To play any.avi video file you need to do the following. Step 1 Download VLC media player for Mac. The first to do is to download the VLC media player for Mac and install it correctly on your computer. This application is readily available online. Step 2 Open the desired file on the application. Playing AVI and DivX files. This chapter from our book Troubleshooting Mac® OS X discusses why some Audio Video Interleaved (AVI) multimedia files do not play in QuickTime and provides methods for playing AVIs on Mac OS X. There has been confusion over AVI files since QuickTime® added support for such. AVI is a media container.

“Yesterday, I downloaded the required video (.avi) for my project. But after downloading, when I tried to play it on my MacBook Pro system, an error displayed saying that the file is corrupted!!! I again downloaded the AVI video, but encountered with same error. So, someone please let me know how to fix AVI video file on MacBook Pro system. Thanks in advance….”

Do not panic as you are not the one who got stuck in this kind of situation but luckily, you have arrived at the right place for repairing or playing AVI files on MacBook Pro!!! Yes, these days, you will find plenty of tools on Google using which, you can effortlessly repair an unplayable video on your system. But, you must be careful in choosing the repair tool because, an unreliable utility can further damage the file. So, it is important for you to choose the most recommended and highly reliable tool like Remo Repair AVI software to know how to play AVI on MacBook Pro system. This repair app has gained worldwide popularity for fixing any type of issues related to AVI video files. But prior to know about this repair process, let’s see some common reasons that makes your AVI video unplayable, also the issues that you encounter when try to open corrupt AVI video file;

Most common reasons for not playing AVI files on MacBook Pro

• AVI Header Corruption: The AVI header contains the essential info about the video file such as size, type, etc. So, if AVI header file gets corrupted or damaged due to some unforeseen reasons, then it becomes unplayable on Windows and Mac devices.
• Improper Download: While downloading AVI video, if your MacBook Pro system gets inappropriately shutdown, or connection is lost, then the downloading process gets interrupted, and as a result, you won’t be able to play or open downloaded AVI video on your MacBook Pro computer.
• Virus Infection: Even though, Mac OS based devices are less prone to virus, still there are chances that the files stored on MacBook Pro gets infected by deadly viruses. So, if your AVI video stored on MacBook Pro system gets affected by harmful viruses, then it becomes unresponsive.
• Unsupported Media Player: When you try to play or open AVI video on unsupported or incompatible media player, then there are possibilities for AVI video to get broken and become unplayable on your MacBook Pro device.
• Other Causes: AVI video file gets damaged and become unresponsive due to other reasons like codec issue, abrupt termination of media player, transfer error, bad sectors, software malfunction, use of unreliable third party tool, interruption while changing video file format, sudden shutdown of system, file system corruption, damaged storage media, etc.

When you get stuck in any of these circumstances, then AVI video may get damaged, and you may face certain issues like audio but no video, picture but no sound, audio video out of sync, AVI file not playing anything, video freeze but sound continues or vice versa, and more. Also, you may come across different error messages when try to open corrupt AVI file. But don’t get frightened as you can easily overcome from these causes by making use of Remo Repair AVI utility. This tool is specially built to play AVI files on MacBook Pro system.

Tremendous features of Remo Repair AVI software

Remo Repair AVI is powerful and most preferred utility by industry experts and normal users around the globe to repair or play AVI files on MacBook Pro. This application has strong built-in algorithms used for fixing .avi video which is corrupted while transferring, compressing, converting file format, downloading, sharing via network, etc. Using this promising software, you can fix the damaged video file in simple, secure and quick way. Other than .avi video files, it also supports DIVX and XVID files. This proficient repair tool is compatible on popular versions of Mac OS including Yosemite, Mac OS X 10.5, Leopard, Mountain Lion, Snow Leopard, Mavericks, Lion, etc. The Remo Repair AVI tool efficiently and very effectively fix all the problems related to AVI, XVID and DIVX files all Mac devices including MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini, iMac, etc. It has simple and user friendly interface so, both novice and technical users can use this app to repair a damaged video within few simple clicks. It has capability to repair audio and video streams separately and then adjoins them to make a playable video on both Windows and Mac machines. Remo Repair AVI tool also enables you to repair a video file stored in memory cards, Pen drives, hard disk, iPod, etc. The preview option of this utility facilitates you to view the repaired AVI video before restoration.

