by Christine Smith • 2020-10-28 17:39:14 • Proven solutions
As many Mac users have noticed, they can't play or open MKV files on Mac. What's the matter? MKV is a free, open-source container format with different types and an unlimited number of video, audio, picture, or subtitle tracks, making it unrecognizable by a single player like QuickTime. Then how to watch MKV files on Mac? Don't worry. We collect 3 methods for you to play MKV Mac successfully.
Cisdem Video Player (Editor’s Choice) If you have a few 4K movies on hand and they are in various. The all-powerful free Mac media player that can support almost all media categories and formats, like movies, videos, audios. Designed as a free DVD Player for Mac, it also supports VideoCD, MKV, MOV, AVI, FLV, WMV, MP4, MPEG, RMVB, MP3, WMA and other non-mainstream formats on all Mac OS X, including Mac OS 10.12 Sierra.
Part 1. Play MKV with All-in-one Wondershare MKV Player & Converter
Without further ado, I'd like to recommend you Wondershare UniConverter (originally Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate), which combines MKV player and MKV converter into one, allowing you to free play MKV, MP4, MOV, and over 1000 popular video formats and easily convert MKV formats to other supported formats for playing back on any player.
1. Play MKV on Mac with Wondershare Free MKV PlayerStep 1 Add MKV to Wondershare Free MKV Player
Open the Wondershare MKV player, drag, and drop your MKV video to the MKV video player. Then the added MKV file will be loaded in the video thumbnail.
Step 2 Play .mkv on Mac
Move the mouse over the MKV video thumbnail. You'd see a Play icon in the middle just as the screenshot shows.
Click the Play icon, and you'll see the loaded MKV video starts playing immediately.
![]() 2. Convert MKV to MOV or Other Formats Supported with Wondershare MKV Converter Mac
Here we take converting MKV to MOV as an example. See the detailed steps below.
Step 1 Add MKV Files to Convert to MOV
Launch Wondershare MKV Converter Mac, click to browse your Mac, and add your target MKV video to the program.
Step 2 Choose MOV as Output Format
Click the down arrow icon beside Output Format to get the full list of the output formats, select Video > MOV and choose a video resolution in the right.
If you have a lot of MKV files and want to play them on other Apple devices like iPhone, iPad, or iPod, you'd better convert MKV to an optimized device. In short, you can choose any format or device you want (most popular format or devices are also supported here).
Step 3 Convert MKV to MOV EasilyMkv Files Mac
Hit Start All or Convert to start converting MKV videos on Mac. Once the MKV conversion completes, you can click the folder-like icon beside File Location in the bottom to get the converted .mov file. Now you can freely play MKV video with QuickTime player. Here, you also can download the MKV videos from the online site as the MOV format in this Wondershare Video Downloader for Mac easily.
Part 2. Convert MKV to Mac-compatible Formats with Free MKV Converter Online
Here is an easier way for you to free convert MKV to other supported formats on Mac. With the online MKV converter tool AConvert, you don't need to install any program but start MKV conversion online.
Part 3. Install Perian Plugin for QuickTime to Play MKV on Mac
Perian is a free, open-source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats like the MKV. When you've had Perian installed, you have to quit QuickTime completely and then restart it.
Note that you don't close the QuickTime Window. Actually, it's still running in the background. Since only that way, QuickTime can update its format and encoding library. See the detailed steps below.
Now you'll find that QuickTime now can magically support more diverse video formats: AVI, DivX, DivX 3.11 alpha, XviD, MS-MPEG4 v3, 3ivX, MS-MPEG4 v2, MS-MPEG4 v1, Truemotion VP6, Sorenson H.263, FLV, and formats that an AVI file contains--AC3, AAC Audio, VBR MP3, mpeg4, and h.264. In short, feel free to play MKV files on Mac.
If you are carrying your MacBook and a bunch of TV shows contained in .mkv format, you start to play back your favorite TV shows with your QuickTime. Bump! It does not work! This is disappointing because you always believe QuickTime plays everything but how come it fails to stream .mkv files? Is it lacking QuickTime mkv codec? How can I open .mkv files on my QuickTime anyway? With all these questions in head, you are lucky to come over and stop by here. Read on!
Part 1: Can QuickTime Open and Play MKV Files
Technically, a file ended with .mkv is a Matroska Video file. It's a video container like MOV and AVI, but also supports an unlimited number of audio, picture and subtitle tracks. The unlimited storage capacity makes it an excellent format for TV shows, movies, etc. No wonder many TV shows and movies are contained in .mkv files. QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Theoretically speaking, QuickTime plays multimedia files just as easily as other player would do. Let’s view in details what media formats it actually supports to play.
As it is shown clearly in the above table, .mkv is beyond the native support of QuickTime because .mkv represents an unlimited storage capacity which is beyond the capacity of QuickTime player. If we are going to make QuickTime play .mkv files, extra steps must be taken before it can open and play .mkv files.
