What Are Video Apps for Mac?
This category includes media players that play MKV, AVI, FLAC and other formats QuickTime refuses, plus converters that change format, resize and compress video. Many use Apple’s hardware encoders for fast exports on M-series Macs.
Why You Need Video Apps on macOS
QuickTime handles only a limited set of formats, and many downloaded videos, recordings and archives simply will not open. A universal player and a free video converter for Mac solve that once and for all — and help you send large videos without hitting attachment limits.
How to Choose the Best Video App for Mac
- Pick a player with subtitle search and Picture-in-Picture if you watch a lot.
- Use presets in converters to get the right size for each device.
- Hardware (VideoToolbox) encoding is much faster; software encoding gives slightly better quality.
- Open-source players avoid ads and bundled extras.
Pro tip: For sharing, H.265 at a moderate quality setting usually halves file size with no visible loss.
How to Install Video Apps on Your Mac
Every app in this category is a free download for macOS. Tap GET to open the app page, then download the DMG for Mac from the official developer link. Double-click the DMG, drag the app into Applications and eject the disk image. If Gatekeeper warns you on first launch, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway. Read the full DMG install guide.