Restore Autoplay to QuickTime X

Restore Autoplay to QuickTime X

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Restore Autoplay to QuickTime X

Missing autoplay in QuickTime X? Here's the fix

By Tom Nelson Tom Nelson Writer Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. Tom is also president of Coyote Moon, Inc., a Macintosh and Windows consulting firm. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on September 21, 2020 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email

In This Article

Expand Jump to a Section QuickTime X vs QuickTime 7 Restore Autoplay to QuickTime X Disable Autoplay in QuickTime X QuickTime Player 7 QuickTime X came on the scene with the introduction of OS X Snow Leopard. It represented a leap in the version numbering, jumping from 7.x, which had been around since 2005. While Apple included new features in QuickTime X, it also took some away. If you were a heavy user of the earlier version of QuickTime Player, you might have relied on QuickTime to automatically start playing when you opened or launched a QuickTime file. The Autoplay feature is especially important if you use your Mac and QuickTime in a home entertainment environment. The new version of QuickTime ships without this handy feature enabled, but you can remedy the situation using the Terminal application and a single line of code. QuickTime X and QuickTime Player 10 ship on Macs running macOS Catalina (10.15) through OS X Snow Leopard (10.6).

QuickTime X vs QuickTime 7

QuickTime is a media player, able to handle video, pictures, audio, basic multimedia capture, and editing. It probably sees the most use as a video player, allowing Mac users to view various video formats, including movies made on iOS devices or downloaded from various video sites. QuickTime X offers a more streamlined interface than QuickTime 7.x and a much more robust performance. It also has the advantage of combining some of the features of the old QuickTime Pro package—specifically, the ability to edit and export QuickTime files. As a result, QuickTime X lets you capture video from any camera attached to your Mac, perform basic editing functions, and export the results in a number of formats that can be used by your Mac or iOS devices.

Restore Autoplay to QuickTime X

You can add the Autoplay functionality back to QuickTime X using Terminal. Launch Terminal, located at Applications > Utilities. Type or copy and paste the following command into the Terminal window. defaults write com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX MGPlayMovieOnOpen 1
Enter the text into Terminal in a single line. Depending on the size of your browser window, the line could wrap and appear to be more than one line. Triple-click the code and paste it to maintain a single line. Press Enter or Return to activate Autoplay functionality.

Disable Autoplay in QuickTime X

If you later decide you’d rather return QuickTime X to its default behavior of not automatically starting to play a QuickTime file when you open or launch it, you can do so by once again using the Terminal application. Launch Terminal, located at Applications > Utilities. Enter the following command in a single line into the Terminal window. defaults write com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX MGPlayMovieOnOpen 0
Press Enter or Return to turn off disable Autoplay functionality.

QuickTime Player 7

Although QuickTime X has been included with every version of OS X since Snow Leopard, Apple kept QuickTime Player 7 up to date through macOS Mojave (10.14) for users who needed support for some of the older multimedia formats, including QTVR and Interactive QuickTime Movies. QuickTime 7 offered more advanced editing and export functions than are available in QuickTime X. Mac users could run both QuickTime Player 10 and QuickTime Player 7 concurrently through macOS Mojave. Apple ended support for Quicktime 7, QuickTime 7 Pro, and QuickTime Player 7 with macOS Catalina (10.15). Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire How to Make a Bootable Flash Installer of OS X or macOS How to Stop Autoplay on Discovery Plus How to Delete a File in Terminal on Your Mac How to Update Your MacBook Pro How to Disable AutoRun and AutoPlay for External Devices How to Mirror an iPhone to a Mac Can I Upgrade or Downgrade to Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6)? View Hidden Files and Folders on Your Mac With Terminal How to Reset Your Mac's PRAM or NVRAM (Parameter RAM) How to Show or Hide Hidden Files and Folders on Mac How to Downgrade From Catalina to Mojave Make a Bootable USB Installer for OS X El Capitan How to Turn off Mouse Acceleration on Mac How to Use Disk Utility in macOS How to Enable Safari's Debug Menu to Gain Added Capabilities How to Stop Screen Recording on Mac Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies
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