Field notes

The Vidi journal

Guides, comparisons and build notes on playing video well on a Mac — formats, HDR, spatial audio, casting and everything in between.

macOSapple siliconvlc

VLC vs IINA vs Vidi: Which Mac Video Player Is Best?

Choosing a video player on macOS used to be straightforward. Today, with Apple Silicon Macs, HDR displays, and higher expectations around battery life and visual quality, how a video player is built…

Dec 17, 20253 min
How to play AVImacOSavi

How to Play AVI Files on macOS (Without Conversion)

You double-click an AVI file on your Mac. QuickTime opens, shows a black screen or an error message, and you're stuck. This happens because macOS doesn't include the codecs needed to decode most AVI…

Dec 17, 20252 min
macOSaudioSpatial Audio

How to Experience Spatial Audio on Any Headphones

When people hear “spatial audio,” they usually think of AirPods Pro or high-end gaming headsets. In reality, spatial audio isn’t about the headphones, it’s about the processing. While building Vidi, I…

Dec 17, 20253 min
Video castingDLNAScreen mirroring

How to Cast Videos from macOS (AirPlay, Chromecast & DLNA Explained)

Casting video from a Mac sounds simple — until you actually try to do it. Between AirPlay, Chromecast, DLNA, and app-specific limitations, many macOS users end up confused about what works, what…

Dec 17, 20253 min
M2 Macapple siliconmacOS

Best Video Player for Apple Silicon Macs

Apple Silicon fundamentally changed what Macs are capable of. With M‑series chips, Macs deliver incredible performance per watt, powerful media engines, and long battery life — but only if apps are…

Dec 17, 20253 min
Video colorColor managementmacOS

Why Videos Look Washed Out on macOS (HDR & Color Explained)

If you’ve ever watched a video on your Mac and thought the colors looked flat, washed out, or just off, you’re not imagining things. This is a common issue on macOS — especially with HDR or…

Dec 17, 20253 min
mkvQuickTimemacOS

Why MKV Files Don’t Open in QuickTime (And How to Fix It)

If you’ve ever double‑clicked a video on your Mac only to see QuickTime refuse to open it, there’s a good chance the file was an MKV. This is a common frustration for macOS users — and it’s not…

Dec 17, 20253 min
Mac video playerPlay MKV on MacMatroska

How to Play MKV (Matroska) Files on macOS

If you’ve ever downloaded a movie or TV episode and found it wouldn’t open in QuickTime, chances are it was an MKV file. While MKV is a popular and flexible video format, macOS doesn’t support it out…

Dec 17, 20252 min
Best video player for MacmacOSMac video player

Best Video Player for macOS (2025–2026)

On modern macOS, video playback is no longer just about opening a file. With apple Silicon, advanced display pipelines, and strict power efficiency mean the architecture of a video player has a direct…

Dec 17, 20253 min
Picture-in-PictureProductivitymultitasking

Why We Built the Advanced PiP We Always Wanted

This was the feature that started it all. Before Vidi, I was a heavy user of other Mac video players. I’m a developer, which means I spend most of my day with a code editor on one side of the screen…

Nov 16, 20253 min
Spatial AudioaudioVoice Boost

A Deep Dive into Vidi’s Immersive Audio Suite (Spatial, Cinema & Voice Boost)

When we talk about video players, we almost always talk about pixels. Is it 4K? Is it HDR? Is the color accurate? But as any movie lover knows, video is only half the experience. The other half is…

Nov 16, 20253 min
Voice Boosthow-toguide

How to Fix Muffled Dialogue: The Best Way to Boost Movie Dialogue on a Mac

We've all been there. It's late, you're trying to watch the latest blockbuster, and you can't understand what the actors are saying. The action scenes are deafening. The explosions shake the room. You…

Nov 15, 20253 min
WebMQuickTimehow-to

The Ultimate Guide: How to Play Any Video File (MKV, AVI, WebM) on a Mac

You double-click a video file someone sent you. It's an .mkv, an .avi, or a .webm. Instead of your video playing, you get the same frustrating error: "The file ... is not compatible with QuickTime…

Nov 15, 20253 min
Vidi4K HDRIINA

Introducing Vidi: A Modern, Powerful, and Efficient Video Player for Mac.

For years, my go-to video player was IINA. It’s a fantastic open-source project that has served the Mac community incredibly well. It plays almost anything you throw at it, and for most people, it…

Nov 15, 20254 min