I have been keeping an eye on my Blog Stats and interestingly enough, I’ve discovered that there is a fair amount of people coming to my blog because they searched the term “k lite codec pack mac“. The actual search term may vary (E.g. some people might search for k codec mac instead), but as you can see, they are trying to find the “Mac version of K-Lite Codec Pack“. Unfortuneately, at the time of this writing, I don’t think there is a Mac version of the software…but surely there should be something on the Mac that does more or less the same thing. As far as I know, Perian is one of those software that is kind of like the K-Lite Codec Pack on the Windows….and might just be what you are looking for.
Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats.
–Official Description
Download: http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/22923/perian
Below is a step by step guide on how to install Perian 1.0 on your Mac.
Step 0: Download the software onto your Mac:
Step 1: Double click on the file “Perian 1.0.dmg” and it will be mounted in a few seconds:
Step 2: Double click on the Perian.prefPane to install Perian on your “System Preferences“:
Step 3: Your System Preferences window should come up shortly:
Personally I would like to install it for all users of this computer instead of just this user only. After you have made your choices, click on the Install button:
Step 4: If Perian is not installed, you won’t see a “Installed Version” number, so just click on the Install Perian button:
Step 5: A dialog box should come up and ask you for your Password, just type in your password and press OK:
(the Name will probably be something else other than David, unless you have the same user name as mine)
Step 6: Make sure you verify that Perian is installed before you try it out:
Notes: Although it didn’t ask you to “Restart” in the software…I’ve found that I need to restart my Mac before for the software is taking effect.
It does not actually need a restart. You will need to restart (quit and relaunch) any QuickTime client applications such as QuickTime player, Safari or Front Row.
Quitting the last one (and probably Quick Look server under leopard) is a bit tricky. You will either need to use Activity Monitor or shell commands (ps and kill) or logout of your user account and log back in. If you haven’t yet opened Front Row or used Quick Look in the current session you won’t need to do any of these hairy stuff.
- Hooman
from
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
I googled “K-Lite Codec mac” haha, thanks a lot man.
Heh. Thanks for the tip on Perian. QT Player initially took me over to Apple.com to get the DivX codect but that didn’t work with the video I was trying out. I then installed Perian and voila!
P.S. I didn’t need to restart my system; I simply quit QuickTime Player and then started it again.
P.P.S. First few days on an iMac that I’ve got at work to use for some testing
Great, now I discover that QuickTime Player doesn’t let you play videos full screen unless you buy the Pro version. WTF? Gonna go with VLC media player, definitely better IMO.
Hi no.good.at.coding,
Thanks for your comments
I think if you are using the latest version of Quicktime player, you should be able to play movies in full screen 
VLC is a great player too…I love using it…especially useful on DVDs
[...] I am not sure if this will work… However, I would say to try it out and see if it works.
Codecs I am going to take a look and see if I find something else.. o.o" New Sigs: + + + Old [...]
thanks for your tip..now i can listen to videos….ciao
i was one of those who googled. thanks a mill!
Thank you so much David!!!!
QT was really giving me a hard time with these avi videos… I tried converting them using Divx Doctor II along with the 3vix and the Divx codecs and it worked, but the files were twice as big on my HD… finally with Perian I can watch my old avi videos on my new mac ^^ you rock man!
Found your site looking for codecs for a mac.
Downloaded Perian , restarted machine …Perian is definately on the system but to play the video, do I need to do anything with Perian?…I clicked on the video, it opens in QT and I get a ‘Additional software is required….’ message, and the problem I have still persists…it’s an AVI file that plays fine on a PC, but on my mac, only the sound plays..no pic.
Re Sam:
Thanks for your comments
Actually…you shouldn’t need to install any extra stuff with Perian…QT should be fine. If Perian doesn’t solve your problem…you should try the following players:
DivX 6.7.1: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/11695/divx
VLC Media Player 0.8.6h: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/5758/vlc-media-player
Hope it works for you
You, sir, are a saint. Thank you.
I installed Perian on my macbook pro but still can’t get audio in Quicktime, only video? Footage from my camcorder was described as .MOD and .MOI which I’d never heard of and wasn’t recognised so I changed it to .mpg and quicktime then played the video fine - but no audio. Any ideas?
Re George:
Have you tried to use video players like VLC and DivX to play your videos? Did you have any software bundle with your camcorder? If so, are you able to play your video footage using those software?
By the way, my email can be found on the “About Me” page
Hi David, I had so many problems with .mkv files and spent two days trying to fix them. I finally, somehow ended up searching in google for “k lite codec pack mac” and came to your blog. Your guide to install Persian made my day. Thank you, very very much!!!
Chris
Hi David!
I have been downloading shows in .avi format but sometimes it takes too long for an .avi to be posted so I tried downloading a .mkv file. I always use VLC so i tried it for the .mkv, initially i have sound and picture but then the picture will suddenly stop (or should I say, “still”
on one frame while the audio goes on, the picture then plays but in a very far frame from where it stopped and will again stop after a second or two.
I am using a mac and as I searched there is no player or codec for me to use so that I can play .mkv files. Maybe you know a little more and can help me out? And by the way I already used Perian and it still doesn’t work. I then searched for K-Lite Codec Pack for Mac and here I am. Hope you can help me out.
Thanks!
Hi Paul
Thanks for your comments……just wondering is it possible for you to send me the video file that you’ve got? Thanks.
Hi David
I don’t know of any way I can send you the file since its 100-200MB per file. Is there anything in the file I can tweak or I can use so I can play it properly on VLC or do you need to see the file first so you can give me a more definite answer?
If it can help… I download anime series in mininova.com ( a torrent site). Specifically the Macross Frontier series. They have a ton of .mkv files there all of which I encounter the same problem.
Hope my answer helps you out… a bit
Thanks again!
Hi Paul, just wondering can you send me an email instead? Thanks
p.s. My email address can be found on the About Me page……