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Files that won't open, won't send, or won't convert.

Practical guides for the Mac. Each one solves the problem first; Manatee is mentioned where it helps.

Repair

How to fix a corrupted MOV file on a Mac6 min How to repair a corrupted MP4 that won't play on a Mac6 min MKV file won't open on Mac: how to fix or convert it5 min How to repair a damaged AVI video on macOS6 min QuickTime says the file isn't compatible: what to do6 min How to fix a video that plays audio but shows a black screen6 min Video file is 0 bytes or shows the wrong length: can it be fixed?6 min How to repair a corrupted PDF on a Mac6 min Preview can't open this PDF: causes and fixes6 min How to recover a Word document that won't open on Mac6 min Fixing a DOCX that Word says is corrupt7 min Excel file is corrupted on Mac: what you can recover7 min How to repair a PowerPoint file that won't open on Mac7 min How to fix a corrupted ZIP archive on a Mac6 min Corrupted MP3 or M4A won't play on Mac: how to repair it6 min How to fix a HEIC photo that won't open on Mac6 min JPEG shows half grey: can a corrupted photo be repaired?6 min PNG file is invalid or unsupported on Mac: fixes that work6 min How to repair a corrupted GoPro or drone video on a Mac7 min iPhone video won't play on Mac after AirDrop: why and how to fix it6 min Video recorded on a dashcam won't open on Mac7 min Why files get corrupted, and what can actually be recovered6 min Partial recovery explained: what 34 of 41 pages really means6 min How to check whether a video file is corrupted on a Mac6 min File transfer interrupted: how to salvage a half-copied video6 min

Convert

How to convert HEIC to JPEG on a Mac6 min How to convert MKV to MP4 on a Mac without losing quality6 min How to convert MOV to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert WEBM to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert AVI to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert a video to GIF on a Mac6 min How to convert FLAC to MP3 on a Mac6 min How to convert M4A to MP3 on a Mac6 min How to convert WAV to MP3 on a Mac6 min How to convert OGG or Opus audio to MP3 on a Mac6 min How to convert WMA to MP3 on a Mac6 min How to convert an old .doc to .docx on a Mac6 min How to convert RTF to DOCX on a Mac5 min How to convert a Word document to plain text on a Mac6 min How to convert WEBP to JPEG on a Mac6 min How to convert AVIF images to JPEG on a Mac6 min How to convert TIFF to PNG on a Mac6 min How to convert a PSD to PNG without Photoshop on a Mac6 min How to convert RAW photos (CR2, NEF, ARW, DNG) to JPEG on a Mac7 min How to convert VTT subtitles to SRT on a Mac6 min How to convert ASS or SSA subtitles to SRT on a Mac6 min How to convert MP4 to MP3 (extract the audio) on a Mac6 min How to convert 3GP phone videos to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert WMV to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert FLV to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert MTS or M2TS camcorder video to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert AIFF to MP3 on a Mac5 min How to convert an audiobook M4B to MP3 on a Mac6 min How to convert BMP to PNG on a Mac5 min Online file converters: what you give up, and the offline alternative6 min

Shrink

How to compress a video for WhatsApp on a Mac6 min How to shrink a video under Slack's upload limit on a Mac6 min How to compress a video to email it from a Mac6 min How to compress a video for Discord on a Mac6 min How to reduce MP4 file size on a Mac without losing quality6 min How to compress a PDF on a Mac7 min How to get a PDF under 10 MB for an upload portal6 min How to get a PDF under 2 MB for a job application6 min How to compress a scanned PDF on a Mac7 min How to compress an iPhone 4K video on a Mac6 min How to make a screen recording smaller on a Mac6 min Gmail's 25 MB attachment limit: how to get a file under it6 min WhatsApp video limits explained, and how to fit under them6 min How to shrink a video to a specific file size on a Mac7 min Why compressing a video twice makes it look worse7 min How to compress a video for Instagram without it looking muddy6 min How to compress video for iMessage so it sends without 'low quality' mode6 min How to make a PowerPoint or Word file smaller on a Mac6 min Bitrate, resolution and frame rate: which one to cut to shrink a video6 min How to batch compress videos on a Mac6 min

Clean and privacy

How to remove GPS location from photos on a Mac before sharing6 min How to strip EXIF data from photos on a Mac6 min What your photo's metadata reveals about you6 min How to remove metadata from a PDF on a Mac6 min How to remove the author name and edit history from a Word document6 min How to check a file's metadata on a Mac6 min How to remove metadata from a video before posting it6 min Selling online? Strip the location data from your listing photos first6 min Sending documents to a journalist or lawyer: clean the metadata first7 min Does AirDrop, iMessage or email strip photo metadata? It depends6 min How to anonymize a screenshot or photo before posting it7 min Track changes and comments can leak: cleaning a DOCX before you send it7 min How to remove metadata from audio files on a Mac6 min What Finder's Get Info shows, and what it hides6 min A privacy checklist for files you share from a Mac7 min

