Flip4Mac

Flip4Mac from Telestream, Inc. was a digital media software for the macOS operating system. It was known for being the only QuickTime component for macOS to support Windows Media Video, and was distributed by Microsoft as a substitute after they discontinued their media player for Macintosh computers.[4]

Flip4Mac
Developer(s)Telestream, Inc.
Initial releaseDecember 6, 2004 (2004-12-06)[1][2]
Final release
3.3.7.2[3] / October 5, 2015 (2015-10-05)
Operating systemmacOS
Platformx86, x64
Available inEnglish
TypeMultimedia framework, plug-in, media player
LicenseProprietary commercial software
Websitewww.telestream.net/flip4mac/overview.htm

Features

Telestream previously offered a free standalone player also known as Flip Player while charging for their Pro and Studio features until the release of v3.3 on May 1, 2014, when they began charging for Flip4Mac Player[5] (plug-in and standalone player combined).[6]

There are four versions of Flip4Mac Player:[7]

  • Flip4Mac Player ($9.99)

Play Windows Media files (.wma and .wmv) directly in QuickTime applications and view Windows Media content on the Internet using a web browser

  • Flip4Mac Player Pro ($29)

Adds the ability to import WMV and WMA files for editing and conversion to QuickTime formats or iOS devices

  • Flip4Mac Studio ($49)

Includes all the features of Player Pro, and adds the ability to create standard definition (up to 768 x 576) WMV files using preset templates and custom encoding profiles

  • Flip4Mac Studio Pro HD ($179)

Includes all the features of Studio, and adds two-pass HD (up to 1920 x 1080), VBR encoding and pro audio features

Technical specifications

Below is the following technical specifications for Flip4Mac Player:[8]

Codec support

Supported audio codecs Play and import Export
Windows Media Audio 9 Professional
✓
✓*
Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless
✓
✓*
Windows Media Audio 9 Standard
✓
✓
Windows Media Audio 7/8
✓
Microsoft G.726
✓
Microsoft IMA ADPCM
✓
Microsoft ADPCM
✓
Supported video codecs Play and import Export
Windows Media Video 9 Advanced (WMVA) — Broadcast Profile
✓
✓*
Windows Video Codec 1 (WVC1)
✓
Windows Media Video 9 Standard (WMV3)
✓
✓
Windows Media Video 8 (WMV2)
✓
Windows Media Video 7 (WMV1)
✓
ISO MPEG-4 V1.1 (M4S2)
✓
ISO MPEG-4 V1.0 (MP4S)
✓
Microsoft MPEG-4 V3 (MP43)
✓
Microsoft MPEG-4 V2 (MP42)
✓
Microsoft Motion JPEG (MJPG)
✓
Supported file formats Play and import Export
Advanced Systems Format (ASF)
✓
✓
Advanced Stream Redirector (ASX)
✓
Audio/Video Interleaved (AVI) — WMV media wrapped in AVI file format
✓
*NOTE: Exporting WMV9 Advanced and WMA Professional and Lossless is supported only by Flip4Mac Studio Pro HD

Network stream protocols

Stream type Name Protocols
MMS
Microsoft Media Server
MMS, HTTP, RTSP, and TCP
HLS
HTTP Live Streaming
HTTP and TCP

Frame sizes available for export

4:3 Studio Studio Pro HD
160 x 120
✓
✓
240 x 180
✓
✓
320 x 240
✓
✓
384 x 288
✓
✓
480 x 360
✓
✓
640 x 480
✓
✓
768 x 576
✓
✓
960 x 720
✓
1280 x 1080
✓
4:3 CCIR Studio Studio Pro HD
720 x 480
✓
720 x 575
✓
16:9 Studio Studio Pro HD
320 x 180
✓
✓
640 x 360
✓
✓
960 x 540
✓
1280 x 720
✓
1920 x 1080
✓

System requirements

In order to run Flip4Mac, you need to meet the following specifications:[3]

*NOTE: Please note if running on Snow Leopard, you need to update to 10.6.8 via Apple Software Update.

Windows Media Components for QuickTime
Main article: Windows Media Components for QuickTime

Windows Media Components for QuickTime allow free transparent playback of the most common Windows Media Video and Windows Media Audio formats on macOS inside QuickTime applications and web browsers.