Guidelines to repair AVI file on MacBook Pro:

Step 1: Download and install Remo Repair AVI tool on your MacBook Pro to play AVI video on it. Run the application and follow the on screen instructions. Click on “Browse” button to choose your corrupt AVI file and click on “Repair” button.

Figure 1: Main Screen

Step 2: The software starts repairing your AVI file and displays the fixed AVI file. As soon as the repair process gets completed, you can preview the fixed AVI video file by using “Preview” option.

Figure 2: Preview Fixed AVI File

Step 3: At last, save the repaired AVI file to your desired destination location.

Figure 3: Save Fixed AVI File

My QuickTime player is not playing .avi files and says I need a codec. I am not able to play any .avi files on QuickTime. How could I fix this because I want to play these files with QuickTime?

Playing AVI files is one of the biggest worries for a Mac user. None of the four major Indeo codecs that are required to decode AVI files have been integrated into QuickTime. In some cases, even if the required codecs are available, the AVI video file does not play due to corruption. So, before we get to know how to play AVI files on Mac or how to fix AVI files that are not playing on Mac, let’s get a quick look at Audio Video Interleave (AVI) format.

Image Source: support.apple.com

Why AVI Files don’t Play on Mac?

Just like any other media player, QuickTime on Mac also examines both the audio and video codecs within the video file whenever you open any file on Mac. If the codecs are not used by the media player it won’t play the video. QuickTime media player does not recognize the Cinepak and ALaw 2:1 codecs used in the AVI video file format. And as a result, when you try to play AVI files in QuickTime, the player doesn’t play the video.

What is an AVI file?

The full form of AVI is Audio Video Interleave. Like any video file format, AVI is a container format that defines how video data is packed into a file. Unlike other video formats, it does not predefine or specify the protocol or procedure involved while recording or creating a file. As an AVI file structure has the organizational format of streams and stream data, it is defined by two lists namely List Chunk and Index Chunk.

List Chunk: The list chunk has metadata, the size of the file, frame rates, and audio/video information.

Index Chunk: The index chunk is responsible for saving the locations of data within the container.

Note: If any of these crucial chunks are missing in your AVI video file, then your AVI file will not play.

What is a Codec?

A codec that is short for compressor and decompressor is responsible for decoding the video and audio tracks that have been encoded or packed in the .avi file.

It is to be noted that an AVI file or any video file does not come with codecs. Codecs are a part of the video player package like QuickTime.

However, if the codec used to encode the AVI file is not available in the QuickTime player, then your AVI file will not play. Thus, you can expand the codec library of the player by downloading the specific codec required to play the AVI video file.

Problems Associated With Running AVI on Mac Using QuickTime

When an AVI file is opened using QuickTime player, it scans the file to see which codecs have been used to encode the data in the container/AVI file.

The AVI format video will play as expected if the video and audio in the codec are compressed using a codec that exists in the QuickTime package. Nevertheless, problems arise while playing AVI files on Mac when the codec does not exist in the library and leads to an unplayable AVI file on Mac. The file may also refuse to play if the AVI file is corrupt. Fix corrupt AVI files on Mac before trying any workaround.

Unplayable AVI Files Return The Following Errors:

• “QuickTime is missing the software needed to perform this operation. Unfortunately, it is not available on the QuickTime server”
• 'You may experience problems playing a video track in 'file.avi' because the required compressor could not be found”

Additionally, the latest version QuickTime X does not have a few major codecs like Indeo or native DivX support and you might end up with the question “How to play unplayable AVI file on Mac?”.

Now that you have understood the complications associated with AVI files that are unplayable on Mac, the following workarounds mentioned below have been provided to help you fix if Mac or MacBook not playing a video.

