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XviD Codec for Mac: Find the Best Option

Since Xvid is a legacy codec, it is not supported by QuickTime, and even third-party players don't always include the Xvid codec for Mac. Our article documents the best applications that can open this format specifically, including Elmedia Player.

Top choice
Elmedia: universal video player
4.5 Rank based on 1531+ users, Reviews(793)
 
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Let's find Xvid video codec for Mac.

The Best XviD Player for Mac - Elmedia

Elmedia: universal video player
4.5 Rank based on 1531 + users Reviews(793)
Requirements: macOS 10.12+
Version: v8.12(3287), Released 8 Jan, 2023 Release notes
Category: Video
Direct Download

Elmedia Player by Electronic Team is the perfect Xvid player for Mac for many reasons. It’s a well designed app with changeable skip hotkeys and timeline thumbnails. The Elmedia interface is visually pleasing and accessible to all users. The menu is well structured and concise, and there is a hotkey for just about everything.

This Mac video player is fully configurable. Sound can be tweaked in the 10-band equalizer, with adjustable audio and subtitle delay to deal with desynchronized videos. There are even more options in the video tuner - color balance, contrast, brightness, rotation, and deinterlacing, among others.

Besides, Elmedia Player offers subtitle support. You can move subtitles around the screen, change colors and fonts. You can select both external and built-in audio and subtitle tracks. They can also open automatically if their filename matches the name of the video.

Bookmarks and playlists make it easy to organize your library. If you get back to a file, Elmedia video player for Mac can (optionally) remember the timeline position, to restart it where you left off. Finally, the AirPlay/DLNA streaming feature, available with Elmedia PRO, is easy to use and flexible, supporting countless receivers and featuring compatibility options, such as live transcoding and subtitle burning.

Best video player for Mac.

Supported OS: macOS

Price: free to use, PRO upgrade priced at $19.95

Supported formats: MP3, FLAC, M4A, APE, OGG, AC3, M4A, AAC, WMA, WAV, MKV, AVI and many more.

icon pros Pros:

  • Built-in Xvid codec and countless others
  • Can be configured in many different ways
  • Free to use
  • Convenient UI
  • Streaming done right
  • Automatic subtitle and external audio search.

icon cons Cons:

  • Many functions locked behind PRO
  • Hotkeys can’t be customized.

User reviews:

“Elmedia player is a powerful app with lots of customizable features built in. It’s easy to use, but finding the right version isn’t very user-friendly. If Electronic Team, Inc. can spend some time cleaning up their websites and product pages AND if they consolidate their App Store options, I think it will be much easier for users to find the version of Elmedia Player that is right for them. Elmedia Player is a strong option for people who need to play many different types of video files. It is a versatile program with a slick modern interface that can be used for a variety of purposes.”
— Nicholas Calderone, Macsources

How to Play XviD Files on Mac using Elmedia Player

1

Use the Elmedia Player installer found on the official site or App Store.


Download speed depends on Internet speed.

2

Open Elmedia Player and do one of the following:

  • Drag the Xvid file over to Elmedia Player.
  • Use the "Open With" option in the right-click menu.
  • Navigate to the video using "File" > "Open".

Opening a file is very simple and there are several ways to do it.

3
Click the "Play" button or press "Space".

The Alternative Xvid Player Options for Mac Users

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Swipe tip
Top Features
VideoDuke
Elmedia Player
5KPlayer
DivX Player
VLC
Macgo Mac Blu-ray Player
Equalizer & Tuner
Equalizer & Tuner
 
 
 
 
 
Playlists
Playlists
 
 
 
 
 
Conversion
Conversion
 
 
 
 
 
Timeline Preview
Timeline Preview
 
 
 
 
 
Audio/Subtitle Addition
Audio/Subtitle Addition
 
 
 
 
 
DVD Playback
DVD Playback
 
 
 
 
 
DVD Menus
DVD Menus
 
 
 
 
 
Screencast
Screencast
 
 
 
 
 
Free Version
Free Version
 
 
 
 
 

5KPlayer

The Xvid codec is available in this popular freeware player, along with numerous other media formats. Other than playing Xvid, 5KPlayer can also convert these videos to more compact formats, and organize them in the internal library.

