My WMP only plays sound for my .mov files. How to fix it?

Question

My friend created some .mov files with his mac. Now I'm trying to play them in my Windows 7 machine with Windows Media Player and I only see sound but not image. There must be an encoding issue. But how do I find out what encoder I need?

Solution

The .mov videos are in a proprietary Apple format whose secrets are jealously guarded by Apple. Many Apple codecs have non-Apple implementations which are pretty good, but not perfect,.

The only video player that's guaranteed to play .mov videos correctly is Apple's QuickTime. You can download it here (be sure not to download the version with iTunes).

You can either use the QuickTime player to watch your .mov videos, or you can still continue to use Windows Media Player. But in this case you'll need a product that makes available to WMP all the QuickTime codecs currently installed. A free product that does that is available here : QuickTime DirectShow Source Filter.

Comments

[User]

VLC media player can often play .mov files that windows media player can't by default.

[Nestor]

Thanks for the tip, but I don't see the encoding there. Am I missing something?

[skjindal93]

Perhaps this website will help: hack7mc.com/2009/04/…

[Nestor]

I have QuickTime.. and it doesnt play the image either...

[harrymc]

Only 2 explanations: (1) Your QuickTime version is not up to date, or (2) this is not a real .mov file (your friend called it .mov but it isn't internally). You can verify the file type by using GSpot at free-codecs.com/download/GSpot.htm.