Explainers

Container vs codec: why an MP4 can still refuse to play6 min HEIC explained: why iPhone photos won't open everywhere6 min MOV vs MP4: which should you send?6 min What is a WEBM file and how do you open it on a Mac5 min Email attachment size limits by provider (2026)6 min Slack, Teams and Discord file size limits (2026)6 min Why some videos play on iPhone but not on Mac6 min H.264 vs HEVC: which one your Mac, phone and recipients can open6 min Lossless vs lossy: what happens to audio when you convert it6 min The file someone sent you won't open: a quick diagnosis guide7 min

Error messages

"The operation can't be completed because the item is in use"7 min Error code -36 when copying a file on a Mac: what it means7 min Error code 8058 on a Mac, and the copy that keeps failing6 min Excel says the file format or extension is not valid6 min "There was a problem reading this document (14)" in Preview6 min

Cameras and devices

Insta360 .insv files will not open on a Mac. What they actually are6 min DJI drone footage that stutters or refuses to play on a Mac6 min Sony XAVC S clips on a Mac: why Finder shows them and Preview will not6 min Canon CR3 raw files on a Mac, and when Preview quietly gives up6 min Nikon NEF files that show a thumbnail and nothing else6 min GoPro chapters: why one recording arrives as GX01, GX02, GX036 min

Audio and sync

Audio out of sync after a conversion, and the drift that causes it7 min The exported video has no sound. Six causes, in order of likelihood6 min A two-hour recording that drifts out of sync by the end7 min

Formats and compatibility

AV1 video will not play on your Mac. Whether that is fixable6 min ProRes and H.264: which one your Mac should be storing6 min Spatial video from an iPhone, opened on a Mac that is not a headset6 min 10-bit, HDR and the video that looks washed out after converting7 min Opening a .pages, .numbers or .key file on a Mac without iWork6 min RAR, 7z and tar.gz archives on a Mac, and which ones Finder refuses6 min

Screen recordings

A screen recording that turned into a 4 GB file, and why7 min QuickTime says the screen recording failed to save6 min

Disks and transfers

Your Mac says the disk is full when Finder says it is not7 min A file that copies to an external drive and arrives broken6 min Verifying a file arrived intact, without trusting the progress bar6 min

