Top Perian Substitutes That Outperform: Essential Software Options for Mac & PC

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Best Perian Alternatives to Free Download for macOS and Windows

As Perian is discontinued, is there any alternatives to help QuickTime play different videos? Check and download 2024 best Perian alternatives..

By Abby Poole ｜Last updated on Apr 8, 2021

Perian is no longer updating, AVI/MKV video files are not playing on QuickTime even with it installed. Sound like it doesn’t work on Windows, Yosemite, macOS High Sierra or later…

With Perian fading into the sunset, it’s high time to find out the best alternative to Perian . Have a close look and choose yours to play 4K/HD MKV, AVI, WMV, FLV, HEVC etc. smoothly on your computer without QuickTime components Perian installed.

Perian

A Much Powerful Alternative to Perian for Windows and macOS

MacX Video Converter Pro, a Perian replacement that packs more features than the obsolete plugin for QuickTime is worth your attention. It greatly extends QuickTime support for any type of media files, thanks to built-in 370+ video audio codecs. Below is a list of noticeable features.

It can convert video container formats of MKV, AVI, WMV, MTS, or FLV etc. to QuickTime MOV.
It changes video codec format H.265, VP9, DivX and more to QuickTime H.264, MPEG-4 codec for smooth playing.
The tool converts 8K, 4K, 1080P, 720P, SD videos of any format with preset profiles for iPhone, iPad, iMovie, Final Cut Pro etc.
Edit video for QuickTime, like trimming, cropping, compressing, and adding subtitles/watermarks.

Download for Mac Download for PC

How to Use the Perian Replacement for QuickTime

Free download Perian alternative for Mac (macOS Big Sur or older)
Free download Perian alternative for Windows (Windows 10 or older)

Step 1: Load source videos
After you launch the Perian substitute on your Mac, click Add Video icon in the top left-hand corner, select the source video for QuickTime, and the video will be loaded quickly. You can add multiple videos at a time.

Step 2: Convert, edit or compress
An Output Profile screen will appear after the video is loaded. Select the video format you want. You are allowed to convert among video formats, such as MKV to MP4, AVI to MOV , WMV to MOV, FLV to MP4, H.265 to H.264, to name a few. Check QuickTime supported formats if you feel puzzled about the format you should choose for QuickTime.

* Get more video and audio options by clicking on the Settings icon. You can alter video audio codecs, bit rate, video frame rate, aspect ratio, resolution.
* The video encoder also offers some basic video editing features you can’t find on Perian. Click the Edit icon, you’ll see a screen, allowing you to compress QuickTime video , add subtitles, crop, expand, and trim video.

Step 3: Start processing
Click RUN to begin to process the program similar to Perian on macOS or Windows. With the help of the Perian alternative, you won’t have QuickTime not playing AVI , MKV, WMV, FLV etc. problems any more.

Use QuickTime Perian alternative

Other Good QuickTime Perian Alternatives

There are many video codecs for QuickTime serving as great alternatives to Perian, such as Streambox, DivX codec, WMV codec. With these codecs installed on your MacBook Air/Pro or iMac, QuickTime is able to play its unsupported formats MKV, AVI, WMV, FLV etc. requiring no Perian. Look at Perian related resources below and get the type of video codec you need to replace Perian for QuickTime.

Perian related: MKV codecs , AVI codecs , 4K codec , MP4 video codec , M4V codec .

Still, you can resort to other media players that are much powerful than QuickTime with Perian. A cutting-edge video player for Mac should have all the video audio codecs built-in without needing to install extra video codecs or plugins. Look at the best alternative to Perian for macOS and Windows.

VLC Media Player

Supported container formats: MP4, AVI, 3GP, MKV, VOB, ASF, QuickTime File Format, AIFF.
Supported video codecs: H.263, H.264, H.265, MPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2, VP8, VP9, WMV, ProRes etc.

5KPlayer

Video container format: MP4, AVI, WMV, 3GP, QuickTime (.mov, .qt), MKV, FLV, M4V, Ogg, MTS, M2TS, and more.
Video codecs: H.264, H.263, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, HEVC, VP9, VP8, Apple Prores, Cinepak and more.
Audio codecs: AAC, AC-3, ALAC, ALS, FLAC, MP3, Vorbis, RealAudio and more.
It plays other types of media files, for instance, DVD disc, ISO image, Video_TS and VOB files.

MPlayer

Video formats: H.263, H.264, DV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 PART 2, WMV, Bink, HuffYUV.
Audio formats: AAC, AC3, ALAC, FLAC, DTS, MP3, Vorbis, WMA, RealAudio, Shorten, Speex.
Subtitle formats: RT, SRT, ASS/SSA, AQTitle, CC, JACOsub, MicroDVD, MPsub, SubViewer, VOBsub.
Physical media: DVDs, CDs, Blu-ray discs.

The Best Perian Alternative for QuickTime

Free download the alternative to Perian for Windows or macOS, MacX Video Converter Pro to help QuickTime or other media players play MKV, AVI, WMV, FLV, HEVC and other types of video files without unsupported codecs issue. It is available for both macOS (Big Sur or older) and Windows.

Use QuickTime Perian alternative

Download for Mac Download for PC

Convert VOB to QuickTime Formats MOV, MP4 etc.

Convert MKV to MOV for QuickTime on macOS

How to Play MKV on MacBook Air/Pro/iMac

How to Enable QuickTime to Play MKV on Mac

QuickTime: Everything about QuickTime Player

How to Download, Install and Use Perian for QuickTime

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Top Perian Substitutes That Outperform: Essential Software Options for Mac & PC