MPEG Streamclip No Longer Works on Mac? 4 Best Alternatives for MPEG Streamclip

MPEG Streamclip doesn't work on my Mac Catalina now. I have been using it for a very long time to convert clips to H.264 video and other formats. I'm wondering if there is an alternative to MPEG Streamclip that runs on Mac?

MPEG Streamclip was a wonderful program for video converting, playback, and editing, but it stops working on Mac. Apple disables the use of MPEG-2 Playback Component in macOS 10.12 Sierra that MPEG Streamclip needs to process MPEG-2 files. Not only that, this 32-bit only program has not been updated for several years and it no longer works on macOS Catalina and newer, which only supports 64-bit applications.

Downgrading and installing 10.14 Mojave again, or keeping an older machine and not upgrading to 10.15 Catalina is one sure way to make MPEG Streamclip working on Mac, but not everyone is willing to do this. To help videophiles with their converting and editing tasks, software developers have designed alternatives to MPEG Streamclip for Mac. Here are a few of our favorites.

MPEG Streamclip for Mac Alternatives

At a glance:

• The best MPEG Streamclip alternative: Video Converter for Mac
• The best free MPEG Streamclip alternative: Handbrake
• The best MPEG Streamclip alternative for editing: Avidemux
• The best MPEG Streamclip alternative for playback: Apple's QuickTime

Video Converter for Mac

Anyone who's familiar with MPEG Streamclip can quickly get used to Video Converter for Mac. It a great MPEG Streamclip alternative, with a simpler and more intuitive interface. The program is known for its superb media software that can be used to do a variety of things from converting anything at all to any other format and then performing basic editing in terms of rotating, merging, trimming, cropping, adding effects, putting watermark. It also includes many advanced options that you can adjust like bitrate, codec, sample rate, channels, resolution to enhance the result file.

If you're new to video conversion, you'll appreciate the program's presets which are handily optimized for just about every device imaginable. One inconvenience is that Video Converter for Mac can't save videos from YouTube on its own. Fortunately, you can get lots of free streamlined free YouTube downloading services online.

Main features:

• Convert videos into multiple formats
• Extract tracks from video and convert between audio files
• Support conversion of MPEG2 files
• Trim the video down to the shortened length that you require
• Tweak conversion settings: bitrate, codec, channel, frame rate, etc.
• Tons of optimization profiles to tailor your conversion for devices.
• Remove video noise
• Reduce video shaking
• Basic editor to make basic edits
• Batch process support

Handbrake

If you're looking for a free alternative to MPEG Streamclip that does not work with Mac, Handbrake is well worth considering, especially if you want to convert a huge batch of MKV files. This freeware has been around for years, and has many loyal users. It provides a lot of options for cutting, merging, and converting videos into multiple formats. Like Video Converter for Mac, it also offers presets for popular multimedia devices which help user convert videos to something better suited for playback.

You can work through Handbrake's  documents, if you're new to video re-encoding. You can still get more help from its active community and forum.

The only thing that makes it a little cumbersome is that all advanced settings on the interface can be challenging for a beginner to use.

Avidemux

Avidemux might not be a complete replacement for MPEG Streamclip for Mac that is no longer supported on 10.15 Catalina or later, it can work for simple cutting, filtering and converting tasks. It is very easy to use, even if you've never made cuts and edits on your video files before. It's also a good option that supports transcoding a variety of file types such as MPEG-4, MPEG-2, AVI, ASF.

This MPEG Streamclip replacement for Mac is fully compatible with macOS, Linux and Windows, and best of all, it's free of charge.

Apple's QuickTime

If it's a video converter and player program you're looking for after the Mpeg Streamclip no longer works under Mac, look no further than the default QuickTime Player. While it doesn't offer all of the MPEG Streamclip's heavy duty converting tools, QuickTime includes "Export As" option to get your video saved into MP4 or MOV format that Mac accepts well. You can export the movie in HEVC (h.265) format with 4K resolution.

With QuickTime Player, you can also fine-tune the conversion settings such as video quality and compress speed. Even if you're completely inexperienced with video converting, you'll be able to get result to your like immediately.

Apple's QuickTime Player has one main downside: It doesn't comes with any editing function. If you need to perform basic video editing tasks, you will have to check other options above, or get professional video editor software from web.

Conclusion

As you can see from the list, there are many alternatives to MPEG Streamclip on Mac when the latest macOS update no longer supports it. Experiment to see which ones is suitable for you. Hopefully this article helps ease the headache a bit.