Pros and Cons of QuickTime Player for Mac (And How to Fully Utilize It)

April 09, 2024Jenny Ryan

Media players have been important tools in our lives. When dealing with videos that contain documentation, ads, and others, you would need a media player to watch them. For Mac users, QuickTime might be the first player you have in mind. But does it have the playback you need? Or the correct function to change the playback speed, resolution, and other components? Let’s read this QuickTime Player for Mac review.

QuickTime Player for Mac

Part 1. QuickTime Player for Mac Review

The media player is a pre-installed tool for every Mac OS version. Aside from its main purpose for media playing, QuickTime also empowers storage and multimedia development functions. It fully supports the MOV format, but it can also open other videos like MPEG-4, 3GPP2, AVCHD, JPEG, and AVI Motion. Surprisingly, it is also equipped with a basic converter to allow you to transcode and encode the media file to other file extensions.

PROS

  • A user-friendly interface for video playback.
  • Configurable subtitle settings.
  • Free and accessible on any Mac version.
  • Smooth playback for 8K video because of hardware acceleration.
  • Built-in screen and audio recorder with plugins.
  • Export videos from websites directly to the device’s storage.

CONS

  • Apple stopped the Windows version of Apple QuickTime Player.
  • It only supports a few video, audio, and image formats.
  • Require plugins to screen record.
  • The video editing tools are too basic.

Playback

The media player often plays video in the best quality possible. It even supports high resolutions, including HD and 4K videos. Apple QuickTime has smoother playback as it supports video and audio codecs for compression. Additionally, it is complete with controls to manage media by pausing, stopping, or adjusting the volume.

Editing Tools

It has a simple set of editing tools that allow the user to split, trim, merge, and adjust the video and audio settings. Other than these, it also has a handful of customizable effects to change the visual contrast, brightness, and others.

Recording Options

If you are looking for a screen recorder, QuickTime offers it for free. It is enough to capture the screen with decent quality while providing a configurable screen size. Also, it has an audio recorder if you need to capture external sound using a microphone.

Part 2. A Beginner's Guide to QuickTime Player on MacOS Sonoma

Since QuickTime is not only a regular media player, this part will guide you on how to utilize, update, and uninstall the tool. Here are the steps on how to use QuickTime Player:

Step 1.
Locate the video file on your Mac and double-click it to automatically play it on QuickTime. If the file is on a source other than the local folder, open the QuickTime Player and access the File menu. Choose the Open File option and browse for the video. Click the Open button to import it to the player.
Step 2.
One option you can find on QuickTime Player on Mac is to change the pacing or playback speed. You can easily activate this function by holding the Options button on the keyboard while watching. Click your mouse to fast it forward from 1.0x to 2.0x.
Step 3.
To use the editing tools on the media player, go to the Edit menu from the top toolbar. Choose the Trim option to cut unwanted parts or merge multiple clips. You can either watch the final result after editing or export the video with a new output resolution.
QuickTime Player Edit Trim Merge Cut
Step 4.
If you need to record the screen, open the File dropdown menu and choose the New Recording option. The dropdown list beside the recording button has all the recording options. You will need to install the Soundflower plugin to capture the internal and external audio. Once done, click the REC button to start recording.
How to Use QuickTime Player Screen Recording
Step 5.
You can update the media player on your Mac by clicking the QuickTime Player button. Then, select Update Existing Software. From the Preferences menu, click the Update button to get the latest QuickTime version.

Part 3. Alternative to QuickTime Player for Mac

When you have learned that QuickTime can only play MOV files, an alternative is ideal for flexible playback. Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player is a media player for Mac with a clean user interface for quick maneuvering. It allows you to play any kind of video, including Blu-ray, DVD, MOV, MP4, HEVC, and more. You can also directly open 1080p HD media and effectively watch it with excellent visual effects. It extends its powerful functions, as it allows you to import 4K files with H.265/HEVC encoding without quality loss. Whether you have a physical disc or digital video, Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player is the best Apple QuickTime player alternative for Mac.

Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player

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  • Support newly released movies and modern encoded videos.
  • Customize the movie title, subtitle, playlist, and chapter.
  • Provide additional functions for taking screenshots and applying video effects.
  • High-quality audio with settings to configure the audio device.
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Part 4. FAQs about QuickTime Player for Mac

What did Apple replace QuickTime with?

While QuickTime on Mac is still relevant up to this date, Apple replaced the media player with the Apple TV app. The new tool supports a wider range of video and audio formats, and it also supports other media frameworks to give developers advanced tools for working with projects.

Why was QuickTime discontinued on Windows?

Apple did not officially state why it discontinued the Windows version of QuickTime. However, in 2016, the company decided to because of security concerns, such as a high risk of the computer getting malware or hackers accessing the user’s device. Furthermore, the discontinued version might be incompatible with Windows as more versions were being updated.

How do you make the QuickTime player default on Mac?

Launch the Finder window and choose a video file. Right-click on it and select the Get Info option from the dropdown list. Once the dialog box appears, go to the Open With section and access the dropdown menu beside Open With. Choose the QuickTime Player option and set it to Change All.

Conclusion

And that’s it! This will conclude the QuickTime Player for Mac review. Here, you have discovered that the media player is not merely a tool for playback but also has additional functions for other tasks. Depending on the benefits and disadvantages of the default media player, you still need Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player as your alternative. For sure, a new level of user experience can be found in this solution as you try it on your Mac.

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