The importance of a powerful media player can be well understood by movie freaks who wish to enjoy their favorite videos in best quality. Majority of videos over Internet are available in MP4 format and thus MP4 players are the most commonly used players. Even though Mac's default media player, QuickTime, supports MP4 video playback, sometimes you may find that you couldn't play MP4 video with QuickTime. This is because MP4 videos may be encoded with different codec. Then the player may try to download an appropriate codec to play back the file. However, if fruitless, you will have to install other MP4 player to play your videos, or convert MP4 to other video format, like MOV. In this article, I will share my experience and offer two commonly used methods to help you open MP4 videos on Mac for enjoying with ease.
Play MP4 files on Mac with the professional MP4 player
To watch MP4 files on Mac OS X (E1 Capitan and macOS Sierra included), one feasible method is take professional Mac MP4 players to use. There are top 5 best Mac MP4 media players of 2017 we would like for you to recommend as follows: (based on some online opinion polls)
Top 1 8K Player
8K Player is a great alternative to VLC and Apple QuickTime to play any MP4 files on your Mac no matter what codec they deployed such as H.265/H.264, MPEG etc. Lots of friends think 8K Player runs after VLC and Apple QuickTime player, offers smoother playback when other media players show choppy video. With fully compatible with Mac (up to macOS Sierra) as well as Windows OS, including Windows 10, it has more concise and decent interface, economizes more resource, and takes less occupancy on CPU memory of your Mac. Thanks to the support for tons of video/audio codecs, it can play any movie/music videos smoothly and directly. Moreover, it performs well in playing SD/720P 1080p HD/4K UHD, DVD and Blu-ray region-free media source in any format, such as, MKV, M2TS, TS, MOD, TOD, MP4, AVI, WMV, MOV, M4V, MPEG, H.264, FLV, etc. No noisy ads to distract you with opening movies.
Extra features of 8K Player, the No.1 video player for Mac
* Act as a free music player to play videos music in MP3, M4A, WMA, WAV, FLAC, AAC, AC3, etc;
* Work as free movie DVD player software to play regular and strictly encrypted DVD movies;
* Function as a free online video recorder to create professional-like video tutorials and screencasts;
* Play the selected video or audio single or segment in a continuous loop;
* Choose the language for audio and subtitles when files have multiple subtitles and audio streams;
* Breakout to play any movie and video even the general video players can't, “ONE-KEY” to make GIF;
* Visual screenshot to capture every moment you love in the video.
Free Download or Purchase 8K Player for Mac (Blu-ray Power):
Top 2 VLC Media Player
VLC was voted into the top 5 of the best MP4 video players for Mac, which is a FREE and open-source multimedia player compatible with Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, etc, over ten operating systems written by non-profit VideoLAN. This is the really amazing thing for all sorts of platform-users. Technically, VLC media player for Mac supports video in nearly all types of file formats, like MOV, MP4, QuickTime, AVI, MPEG, some WMV, DVD ISO file, etc. Also, you can use this best Mac video player to play DVD, CD, and VCD. This is the first free video player for Mac and Linux that can playback encrypted DVDs. Incomplete or damaged videos can be played as well. But it is a little delayed while playing, "Each time I click on run video network it plays other audio and dvds etc and after a million times it finally plays the YouTube video." but as a whole, it is a best video player Mac.
Top 3 QuickTime
QuickTime Player is Apple's flagship best media player. This best MP4 media player for Mac is slick and easy to use,allows editing and conversion. QuickTime lets you view Internet video, HD movie trailers, and personal media.
Cons: It is a bit slow to launch, has limited video formats supported, for more formats available, you have to install external plug-in Perian.
Video Format: QuickTime Movie (.mov) MPEG-4 (.mp4, .m4v) MPEG-2 (OS X Lion or later) MPEG-1 3GPP 3GPP2 AVCHD (OS X Mountain Lion or later) AVI (Motion JPEG only) DV
Audio format: iTunes Audio (.m4a, .m4b, .m4p) MP3 Core Audio (.caf) AIFF AU SD2 WAV SND AMR
Top 4 MPlayerX
Many Mac users take MPlayerX media player as a standard part of their toolbox simply because it works properly and all most popular codecs are in it. No fuss or headache of codec installing or updating. Seriously, you will not be frustrated with such practical video player on your Mac OS. Problem like disappearing of title bar in QuickTime never happens. When playing AVI file on Mac/MacBook, this best Mac MP4 media player performs great without stuttering while Divx player cannot recognize the file sometimes. Well, system crash things happen randomly, which should be tackled properly.
Top 5 Movist
Movist is a simple and best MP4 video player Mac, it supports QuickTime and FFmpeg and also supports subtitles. It is pretty excellent for those that need to encode and decode QuickTime and FFmpeg formats. You can do some general and advanced settings for better and convenient video playback.
Cons: This best video player for Mac has been designed as a replacement for Quicktime, but it supports limited formats.
Alternative to MP4 Player to play MP4 files on Mac OS X?
A Mac mp4 player can help you open and play MP4 files on your Mac, but still can't avoid some incompatible issues and it's impossible to adjust the video quality as you like. To make the most of your MP4 video files such as your downloaded from Twitter or Facebook, you'd better convert MP4 files to Mac or any other device, editing software, and media player friendly formats. To do it, you can try Dimo Video Converter for Mac.
It enables you to convert MP4 to MOV or compatible MP4 for playing on Mac OS X(El Capitan, macOS Sierra) easily without any quality loss. Besides, it lets you directly convert MP4 videos to iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Final Cut Pro, iMovie or many some other media devices, video editing programs friendly format with the best quality. Furthermore,the built-in DVD/Blu-ray ripper is huge plus, the resulting video quality is excellent, especially when paired with the barebones editor that allows you to trim, crop, and layer video effects for a more hands-on approach. Along with theIP address sharing technology, you could also take your Mac as home media server radio to share the MP4 from Mac to TV or other mobile devices easily by ONE-KEY touch.
Free Download or Purchase Dimo Video Converter Ultimate for Mac/Win:
Need the lifetime version to work on 2-4 Macs so that your friends and family can instantly broaden their entertainment options? Please refer to the family license here.
Kindly Note:
The price of Dimo Video Converter Ultimate for Mac is divided into 1 Year Subscription, Lifetime/Family/Business License: $43.95/Year; $45.95/lifetime license; $95.95/family license(2-4 Macs); $189.95/business pack(5-8 Macs). Get your needed one at purchase page.
Still got trouble of watching MP4 on your Mac, then contact us to get online supports.
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Source: How to Rip, Convert and Backup Game of Thrones seasons 6 Blu-ray movies