Perian for Mac

Extend QuickTime to play more file types

Important compatibility note: Perian is no longer being developed and it will not function with QuickTime 10 or later. It remains usable with QuickTime 7.6.6, so if that legacy QuickTime version is your default player, Perian can enable playback of a wide variety of media formats. Because development stopped, no future updates will make it compatible with QuickTime 10+.

What Perian adds to QuickTime

Perian is a lightweight QuickTime component that expands the player’s format support. Key capabilities include:

• Subtitle handling for formats such as SRT and SSA, so you can view original-language captions inside QuickTime.
• Improved audio compatibility, including AC3, AAC, MP3 (VBR), and MPEG Layer II support.
• Native handling for many container/codec combinations, for example MKV, FLV, AVI, DivX, H.264 and Xiph Vorbis (commonly found in Matroska files).
• Added compatibility with lesser-known codecs and formats like Flash ADPCM, VP6, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, FSV1 and several versions of MPEG and Windows Media audio.

Additional notes: Perian also brings better AVI import for files that contain AAC, AC3, H.264, MPEG-4 and VBR MP3 audio tracks.

Installing and using Perian

Perian installs quickly and runs silently in the background once placed in the QuickTime components folder. While VLC remains the broadly recommended cross-platform player for its comprehensive out-of-the-box codec coverage, pairing QuickTime 7.6.6 with Perian is a convenient, free alternative if you prefer QuickTime’s interface and integration with OS X applications that rely on QuickTime.

Final release (version 1.2.3) — fixes and remarks

Note: Version 1.2.3 is the final release that supports Mac OS X 10.4.

Notable fixes and changes in 1.2.3 included:

• Continued improvements to Matroska (MKV) import and handling.
• A workaround to prevent System Preferences from crashing during updates on OS X 10.6.
• Restored better compatibility for web-delivered video playback.
• Reinstated effectiveness of the Front Row workaround checks.
• Resolved an issue where some Fraps-recorded videos showed only a black screen.

These corrections were applied in the 1.2.3 update; some take effect only after updating the component.