Fix QuickTime audio for AVI movies from digital cameras

Sep 03, '08 07:30:02AM

Contributed by: ljkopen

After I recently reinstalled my OS, Flip4Mac, and Perian, I noticed that my sound didn't work for movies from my digital camera in iPhoto. A bit of googling found that this appeared to be a more common issue starting with Quicktime 7.5. I likely had this same problem before my hard drive died, but I wasn't watching lots of old camera movies.

When playing the camera video and looking at the information window (Command-I), I noticed that my Sony CyberShot camera video was listed as "Motion JPEG OpenDML," but listed no audio track. Through trial and error, I started removing each QuickTime component file (one by one) in these directories:

When I removed the QuickTimeImporter.component file found in the system's QuickTime folder, my sound returned! The date on this component is from May 2008, so I suspect this is a result of Apple protecting the OS during a recent security update. If I recall correctly, one of the security updates discussed protection from from malicious out-of-bound conditions that can exist in these sloppy implementations of so-called codecs used by many cameras. I'm thinking this component may only be a simple filter or such to shield the OS from the possibly horribly broken video files.

I hope this tip is helpful to many.

[robg adds: I always hesitate to remove key system components, as you really can't be certain what other functions those files may handle -- nor what security risks they may protect you from. If you're going to try this approach, I recommend keeping a backup copy of the file, just in case you need to put it back. I would also contact Sony about the problem, hoping for an official solution from the company.]

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