CNET Editors' review
Perian is a free, open-source plug-in that can help QuickTime users play more formats, including most major codecs.
Billed as a "Swiss Army Knife for QuickTime," Perian installs a preference pane and automatically installs components for over two dozen formats--everything from AVI, FLV, and DivX to curios like DTS Coherent Acoustics audio, Xiph Vorbis (in Matroska), and various subtitle formats. The settings give you a few options, for the likes of alerts and audio output, but most of Perian's functionality happens invisibly during playback.
The one format that Perian won't help with is WMV (so you'll need something like Flip4Mac for that), but otherwise this free plug-in should add a lot of firepower to your Quicktime playback options.
Publisher's Description
From The Perian Team:
Perian enables QuickTime application support for additional media types:
- AVI, FLV, and MKV file formats
- MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivx, H.264, FLV/Sorenson Spark, FSV1, VP6, H263i, VP3, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, MPEG1 & MPEG2 Video, Fraps, Windows Media Audio v1 & v2, Flash ADPCM, Xiph Vorbis (in Matroska), and MPEG Layer II Audio
- AVI support for: AAC, AC3 Audio, H.264, MPEG4, and VBR MP3
- Subtitle support for SSA/ASS and SRT
What's new in this version:
- Some Fraps videos only displayed black. [r1424] (#566)
- Workaround checks for Front Row stopped being effective. [r1426] (#564)
- Fixed compatibility with web video playback. [r1427, r1429, r1450] (#572)
- Worked around System Preferences crashing during an update on 10.6. [r1449] (#591)
This change will take effect after this update.
- Further fixes to Matroska import. [r1432, r1441, r1447] (#338, #492, #594, #601)
More Popular Media Players downloads
- VLC Media Player
9,520 downloads
- RealPlayer SP
6,139 downloads
- MacTubes
1,618 downloads
- Perian
1,112 downloads
- Apple QuickTime for Snow Leopard
503 downloads
-
All versions:
4.3 starsout of 44 votes
-
Current version:
1.7 starsout of 3 votes
-
My rating:
Write review
Results 1-3 of 3
-
"Unable to view movies using Perian using Lion OS 10.6"
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!
-
"It sucks!!!"
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.
-
"It doesn't work on Lion"
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.
Results 1-3 of 3
Add Your Review
Submit your reply
E-mail this review
Report offensive content
See more CNET content tagged:
Previous Versions:
