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Getting Started
This app allows macOS Finder to display thumbnails/cover art, QuickLook previews, and metadata for most types of audio and video files.
- Download the
.dmgfile of the latest release (requires macOS 14 "Sonoma" or later). - Older versions:
- macOS 12 "Monterey" and later on a late-2013 or newer Mac:
Download the
.dmgfile of Release 2.22. - macOS 10.13 "High Sierra" - macOS 12 "Monterey":
Download the
.dmgfile of Release 1.991.
- macOS 12 "Monterey" and later on a late-2013 or newer Mac:
Download the
- Open it.
- Copy the QuickLook Video app to your Applications folder (or Applications → Utilities if you prefer).
- Run the app from where you copied it.
Alternatively, if you have Homebrew installed:
- Install with:
brew install --cask qlvideo - Run the QuickLook Video app in your Applications folder.
After installation you may experience higher than normal CPU and disk usage for a few minutes while Spotlight re-indexes all of your "non-native" audio and video files.
You don't need to keep the app open - you just need to run it once to let macOS notice the app's plugins and extensions.
To see thumbnails of video files in Finder you will likely need to press the Refresh button. This tells QuickLook to clear its thumbnail cache and then restarts Finder to make it refresh its thumbnail cache. Alternatively you can relaunch Finder (hold ⌥/option, right-click on the Finder icon in the Dock and choose Relaunch) or log out and back in again. It may take a few moments for the thumbnails to appear in Finder.
Thumbnails show "cover art" if the video file has cover art. Use the File → Cover Art menu item to add, replace or remove cover art from .mkv, .webm, .mp4, and unencrypted .m4v files. Please check that the new video file plays well before deleting the original.
You can adjust the Snapshot setting to change the approximate moment in the video at which a snapshot is taken for the thumbnail for files which don't have cover art. Irrespective of this setting, the snapshot will never be taken more than half way through the video. Press the Refresh button to generate thumbnails with the new setting.
In Finder, use the Space bar or File → Quick Look to preview audio and video files.
Subtitles, chapter markers and the ability to switch audio track aren't supported. For these features please use a dedicated media player app e.g. VLC or IINA. Some files can also be opened in Quicktime Player, but subtitles, chapter markers and the ability to switch audio track aren't supported in Quicktime Player either.
In Finder, the File → Get Info dialog shows dimensions, durations, codecs etc for non-native media as for natively-supported media.
See the troubleshooting guide if you have any problems with the above.