Part 2: How to Install MKV Codec on QuickTime
To let QuickTime open and play .mkv files, you might need to install a plugin, which can extend QuickTime support for .mkv files. Perian is a free and open source QuickTime component that will help QuickTime play .mkv files without troubles. To install Perian, your QuickTime player may resume having the ability to open and play .mkv files. You can download and install the plugin from its official website.
The essential steps are to install the Perian codec to your Mac. Follow the guide here to do so.
Step 1: Download the Perian from the website here.
Step 2: Disable your Gatekeeper protection a little bit for installing Perian smoothly.
Step 3: Install the .mkv codec - Perian. Click to open the installer and you just have to click ‘Perian.prefPane’ to begin the installation.
Undoubtedly, if you install the correct .mkv codec on your QuickTime, it may also be able to fulfill the .mkv playback.
Part 3: Convert MKV to MP4 QuickTime Format
Apparently Perian will stop its update and support soon because the developer team has something else to focus on and devote to. Besides, installing .mkv codec is not that easy for general users and even though it will work once it is installed successfully, it takes ages to load the .mkv files till it opens and plays back on QuickTime. Thus, it is not smart to rely on plugins or codecs for making QuickTime play .mkv files. Instead, we can consider converting .mkv files to QuickTime compatible format like MP4 for smooth playback, can’t we?
Here I strongly recommend you one of the best video converters - Leawo Video Converter. It supports a wide range of multimedia file formats, including AVI, MKV, MOV, MP4, and so on and so forth. With the advanced media processing technology, this video converter processes files at 6x higher converting speed and preserves 100% original quality after file conversion. It is more than just a video converter but also a video editor, allowing users to custom make their stylish videos with rich editing features provided. To let you know more about the procedure to operate this program, we will give a detailed tutorial guide to convert .mkv to .mp4 for playback on QuickTime using the best Leawo Video Converter for Mac.
Step 1: Download and install.
Keep in mind to download and install Leawo Video Converter Mac. Click the respective button below to do so.
Step 2: Load the source .mkv files to the video converter.
Launch the video converter from the Leawo Prof.Media suite by hitting the video converter icon on the main interface. Click Add Video to import the source .mkv files to the program.
Step 3: Change your output format to mp4.
Click Change from the format dropdown menu to pick up the target output format.
Step 4: Convert .mkv to .mp4.
Click on Convert from the toolbar and set a directory on the pop-up sidebar to save the output file. Then, hit on the bit round button Convert to kick off the conversion process. A green progress bar will appear to let you track down the progress in real time.
Tidy up 5 3 4 x 2. Note that once your .mkv file has been successfully converted to .mp4, you can stream it on QuickTime player in no time. It won’t take long to recognize and play .mp4 files because .mp4 is the native format supported by QuickTime.
Part 4: Alternative Player to QuickTime for MKV Playback
Maybe you have already noticed that if you want to play .mkv files directly, it is not smart to stick to QuickTime for .mkv playback. Converting .mkv to .mp4 is a way but picking an alternative to QuickTime player is an even smarter way. Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac is an absolute right choice for you. This media player supports direct playback of .mkv files without the need to make conversion or install third-party plugins. In addition, it is a 6-in-1 multimedia player supporting direct playback of DVDs, Blu-rays, ISO image files, 4K or UHD videos. It also has the ability to handle css protection without losing file quality. The best part of this media player is it ensures every user can have the chance to enjoy cinema-like movie experience at home. It is such a game-changing and world-blasting player. Move on to our step-by-step procedure to play .mkv files on Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac.
Step 1: Download and install.
Go to the download page. Download the software and install it on your computer. Then launch the program.
Mac Mkv Player
Step 2: Load the .mkv files to the player.
Click Open File to browse and load the .mkv files to the player.
Step 3: Adjust the settings before playback.
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Click on the editing button on the main interface to enter the settings window, where you are able to adjust the playback options such as subtitles, video and audio configurations.
Mac Os Mkv Player
Step 4: Enjoy .mkv file playback.
Playing Mkv On Mac
Hit on the playback button to start playing .mkv files. Note that during playback, you can also right click to enter the setting page.
Part 5: Conclusion
With this article, you may relax a lot if you cannot open and play .mkv files on QuickTime player on your Mac. To be honest, it is not the fault of your QuickTime neither your source .mkv files, it is just the incompatibility of the two. To enable QuickTime play back .mkv files, you need to install .mkv codec Perian, which is an open source component for QuickTime. Mac does not recognize the plugin naturally so during installation of Perian, you need to disable your Gatekeeper on Mac beforehand.
Mac Play Mkv
We also learn that the developer team for Perian may cease updates soon hence Perian is not the perfect choice for us to apply anymore. We will need a more reliable way to enable QuickTime to play .mkv files. In this case, Leawo Video Converter for Mac is a great solution to let you convert .mkv to QuickTime compatible file format losslessly. With this video converter, users can play the converted files on QuickTime player quickly and smoothly.
Being an alternative to QuickTime player, Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac provides a more direct way to play .mkv files. Unlike QuickTime, Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac natively recognizes .mkv files and supports direct playback of .mkv files in no time.
All in all, you now have three major solutions to open and play back .mkv files. Enjoy and have fun with your favorite TV shows now!
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