One of the problems Mac users occasionally run into when playing audio and video files found on the Internet is that there is no Quicktime plugin available. Because of this, Mac users will often have a handful of applications on their computer, to ensure that whatever file is found will be able to be viewed or listened to. Unfortunately, this can lead to the situation where different programs attempt to take over the computer, and have themselves named as the default program for files which be better viewed in a different program.
A new piece of software, called simply Perian, attempts to alleviate this situation. Perian, simply put, is a collection of Quicktime components, made up of several software libraries, that attempts to allow Quicktime to play nearly every type of multimedia that’s out there.
Included among the file formats Perian supports, by way of the libavcodec (via the ffmpeg project), are:
MS-MPEG v1 & v2
DivX
3ivX
H.264
FLV1 (Flash video)
FSV1
VP6
H263I
VP3
HuffYUV
ffvhuff
MPEG-1 & 2 video
FRAPS
Windows Media Audio v1 & v2
Flash ADPCM
Xiph Vorbis (if embedded in a Matroska file)
MPEG Layer II Audio
As well, Perian supports, via the libavformat project, the AVI and FLV file formats, and, via libmatroska, the MKV file format. Perian also allows a Mac user to play files containing AC3 audio.
Perian is an open-source project (as many of the components are originally from other open-source projects), and can be downloaded from the Perian website (perian.org).
Installation is a snap. Once the file has downloaded, you will have a disk image on your desktop. Inside of it is something called Perian.prefpane, which is a Mac OS X preference panel. Simply double-click on this item, and your Mac OS X System Preferences will open. Wait for Perian to be installed, and that’s it… you’re ready to start viewing all the multimedia formats Perian supports.
What’s great about this is that there’s really nothing for the user to configure. The only options are Audio Options, and there are only two. The first is the type of Audio Output. The user can select from Stereo, Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Pro Logic II or Multi-Channel Output. Simply select the one that suits you best (likely to be Stereo), and then move to the second option, which is how Perian will Play Soft Sounds. You can choose to have Perian force soft sounds to be played louder than normal via sound compression, which in effect lessens the difference between loud and soft sounds (something done to nearly all music played on the radio to enable people to listen to a variety of songs without having to constantly move the volume control).
But that’s it! Now all those pesky files, which previously required MPlayer or VLC can be viewed within Quicktime Player, simply by double clicking! Add to it the great work done with Windows Media by the people at Flip4Mac, and soon Quicktime Player might be the only multimedia player you’ll need!
