How to play .mov files on Windows (Windows 7 included)?

The .mov format is the video format used in Apple's Quicktime program, which is a media player similar to Windows Media Player. Before Windows 7, .mov files are not supported by Windows Media player, so Windows users have to download Quicktime to play .mov files. Even on Windows 7, despite rumors around the internet saying Windows 7 will natively support .mov file, people still facing the problem that .mov files are not fully compatible with RTM Windows Media Player.

In this article we will introduce 3 ways to play .mov files on Windows (Windows 7 included).

Part 1 Play .mov files with RTM Windows Media Player on Windows (Windows 7 included)?

So you may be reluctant to download and install another media player just to play one format, when you can easily use Windows Media Player to do the job for you, using special video codec.

Quicktime Alternative

QuickTime Alternative is an all-in-one freeware package made for the Windows operating system that enabled more players to play MOV files. Normally, the latest version of QuickTime would have to be installed to play MOV.

If you are having problems getting QuickTime Alternative to work, delete the Quicktime folder under SYSTEMROOT\system32 (generally C:\Windows\system32\quicktime)

3ivx MPEG-4

The 3ivx decoder components play back most MP4, M4A, 3GP, MOV and AVI files with MPEG-4 Video and MPEG-4 AAC Audio. Supported MPEG-4 variants include DivX 3 through 6, Apple MPEG-4 and Xvid. The components work with Windows Media Player, the QuickTime Player.

Though, 3ivx encoder is not an open source, the price is relatively low which costs $7.95.

Part 2 Play .mov files by converting MOV to AVI, WMV, MPEG, MP4, MKV, etc. on Windows (Windows 7 included)?

iSkysoft Video Converter

If you just want to play MOV videos on Windows, you can either download a QuickTime player or the codec pack. But if you got pretty extensive videos in hand, a Video Converter is a more sensible choice. A Video Converter is like an integration of all video format components which can convert videos among MOV, AVI, WMV, MPEG, MP4, MKV, FLV, etc. In addition, you can edit your .mov files by cropping, trimming, add watermark, etc.