Methods to Fix Unplayable AVI files on Mac

1. Find the Right Codec to Play the AVI File on QuickTime:

Find the codec used to encode the file using QuickTime by opening the file using QuickTime and select the Show Movie Info option from the Window menu.

The video file information is listed, and you will be able to find codec information after format properties. Check if the QuickTime version supports the codec that is listed in the video properties.

Check on the QuickTime support site if the codec is supported by the player if you don’t find the codec preinstalled with QuickTime. If you don’t find the respective codec or if it is an unsupportive codec, then your AVI video won’t play. In case it is supported then you can go ahead and install the codec after downloading it from the author or the publisher’s site.

How Do I Open An Avi File On A Mac Keyboard

Note: Download the codec from genuine and trusted sources to avoid compromising your system security.

2. Download and Install Standardized Video Encoders

There are two major industry-standard codecs for Mac that can extend the playback capabilities. The following codecs have been referred to as the most preferred codecs that enable you to open .avi files on Mac:

• Install 3ivx D4 codec:
  This codec enables greater video quality at lower file size values up to fifty percent when compared to the MPEG-4 standard designed by Apple. This decoder increases the efficiency of the video storage and transmission of files that are rendered too large. It is an integration of a huge set of video and audio codecs that allow playback of almost all the AVI files with AAC audio and video of MPEG-4. You can fix your unplayable AVI file by installing 3ivx D4 on your Mac. Further, there is no need to download any other components like plug-ins to play the AVI file unless a proprietary codec is used to encode the file.

• Install DivX for Mac free codec to fix AVI files in Quick time:
  While you can play the majority of AVI files after you install this free codec for Mac, its major disadvantage is that the audio sometimes might be distorted or only the video is played. For this reason, the DivX codec for Mac is a secondary option when compared to 3ivx D4 codec.

Note: Only one among the above two codecs are to be used at once as they share the same set of library files to decode the video. Hence it is recommended to install only one codec to avoid malfunction of the QuickTime player.

3. Use an Alternate player to Play AVI files on Mac:

How Do I Open An Avi File On A Mac Free

VLC or Video LAN Client is a cross-platform media player that supports a wide variety of AVI video and audio codecs. Therefore, choosing VLC as an alternative media player to play the unplayable AVI file on Quick Time is one of the easiest ways.
Because of its large library of free encoding and decoding libraries, you will no longer need any additional codec download or proprietary plug-ins.

4. Play AVI Files By Converting Into QuickTime Supported MOV Files:

How Do I Open An Avi File On A Macbook

Another workaround to fix the unplayable AVI video on Mac is to convert the AVI file into a QuickTime supported file format like MOV.
Post conversion, the file will be playable on Mac. However, most of the converters break the index of the AVI file while conversion, this method is least recommended. Lastly, if the converted video file stops playing halfway try AVI index repair on Mac.

Note: Have a copy of your AVI file before converting them to any other compatible format as your AVI file might get corrupt due to improper conversion and leads to permanent inaccessible AVI files.

AVI Still Not Playing In Mac?

If the AVI video file remains unplayable even after getting the correct codecs, using the compatible player, or converting to MOV, it is probably because the video file is corrupt. The only solution to this is to try an AVI video repair software. Choose a professional AVI video repair tool like Remo AVI Repair.

Remo Repair AVI fixes and works on a duplicate version of your original AVI file to prevent modification on the original file. The self-explanatory interface helps you to fix the video in just 3 clicks. Download the Remo Repair AVI tool now to fix your unplayable video and preview it for free before saving.

Remo Repair AVI Can Also:

• Repair AVI files that are corrupted
• Repair AVI files if their index is corrupted
• Repairs AVI files if there is no audio or playing only audio in the video file

How Do I Open An Avi File On A Mac Laptop

Conclusion:

How Do I Open An Avi File On A Mac Drive

With the mentioned free workarounds or by using the above-mentioned AVI repair tool, you must have fixed your unplayable AVI videos on Mac. However, you can always make use of Remo Software’s technical assistance team as they will guide you with the repairing process of the software if needed.