On January 12, 2006, Microsoft discontinued the Macintosh version of Windows Media Player and began distributing Flip4Mac Player for free[9][10][11][12][13] until May 1, 2014, when Telestream began charging for Flip4Mac Player.[5] Microsoft's website refers the product as Windows Media Components for QuickTime while Telestream just refers to Flip4Mac.[14]

Windows Media

Advanced Stream Redirector
Main article: Advanced Stream Redirector

Advanced Stream Redirector (ASX) file format is a type of Extensible Markup Language (XML) metafile designed to store a playlist of Windows Media files for a multimedia presentation. Flip4Mac currently supports the following MIME types:[15]

video/x-ms-wmv audio/x-ms-wma
video/x-ms-wm video/x-ms-asf
video/x-ms-wvx video/x-ms-wmx
audio/x-ms-wax video/x-ms-asx

Advanced Systems Format
Main article: Advanced Systems Format

Advanced Systems Format (ASF) is Microsoft's proprietary digital audio/digital video container format, especially meant for streaming media.

Windows Media Audio
Main article: Windows Media Audio

Windows Media Audio (WMA) is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs.

Windows Media Digital Rights Management
Main article: Windows Media Digital Rights Management

Flip4Mac is unable to play content that has been protected using digital rights management.[16]

Windows Media Video
Main article: Windows Media Video

Windows Media Video (WMV) is a video data compression technology developed by Microsoft.

Version history
  • Flip4Mac 2.1 was released in July 2006 with support for Intel-based Macs.[17]
  • Flip4Mac 3.0 was released in September 2012 with support for 64-bit improvements as well as Gatekeeper. It also includes Flip Player, a new multi-format video player with the ability to play the most common Windows Media formats.[18][19]
  • Flip4Mac 3.1 was released in February 2013 with support for the third generation MacBook Pros, MacBooks (relaunched version of the original MacBook line), and iMacs with Retina display. It also includes the ability to export videos to iTunes from Flip Player.[20][21]
  • Flip4Mac 3.2 was released in May 2013 with support for dramatically improved load time for ASF (.wmv, .wma, .wm, .wmp, .asf, etc.) file formats.[22][23][24]
  • Flip4Mac 3.3 was released in May 2014 with several minor 3.3.X updates with 3.3.7 being the latest update. Several updates include re-supporting Mac OS X Snow Leopard[3] (after the support being removed in 3.0), and natively supporting OS X Yosemite (10.10)[3] and OS X El Capitan (10.11).
  • The software is no longer supported higher than OS X El Capitan (10.11).[25] As a replacement Telestream advises users to try their Switch4Player software.

See also

References
  1. 'Telestream Flip4Mac brings Windows Media encoding to the Mac' by Telestream (December 6, 2004) – Wayback Machine
  2. 'Telestream Flip4Mac offers WMV encoding on Mac' by Brad Cook (December 6, 2004) – Macworld
  3. Flip4Mac v3.3.7 release notes – Telestream
  4. Retherford, Brittany. "Telestream rides digital media wave". www.theunion.com. Retrieved 2021-11-18.
  5. Why is Telestream charging for Flip4Mac Player? – Telestream
  6. Flip4Mac versus Flip Player – Vimeo
  7. Flip4Mac's overview – Telestream
  8. Flip4Mac's technical specifications – Telestream
  9. 'Microsoft quietly ditches WMP for Mac' by Ed Oswald (January 11, 2006) – BetaNews
  10. 'Windows Media content goes Mac OS X' by Digital Trends Staff (January 11, 2006) – Digital Trends
  11. 'Microsoft confirms: WMP for Mac dead' by Nate Mook (January 12, 2006) – BetaNews
  12. 'Music stops for Mac Windows Media Player' by Ina Fried (January 12, 2006) – c|net
  13. 'Microsoft bails on Windows Media Player for Mac' by Jim Dalrymple (January 14, 2006) – Macworld
  14. Windows Media Components for QuickTime – Microsoft
  15. Flip4Mac's technical specifications – Advanced Stream Redirector (ASX) support – Telestream
  16. Flip4Mac v3.3 User Guide – Telestream
  17. 'Flip4Mac 2.1 adds Intel Mac support' by Jim Dalrymple (July 28, 2006) – Macworld
  18. 'Telestream releases Flip4Mac 3.0 including new multi-format video player' (September 2012) – Digital Production Buzz
  19. Flip4Mac v3.0 release notes – Telestream
  20. 'Flip4Mac 3.1 released with Retina display support and iTunes export' (February 23, 2013) – iClarified
  21. Flip4Mac v3.1 release notes – Telestream
  22. 'Flip4Mac 3.2 brings dramatically improved load times for WMV and ASF video' (May 2, 2013) – iClarified
  23. 'Flip4Mac 3.2 brings dramatically improved load times for WMV and ASF video' (May 2, 2013) – iHash
  24. Flip4Mac v3.2 release notes – Telestream
  25. Is Flip4Mac supported on OS X El Capitan? – Telestream

Further reading

Flip4Mac has been mentioned in the following books:

  • Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, OS X Yosemite Edition (ISBN 978-1-4919-4718-0)
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