Open and play a file in QuickTime Player on Mac

To open a video or audio file in the QuickTime Player app on your Mac, do any of the following:

• Double-click the file in the Finder.

  If your videos or audio files are in iCloud Drive, click iCloud Drive in the Finder sidebar, then double-click your file. See Store files in iCloud Drive.

• Choose File > Open File, then select a file and click Open.

  If a file is an older or third-party media format, QuickTime Player may convert it before playing.

  Tip: You can also open a file you’ve worked with recently by choosing File > Open Recent.

You can play and control a file using the playback controls that appear when the pointer is over the screen. You can fast-forward and reverse play, and change the playback speed.

1. In the QuickTime Player app on your Mac, open a video or audio file.

2. Move the pointer anywhere over the video to show the playback controls. (Controls for audio files are always visible.)

   

3. Use the playback controls to play the video or audio file; you can drag the controls to move them out of the way.

   If your Mac has a Touch Bar, you can use the playback controls in the Touch Bar.

4. To control the playback speed, do any of the following:

   • Vary the playback speed: Click the forward or rewind button . Continue until your video plays at the desired speed. Playback speeds include 2x, 5x, 10x, 30x and 60x.

   • Vary the playback speed in small increments: Option-click the forward or rewind button . Playback speeds range from 1.1x to 2x.

   • Choose a playback speed before you play the video: Click the Share and Playback Speed button , choose Playback Speed, then choose the speed you want.

With picture-in-picture , you can play a video in a resizable window that floats in a corner of the screen, so you can see it while you do other tasks on your computer.

1. In the QuickTime Player app on your Mac, open a video file.

2. Move the pointer anywhere over the video to show the playback controls.

3. Click the picture-in-picture button in the playback controls.

   You can drag the picture-in-picture window to a different corner of the screen, or drag any edge of the window to resize it.

4. Click the full-screen button or the close button to close the picture-in-picture window.

You can set a video or audio file to play continuously, so that it plays to the end and then starts over from the beginning.

1. Open the video or audio file you want to loop.

2. Choose View > Loop so a tick appears next to it.

3. Click the Play button in the playback controls.

   To turn off continuous play, choose the command again; the tick disappears.

Choose View > Audio > Prefer Passthrough.

To use this feature, you need an audio receiver that supports Dolby Atmos or other Dolby audio formats connected to a Mac with Apple silicon using an HDMI cable. If you want to use your Mac computer’s built-in speakers, turn this setting off. See About HDMI Passthrough.

You can change the display of the playback controls to show the elapsed time, frame count or timecode (depending on the characteristics of the video).

Some media files display a timecode — an 8-digit code (00-00-00-00) — in the playback controls, instead of the 4-digit code showing the remaining time. The timecode shows source time information about a specific frame or recorded point, like the time of the original recording or the frame number. When navigating a project, you can use the timecode to navigate to an exact location of a frame in the media file.

• Change the display of the playback controls: Choose View > Time Display, then choose the display option you want.

• Navigate to a specific time-coded frame: Choose View > Time Display > Go To Timecode, then enter the timecode you want.