Go to Window > Media Information to view the codec and other technical specifications. Many media players have embedded such a codec inspector so you can directly check video codec while playing a video file. View video codec in VLC player – optional If you still like to play the mp4 file in QuickTime, follow below instructions to convert it with VLC on your Mac. You may find VLC is more powerful and user-friendly than QuickTime. Go to play the MP4 video in VLC Player first to make sure this media player can decode the video file in problem. What’s more, it even allows users the ability to transcode their videos to be compatible with a wide variety of devices and players. You should be able to download this free media player for Mac, then play most videos right away. VLC media player is a free option you may consider. Note that this method may not work since the video in problem is not in a compatible format with the default media player on your Mac. Go to the More info section, you can see codecs of both audio and video used in the file. Then choose Get Info option from the contextual menu. Right-click (or press and hold Control key while you click) on the MP4 video file. Want to know which codec the MP4 file is encoded with? Here’s the quick way to find out the video code on Mac. Go to play the video in m4v format using the player you prefer see if any luck. m4v, if you make this change, your document may open in a different application. You’ll be asked whether you are sure to change the extension from. Duplicate the original video file in Finder, then rename it and change its extension from. Just give it a try see if any luck when you found a MP4 video can’t be opened in QuickTime Player on Mac.

QuickTime Player video supportĬhange extension from. We recommend MP4 with h.264 or h.265 codec for great compatibility with various devices and even online browsers. In such case, you can either use a more powerful media player with the codec support or transcode the video to a compatible codec, such as H.264. If the QuickTime Player won’t play a MP4 video, most likely the video is compressed using an incompatible codec. It is like a box that contains your video, audio, and metadata.

Why MP4 videos can’t be opened or played on Mac?

Other MP4 & video conversion alternatives.

Convert videos using VLC media player on Mac.

View video codec in VLC player - optional.

Why MP4 videos can't be opened or played on Mac?.

But why the QuickTime Player can play some MP4 files, not others. We all know that MP4 is the industry standard, the most popular video format and QuickTime Player is the default app to open and play MP4 files on Mac. Failed to open a MP4 file on Mac? MP4 video is not compatible with QuickTime Player?

How to play an mp4 file on mac