Interface-wise, the player opts for a minimalistic approach, with most options residing in the right-click menu. Some basic video, audio, and subtitle settings are available. Overall, 5KPlayer is one of the best players to play Xvid videos without installing any Xvid codec for Mac. However, it’s definitely far from providing the optimal user experience with its media component.

A simple media player with a user-friendly interface.

Supported OS: macOS, Windows

Price: freeware

Supported formats: MP3, WMA, FLAC, AAC, AC3, OGG.

icon pros Pros:

  • All features are free
  • Converts and downloads in addition to playing
  • Broad format support, including 360 degree video.

icon cons Cons:

  • Behaves like malware
  • The player itself is simplistic.

User reviews:

“I use 5KPlayer to download YouTube videos and I find it pretty good. The problem with it is that when I wake my PC from sleep mode the keyboard gets frozen out and I have to do a restart. When I start my PC I have to straight away stop the 5KPlayer process in task manager or it happens again. It was happening with the mouse too but I sorted that. I uninstall 5KPlayer and everything goes back to normal. Annoying little bug.”
— Paul Smith, Trustpilot

DivX Player

DivX and Xvid are similar codecs, so it comes as no surprise that the DivX Player is a suitable solution. This Xvid video codec player for Mac is unrivaled in the field of HD and Hi-Fi playback, even when you’re using non-DivX media. The player allows you to create playlists and stream local clips to DLNA-compatible devices as well. Cropping, adjusting the frame rate and overlays are among the editing features.

DivX Player has a straightforward interface. When you import videos or manage your library you may notice that the app looks like Windows. It is also worth noting that the utility does not support some popular formats.

DivX Player can be used for free, however it's a very limited experience, laden with ads, 15-day trials, and restricted functionality. This app can’t be enjoyed this way, but the cost for DivX PRO is somewhat steep.

The most versatile video player for all your devices.

Supported OS: macOS, Windows

Price: free, Pro version $19.99

Supported formats: AVI, MKV. MP4, MOV, and more.

icon pros Pros:

  • Well-made commercial player, designed specifically for HD
  • Hardware passthrough for sound
  • Cross-platform solution
  • Ability to play right from Google Drive or Dropbox.

icon cons Cons:

  • The free version has ads
  • No support for popular formats such as FLV and WAV.

VLC

When it comes to Xvid codec Mac users can also try VideoLan Client. It’s just about the easiest way to get an Xvid video codec for Mac. But the benefits don’t stop there. It’s well-rounded, with video tuning, sound setup, playlist creation, and all other features that became the standard for modern media players.

On the other hand, some options may be lacking, hard to find, or crudely implemented. For instance, the conversion feature is pretty bad for batch naming (but, to be frank, it’s still better than most freeware apps can provide). Besides, the interface is not as sleek as some competitors.

To play the video, you can simply transfer the video to the players.

Supported OS: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android

Price: free and open-source, offers in-app purchases

Supported formats: MP3, AAC, Vorbis, AC3, WMA, FLAC, ALAC etc.

icon pros Pros:

  • Free to use
  • Compatible with all platforms
  • Doesn’t require too many system resources
  • Variety of supported formats
  • Can be expanded with plugins

icon cons Cons:

  • Outdated interface
  • Unreliable playback for Blu-ray and DVDs

User reviews:

“VLC media player is genial and I think well recognized in the informatic community. Sometimes I am wondering how they can earn money as long as they are not a profit based enterprise. Anyway, I hope that this user-friendly and advanced technological software could be an example for future enterprise in the informatic field.”
— Julien, Trustpilot

Macgo Mac Blu-ray Player

A DVD-focused player is a given for this list - DivX was a widespread standard for a time. As you’d expect, the Macgo Blu-ray Player has a built-in Xvid codec. Designed around large single DVD tracks, the player doesn’t even support playlists, and there are no audio/video options to speak of (other than volume controls and sync).

