Once in a while I’ll have Mac users ask why they can’t view a particular video sent to them by a friend. With most videos posted on YouTube or Vimeo today, it’s not a problem that occurs very often but older files may still it require a solution.
If you need to play a WMV (Windows Media Video) or WMA (Windows Media Audio) on your Mac, the answer is simple. Go to Microsoft’s web site then download and install the free Windows Media Components for QuickTime (orginally called Flip4Mac). Check out Telestream‘s website for more info. A couple of other free options are VLC Player or MPlayerX.
One other important software tool is Perian the “swiss-army knife for QuickTime” which adds several capabilities to playing video formats.
If you’d like to convert the Windows movie to a mac format that you can edit, get the Video Converter for Mac application from iSkySoft or the Wondershare Video Converter for Mac application.
Update 5/16/12: The team behind the open-source project Perian has announced that it will be retiring Perian after one final release. Times have changed and it is not nearly as necessary as it was at one time as more and more videos are released in standardized formats that work on mobile iPhones/iPad as well as the Mac.