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Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats.

Perian enables QuickTime application support for additional Media Types:
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Download Perian 1.1

Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.7 because 10.3 makes the iceweasel cower in fear.

Installation: Open the disk image and double click the Perian.prefPane icon.

The Perian Project provides a Mac OS X QuickTime component wrapper for several libraries:

Perian enables QuickTime-based playback tools access to more file formats and codecs. The code is available under the LGPL.

Download Perian 1.1 Source

We offer several ways to communicate and collaborate:
Please enjoy our screencasts of Perian in action!

How to download and install Perian, then clean up the remaining disk image:

How to download a Flash Video file from YouTube and open with QuickTime Player:

We are proud to offer links to related software in the community: The Perian Project would like to thank:
Perian Project Team: Please contact the Perian Project Team via the mailing list, bug report system, or forum.
Installation and Removal:

Please consider removing obsolete QuickTime Components: FFusion, Xvid Delegate, 3ivX, DivX, XviD, msmpeg4v1, msmpeg4v2, AviImporter, EX_M4S2, and Casio AVI Importer

How do I remove Perian?
Open the System Preferences. Select the Perian pane and 'Remove.' Now 'Show All' preference panes, control-click the Perian pane and 'Remove "Perian" Preference Pane.'

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why does it take so long for MKV to load?
The entire movie must be loaded into QuickTime.

Problems and Feature Requests:

Create a bug report for an enhancement request or bug fix.

Join the mailing list to discuss features and ask questions.

Visit the forum to follow happenings in the community.

Version History:

1.1 - Wednesday, Feb 6, 2008

  • Major performance improvements
  • TrueAudio, MP1, and DTS audio support
  • Slice-based multithreaded decoding for MPEG-1/2/H.264
  • Apple H.264 now handles AVCHD/interlaced video
  • Compatibility fixes for QuickTime 7.4 and Leopard
  • Objective-C GC compatibility
  • Fixed a crash in Toast
  • Better subtitle rendering
  • Subtitles play during MKV loading
  • Snow support
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes

1.0 - Friday, June 29, 2007

  • Added support for Matroska/mkv
  • Integrated a52codec
  • Added subtitle support
  • Added support for .gvi (avi wrapper from Google Video)
  • Changed distribution to a Preference Pane in order to make installation simpler and configuration possible in the long term.
  • Changed installation directory from /Library/QuickTime to ~/Library/QuickTime.
  • Fixed avi/flv over http
  • Added support for Windows Media Audio in AVI
  • Added support for MPEG-1 layer 2 audio
  • Added support for the ADPCM audio codec in FLV
  • Added Vorbis decoder
  • Added support for Fraps FPS1
  • Added support for VP3
  • Added support for i263
  • Added support for HuffYUV
  • Added support for MPEG-1/2 video in AVI/MKV
  • Fix opening AVIs with VBR audio for which there is no available decoder
  • Fix crash with DVI ADPCM
  • Fix multichannel audio descriptions in AVI
  • Faster opening of AVI files
  • High profile H.264 support
  • Full MPEG-4 video support in .mp4
  • Altivec & SSE2 colorspace conversion
  • Fix DV in type 1 AVIs

0.5 - Friday, September 29, 2006

  • Initial Release

Copyright © 2006-2008 Perian Project. All rights reserved.

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