It’s easy to install and sits as a preference panel, and once it’s installed there is nothing extra required to use, just open the once unsupported videos in QuickTime Player. Perian is a third party Quick Time component that adds support for a huge variety of video formats (including MKV) to Apple’s very own QuickTime Player. Nonetheless, it still plays MKV files quite well, if you’re going to use it drag and drop the MKV video onto the Plex icon to load the movie, otherwise trying to navigate through Plex’s confusing new menus will likely leave you frustrated and lost. Although it is generally a great media center app, the most recent update took a strange turn and the interface is more confusing than it needs to be.

Plex is very similar to XBMC and works as well. To get the most out of XBMC, copy any MKV video files to the Movies directory in the users home folder and you’ll be able to quickly find them within XBMC. XBMC is another good app to play MKV video, it’s simple interface focuses on media use and it makes a great media console in general. Some users report performance issues with playing MKV from VLC, but I’ve had no such problems. mkv movies, it’s a worthwhile app to have on any Mac. VLC 2 recently came out with some pretty significant changes, and even if you don’t plan on using it to play. The first recommendation is VLC, which will play just about any video or audio file thrown at it and MKV is no exception.

Ultimately which is the best is up for debate, but since they’re all free there is no reason not to try them all and discovering which is the best for your specific needs. We’ll cover five excellent free MKV video players that will work on the Mac, some are just general movie player apps and some are full-fledged media center applications that will do far more than just playing HD video formats.

Free mkv file player download