The few features that exist are executed flawlessly, with full Apple Remote and Touch Bar support, hardware acceleration, and overall smooth performance. If you want to use your macOS device as a DVD player, this is the right choice.

Macgo is a Blu-ray player software for Apple Mac.

Supported OS: macOS, Windows

Price: free, Pro version costs $64.99

Supported formats: Blu-ray, DVD, CD, MKV, AVI, FLV, WMV, MP4, MPEG, RMVB, MP3, WMA, AAC, AC3 and more.

icon pros Pros:

  • Comprehensive support for DVDs, including menus
  • Polished UI
  • Well-optimized

icon cons Cons:

  • Can’t do much with videos other than play them
  • Very expensive for its barren feature list.

User reviews:

“Macgo is excellent Blu-ray player software that allows you to optimize the picture and audio quality, connect with social media, and even change regions as needed. It also has helpful customer service that lets you get back to watching your favorite flicks quickly. However, it's value has gone down because of a higher pricetag on the most recent version, and it can't out-perform other players we tested.”
— J.D. Chadwick, toptenreviews.com

What Is Xvid Video Codec?

Xvid is a MPEG-4 codec, much like x264 (AVC, used in most MP4s). However, unlike the latter, it uses the MPEG-4 Part 2 encoding standard. As a result, Xvid requires higher bitrates to achieve the same video quality as MP4. If 2 files of the same size were compared, the .xvid would lose. In addition, Xvid containers lack support for functions that would later be introduced in MP4 - most notably, subtitles.

However, lower compression has its upsides. Xvid movies use less CPU to decode, making them playable on low-end hardware, such as DVD players. You may encounter this format on old video recorders, which tend to create MPEG4 ASP videos in standard definition (SD), and movie CDs.

The free video codec that's strong in compression and quality.

The Difference Between Xvid and DivX

Xvid and DivX are both ASP codecs. Xvid is open-source, whereas DivX is closed-source. The latter is less buggy, more refined, to the point where it has been adopted as the industry standard. And though DivX and Xvid codecs are different, DivX player for Mac support Xvid files in most cases. If you’re trying to encode a file yourself, Xvid has more free tools available, but you’re better off just using AVC. It’ll play on more devices, and the files will be smaller.

It's best to have an application that can open both of these formats.

Convert XviD to MP4

Alternatively, you can simply convert the files to a format supported by your player. The conversion eliminates the need to download the Xvid video codec Mac. Convertio is one of the converters you can use. It is an online tool that allows you to easily convert files to MP4 as well as to a number of other file types. Using it is quite simple: just upload an XviD file, convert it to MP4, and then download.

Online converters are usually free and offer a wide range of different audio and video codecs. However, this option is only good if you need to convert several files. Otherwise, it is worth considering players that support Xvid.

Conclusion

Unlike the "mundane", widespread formats, Xvid has had a bewildering amount of various tools, converters, and dedicated players designed around it. If you’re feeling confused, stick with the things that work. To play this format, you need the best video player for Mac like Elmedia Player or VLC. These should be enough for most .xvids you’ll encounter.

Frequently Asked Questions:

You can rely on Elmedia Player to play Xvid movies. It comes with plenty of useful features and can open Xvid without the need for Xvid video codec.

Since the Xvid codec is not yet available for Mac, you need to install the DivX codec on your Mac. Then you need to download and install the delegate component available for your version of macOS. You can get it here https://www.xvidmovies.com/mac/.

Alternatively, you can use a player that supports the Xvid codec or convert the Xvid file to another format.

You can open XVID files in any player that can decode MPEG-4 ASP video. VLC, DivX Player Elmedia Player are some popular examples.
The codec itself is not a security risk, if taken from an official source. On the other hand, players that include Xvid may be rather malicious! Use trustworthy software, like the DivX Player.
Elmedia: universal video player
Requirements: macOS 10.12+ , 89.21MB of free space
Version 8.12(3287) (8 Jan, 2023) Release notes
Category: Video
Direct Download
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