Mac Kung Fu, 2nd Edition

Tip 387

Expand QuickTime Player’s Knowledge of File Types

This book has largely avoided recommending third-party tools you can download, but there are two exceptions: Windows Media Components for QuickTime and Perian.^[41] These are system add-ons that allow your computer to play practically all movie and audio file formats. This is needed because OS X’s support for movie files doesn’t go much beyond its own QuickTime formats and DVD movie discs.

Once installed, Perian will add an entry within System Preferences (Apple menu→System Preferences) by which you can configure some of the options for audio output and so on (although there’s usually no need to do so). Windows Media Components for QuickTime includes a special player application, accessible ...