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Perian for Mac

CNET Editors' review

Perian is a software app that makes viewing your media files easier. Basically, Perian enables QuickTime application support for a wide variety of media files. Perian is available from several sources, but not the App Store when we looked. It installs easily as long as you have no software already installed that can conflict with Perian.

Perian supports a variety of file types for both video and audio files. All the standard file formats are supported, but there's a ton of less-commonly found file formats supported by Perian, too. Perian works without you realizing it is there. When QuickTime is used to play a file, that file just works (no more error messages). Files that don't normally work on the Mac all work using QuickTime, with Perian handling the file formats.

It's important to note that Perian does not work with QuickTime 10 or above, and the development team for Perian will cease updates in the near future to move to another project. Still, if you use earlier versions of QuickTime and run into file format issues (especially on migrated files), then Perian is a must-have. Its support for a huge number of file formats makes this a useful utility for most people.

Publisher's Description

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All User Reviews
  • All versions:

    4.3 stars

    out of 46 votes

    • 5 star: 32
    • 4 star: 7
    • 3 star: 2
    • 2 star: 1
    • 1 star: 4
  • Current version:

    2.8 stars

    out of 5 votes

    • 5 star: 1
    • 4 star: 1
    • 3 star: 1
    • 2 star: 0
    • 1 star: 2
  • My rating:

    0 stars

    Write review

Results 1-5 of 5

  • 5.0 stars

    "Play AVI and other videos in Quicktime Player"

    September 2, 2012  |   By Indydan54321

    Version: Perian 1.2.3

    Pros

    Quick and easy installation. Plays AVI and other videos in Quicktime Player. No separate interface required.

    Cons

    None found.

    Summary

    My computer is running OS 10.4.11. I installed Perian and can now play every video format except WMV in Quicktime Player. They play flawlessly (I use Windows Media Player 9 to play WMV files.)

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  • 4.0 stars

    "Not sure what some people are complaining about."

    May 28, 2012  |   By solvs

    Version: Perian 1.2.3

    Pros

    It is free, works fine for most things. Only plugin package for Macs that comes with most of what you need. What's to complain about?

    Cons

    I did have some problems installing one system once, but I think they had other problems. Wound up reinstalling their OS (10.6) for something else and retrying this and it worked fine. Doesn't have every type of odd codec out there, so there are some things that it won't play, but neither does VLC sometimes. For what it is, it's great and I'm sad to see future development going away. Maybe now that it's completely opensourced someone else will take the ball and run with it. Love how it says it works on PPC 10.6, CNET are the ones who need to get their acts together.

    Summary

    It works, use it. If it doesn't, you have another problem. Don't say it doesn't work on an OS just because you're having issues. Using it on Mountain Lion, and it works fine with 2 different versions of QT.

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  • 3.0 stars

    "Unable to view movies using Perian using Lion OS 10.6"

    January 2, 2012  |   By cmooreatl

    Version: Perian 1.2.3

    Pros

    Quick and easy download.

    Cons

    Was unable to view movies using OS Lion 10.6 although audio worked perfectly.

    Summary

    Hope an update can rectify in the future. Thank you!

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  • 1.0 stars

    "It sucks!!!"

    August 29, 2011  |   By uniquueuser

    Version: Perian 1.2.3

    Pros

    I've found none.

    Cons

    Did I say it sucks?

    Summary

    There are other FREE options that work better and faster than this POS. Wasted money and so much time on it. I will never use it again.

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  • 1.0 stars

    "It doesn't work on Lion"

    August 19, 2011  |   By GiraltCR

    Version: Perian 1.2.3

    Pros

    None whatsoever.

    Cons

    It doesn't work.

    Summary

    They should've tested 1.2.3 on Lion before releasing it... It doesn't work at all.

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Results 1-5 of 5

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