mac like it's Windows, but based on a re-read of this thread, it probably pointless.

/help
 
OP
ed81
Joined
Jul 2, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Your Mac's Specs
3,06 Ghz intel dual core
You're right. The problem is caused by, and will only ever really be fixed by, the manufacturer of the audio interface.

As for "official" codecs from or approved by Apple, that would be ... let me see here ... QuickTime (and all the codecs it supports).

Here's a list.

Apple also offers a list of "approved" codecs:
Apple - QuickTime - QuickTime Components

But truthfully, this won't help you. The audio interface company getting their act together and cleaning up their sloppy programming is what will help you, ultimately.

Thanks for the list of Media formats supported by QuickTime Player and the third-party components on the official Apple website. This is what I was looking for starting this topic! although they are not directly downloadable from the Apple website.

This is a really a classic situation, that even happens on iMac:
Manufacturer(audiointerface) points towards 3rd-party as cause of the problem... 3rd-party points to the manufacturer......

Maybe Apple should release their own HQ-audiointerface;)

Anyway, i'm going to try to locate the exact codec, I hope this really is the problem, because if so, there's a good chance to solve it.

Thanks again everybody that replies on this topic.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top