More Mac file guides

A PDF that opens with blank pages in Preview on a Mac6 min A video that freezes partway while the audio keeps playing7 min A Word document that opens full of strange symbols on a Mac7 min An EPUB file that won't open in Books on a Mac7 min How to play or convert an AMR voice recording on a Mac6 min How to convert a batch of files at once on a Mac6 min How to convert a DivX or Xvid AVI to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert a DNG raw photo to TIFF on a Mac6 min How to convert a DOCX to RTF on a Mac6 min How to convert a DV tape capture to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert a FLAC to WAV on a Mac6 min How to convert a JPEG 2000 (JP2) image to JPEG on a Mac6 min How to convert a JPEG to PNG on a Mac6 min How to convert a JPEG XL (JXL) image to JPEG on a Mac6 min How to convert a PNG to JPEG on a Mac6 min How to convert a text file to a Word document on a Mac6 min How to convert a TGA or EXR image to PNG on a Mac6 min How to convert a TIFF to JPEG on a Mac6 min How to convert a TS transport stream to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert a video to MOV for Keynote on a Mac6 min How to convert a WAV to FLAC on a Mac6 min How to convert a WavPack (WV) file to FLAC on a Mac6 min How to convert a webarchive to a document on a Mac6 min How to convert AAC audio to MP3 on a Mac6 min How to convert AC3 surround audio to M4A on a Mac6 min How to convert an AIFF to WAV or FLAC on a Mac6 min How to convert an AMR voice recording to MP3 on a Mac6 min How to convert an ASF recording to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert an HTML file to a Word document on a Mac6 min How to convert an ICO icon file to PNG on a Mac6 min How to convert an image to a web-friendly format on a Mac6 min How to convert an M4A to WAV on a Mac6 min How to convert an MKV to MOV on a Mac6 min How to convert an MP3 to M4A on a Mac6 min How to convert an MP3 to WAV on a Mac6 min How to convert an MP4 to MOV on a Mac6 min How to convert an OGV (Theora) video to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert an old RealMedia RM or RMVB to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert an RTFD to RTF or Word on a Mac6 min How to convert APE (Monkey's Audio) to FLAC on a Mac6 min How to convert audio to M4A on a Mac6 min How to convert files so they open on a Windows PC6 min How to convert HEIC to PNG on a Mac6 min How to convert HEVC (H.265) video to H.264 MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert MXF camera footage to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to convert photos and videos so they open on Android6 min How to convert photos to HEIC to save space on a Mac6 min How to convert SBV subtitles to SRT on a Mac6 min How to convert screenshots from PNG to JPEG in bulk on a Mac6 min How to convert SUB subtitles to SRT on a Mac6 min How to convert VOB DVD video to MP4 on a Mac6 min How to flatten a transparent PNG to JPEG on a Mac6 min Lossy versus lossless: what you lose when you convert a file6 min Remux versus re-encode: converting a video without quality loss6 min Which format should you convert a video to on a Mac6 min A file with no extension that will not open on a Mac6 min A Word document that lost its images but kept the text7 min Subtitles that show strange characters on a Mac6 min Why a GIF is bigger than the video it came from6 min Why zipping photos and videos barely makes them smaller6 min A downloaded file that stays a .part or .download on a Mac7 min A file that will not open because iCloud kept a placeholder6 min A PDF that opens fine but will not print on a Mac7 min An audio file that plays too fast or sounds high-pitched6 min An MP4 with no thumbnail or preview in Finder on a Mac7 min A video you cannot skip forward in or scrub through on a Mac7 min A zip file that turns into a .cpgz file on a Mac6 min How to convert an M4V to MP4 on a Mac, and when you cannot6 min What a .caf file is, and how to convert it to MP3 on a Mac6 min How to convert Apple Lossless (ALAC) to FLAC on a Mac6 min Photos or iMovie will not import a video on a Mac6 min "The item can't be copied because it's too large for the volume's format"6 min Why a video got bigger after you converted it on a Mac6 min How to get a photo under 200 KB for an online form on a Mac6 min Recovered videos that will not play after an SD card rescue7 min A DOCX or XLSX that downloaded as a .zip on a Mac6 min A video that shows green or gray blocks when it plays on a Mac7 min An MP3 that shows the wrong length or skips to the wrong spot6 min An ODT file that will not open on a Mac, and how to read it6 min How to turn a Live Photo into a GIF on a Mac6 min A video that plays on your Mac but not on a TV from a USB drive7 min How to convert an M4R ringtone to MP3 on a Mac6 min How to convert an MPG or MPEG video to MP4 on a Mac6 min What an MKA file is, and how to play or convert it on a Mac6 min Why a PDF with only a few pages is so large, and how to fix it6 min An iMovie export that is far too big to send, and how to shrink it7 min An RTF file that opens as a wall of code on a Mac6 min How to convert a WebP to PNG on a Mac and keep the transparency6 min How to make an audio file smaller to email from a Mac6 min A PDF that broke after you saved changes to it in Preview7 min An upload form that says your PDF is invalid or damaged6 min Old MOV files from the 2000s that a new Mac will not open6 min A WAV file that will not play on a Mac, and how to rescue it7 min A Word document that opens as a blank page on a Mac6 min Music copied from a Mac that will not play in the car6 min A Keynote presentation that is too big to email or upload6 min Security camera footage that will not play on a Mac6 min How to compress a video for a website so it loads quickly7 min MOD and TOD camcorder files on a Mac, and how to convert them7 min Why photos get bigger when you export them from Photos on a Mac6 min How to add FLAC files to the Music app on a Mac6 min Reduce File Size in Preview made the PDF blurry: what to do instead6 min A Word file that starts with ~$ and will not open on a Mac6 min How to convert a JPEG or PNG to TIFF on a Mac6 min iPhone ProRAW photos that are too big to send from a Mac6 min A PDF that shows boxes or missing text on a Mac7 min A photo that looks dull after converting it on a Mac6 min A photo that turns sideways after you send or convert it6 min A video a website rejects even though it is under the size limit6 min Can you get the audio out of a video that will not play?6 min How to compress many PDFs at once on a Mac, not one by one7 min How to shrink an hour-long meeting recording on a Mac6 min How to shrink a video for a job application or course upload6 min Moov atom not found: what it means and how to fix it on a Mac7 min What a Mac screenshot file says about you, and where the real leak is6 min Why converted audio sounds worse than the original6 min Will compressing a signed PDF break the signature?6 min A PDF that is slow to open or scroll in Preview on a Mac6 min A video that was not copied to the iPhone because it cannot be played6 min A video that will not play in PowerPoint on a Mac6 min Fujifilm RAF raw files that will not open on a Mac6 min "There is no application set to open the document" on a Mac6 min A PDF that got bigger after you compressed it on a Mac6 min A video that plays sideways or upside down on a Mac6 min Does converting a photo remove its location data on a Mac?6 min How to convert a GIF to MP4 on a Mac and make it far smaller6 min Sony ARW raw files that will not open on a Mac6 min A file restored from Time Machine that will not open6 min An M4P song that will not play or convert on a Mac6 min Changed a file extension and now it will not open on a Mac6 min Olympus and OM System ORF raw files that will not open on a Mac6 min What an OGM video file is, and how to convert it on a Mac6 min How to convert a DTS audio file to MP3 on a Mac6 min How to convert a FLAC to M4A on a Mac6 min How to convert a PGM or PPM image to PNG on a Mac5 min How to convert a WAV to M4A on a Mac and save space6 min How to convert a Y4M video to MP4 on a Mac6 min