M4V is a video container format developed by Apple. It is one of Mac supported video formats, so M4V video files should play on Mac, but some users report that they can't open and play m4v files on Mac. In this article, we'll explain why M4V not playing on Mac issue happens and provide solutions to open M4V files on Mac.
Why Can't You Play M4V on Mac?
There are many reasons for M4V not opening on Mac.
1. M4V file is encrypted. If your M4V file is come from iTunes Store, it is probably protected by Apple's FairPlay copy protection. In this case, you can only play the M4V file on a computer authorized (using iTunes) with the account that was used to purchase the movie. If you don't have the account, you will have to remove the DRM encryption to play the M4V file on Mac.
2. M4V file contains Mac incompatible codec. As M4V is a video container format just like MP4, it may contain a codec format that your Mac doesn't support. In this case, you need to convert your M4V to Mac playable format or try a different M4V player.
3. M4V file is corrupted. This may be a result of virus intrusion, presence of bad media spots in the memory where M4V files are saved, uneven change of file type from .m4v to other video formats or vice-versa, etc. You can try some video repair tool to fix it.
In the following part, we'll focus on showing how to convert M4V to play on Mac and introducing the best M4V player for Mac.
How to Convert M4V to Play on Mac
You can take full advantage of MacX Video Converter Pro, a feature-rich M4V video converter for Mac to help play M4V on Mac without issues. It lets you:
- Convert M4V videos on Mac to MP4, QuickTime MOV, etc. to solve M4V playback issue on Mac.
- Change aspect ratio, trim, crop, add subtitles for M4V videos to improve M4V playing experience.
- Open and play M4V videos on Mac in a small window smoothly with wonderful viewing experience.
- Download M4V videos, movies from Vimeo, Dailymotion 1000+ video sharing sites.
MacX Video Converter Pro works as an expert to convert videos. It supports virtually all formats like M4V, MP4, MOV, WMV, MKV, AVI, HEVC, and FLV. In addition, the converting process is too short to influence the movies watching for its fast converting speed. Not to mention the faultless video quality during converting, almost no quality loss of movies if you convert with MacX to play movies on Apple TV.
Let's free download the M4V video player & converter for Mac, install, and run it to begin converting M4V to Mac playable format.
Step 1: Click + Video button to load source M4V files from your computer. The Mac video player & converter will load files quickly.
Step 2: Choose an output format from the popping up Output Profile window. You can convert M4V to MP4, M4V to AVI, M4V to QuickTime MOV etc. for playback on any media player installed on Mac. You can scroll down to Mac General Video which category covers formats that are 100% compatible with Mac.
Step 3: Click RUN button to start M4V video conversion on macOS. Now, your converted M4V files should play on Mac, requiring no M4V codec.
Top 3 Best M4V Players for MacBook Air/Pro/iMac
If M4V files won't play on Mac using QuickTime or iTunes, you can try other media players installed on Mac. Right click the M4V file in the Finder, select Open With, and try other video players. Here are top 3 M4V video players for macOS.
1. VLC media player
The free open source video player VLC can handle a large number of video formats, including M4V. VLC is better than QuickTime in video playback performance. If QuickTime won't open and play M4V files, VLC is a good alternative M4V player for Mac (learn how to play M4V in VLC). Even videos are out of sync or stutter in QuickTime, they are fine with VLC.
VLC supports a wide range of file formats, such as QuickTime formats, AVI, WMV, MP4, FLV, MKV etc. What's more, it is a good HEVC player for Mac. Users are also allowed to add subtitle file and convert video file formats using the free M4V player for Mac.
To open M4V with VLC, you simply need to find your M4V video, right click it and select Open With, and then select VLC. Then, VLC will launch to play your M4V file on Mac.
2. 5KPlayer
This free M4V player for Mac is not as popular as VLC but definitely worth trying. With the focus on media file playback, the player comes with a nifty user interface, simple and super fast playback of HD/4K videos. Surely, it does more than M4V video playback. 4K video player, MP4 video player, MKV, AVI, MOV, WMV, … 5KPlayer is a multi-functional and professional M4V video player for Mac.
It includes tons of other useful features that many Mac M4V players don't have, for example, the ability to download videos Mac, play DVDs, VIDEO_TS folders, Airplay, the list goes on.
To open M4V with 5KPlayer, you have 3 ways.
- Right click on your M4V file in Finder and and select to open it with 5KPlayer.
- Directly drag and drop M4V file to the main interface of 5KPlayer.
- Click Video on 5KPlayer to select and open target M4V video.
3. Elmedia Video Player
The M4V player Mac free version gives great HD video playback performance. Users can rotate, change aspect ratio and flip M4V videos. It also plays audio track including external ones and various subtitle files. As a free M4V video player for Mac plays various media files, such as AVI, WMV, FLV, SWF etc. that QuickTime may fail to play. The most annoying thing is that the M4V player for Mac keeps advertising its paid pro version.
You can put M4V video to Elmedia just like what you do with 5KPlayer.
