The Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks doesn’t have native support for Dolby Digital AC3 audio, thus when you playing MKV AC3 or AVI AC3 files on it, there will be image only without voice. To solve this issue, you may consider converting AC3 to AAC for Mavericks 10.9. This post tells you how to do this in detail.
Due to copyright issue, Apple’s Mac OS X platform lacks native support for Dolby Digital AC3 audio. Fortunately, before upgrading to Mountain Lion 10.8, Mac users can use the free popular QuickTime component Perian as AC3 codec. But things became worse since Perian stopped developing updates and run to a dead project.
Even if you’ve installed the newest Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks operating system, you will find there is no native support for AC3 sound as well. As a result of this, when you playing AC3 audio files or videos that have ac3 sound, for instance, MKV AC3 files, AVI AC3 files, there will be image only without voice.
Is there a solution to solve this issue and make AC3 work on OS X Mavericks? Yes, there is. By using a piece of third party converter software called HD Video Converter for Mac, you are able to convert AC3 to AAC for OS X 10.9 Mavericks with 5.1 channels preserved.
Download a free trial of HD Video Converter for Mac
Mavericks AC3 support – get AC3 supported on Mac OS X 10.9
As mentioned above, to make MKV AC3/AVI AC3 playable on Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, you will need to convert AC3 to AAC using HD Video Converter for Mac. To do format conversion, follow these steps:
Step 1: Install and run HD Video Converter for Mac as an AC3 to AAC Converter for Mac. When its main interface pops up, click ‘Add Video’ button to import AC3 audio files or video files like MKV, AVI with AC3 audio to the program.
Step 2: Click on ‘Format’ bar to choose MP4 or MOV as output format for Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks.
Step 3: Click on ‘Settings’ button to switch audio codec from AC3 to AAC.
If your source file has 5.1 channels, you can set the output as 5.1 channels as well.
Step 4: When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start transcoding MKV AC3/AVI AC3 to MP4 AAC or MOV AAC for Mavericks 10.9. After the conversion, you can click ‘Open’ button to locate the generated files with ease. Now you can play your AC3 files on Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks without loosing sound. Hope it helps.
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