OS X "Open With" issue with VLC 3.0

[nixuotan]

Running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6
VLC 3.0.0

Since I downloaded 3.0 I have a weird issue with "Open With" menu. I set my mkv files to be opened using VLC. When I look at the "Open With" sub menu I see VLC on the top. But after the divider where other apps should be I see "VLC (default)" on the top. I tried changing the default app several times. No change. I tried the command to delete any duplicate apps from the sub menu and still nothing. With other apps I dont have this problem. Its only with VLC. More specifically since I updated from 2.2.8. I tried the nightly build of 4.0 just out of curiosity. Same issue. Could be an effect or the cause: when I go to the window to change the default app for mkv files it doesnt show VLC as a recommended app for mkv files. And once chosen there is a warning saying that its not known whether this application can open this file\paraphrasing

[kittonian]

Same issue here, except I no longer get VLC as an option when I choose "open with". I have to select "other" go view the applications and then choose to show all apps because VLC is no longer recognized as an app that will open MKV files. When I choose to always use VLC it doesn't do anything different. Now, every time I try and open an MKV file I have to repeat this process, or manually open VLC and then select the video via File->Open. Just updated to 3.0.0 from 2.8 where things were working fine.

[dfuhrmann]

Thanks for the reports, we will try to find out what is wrong here.

Please make sure to do the following steps first:
First, launch VLC by just double clicking the VLC icon.
Did you try to restart your Mac already, after installing + launching the new version of VLC?

Would you be so kind and help us with one information?
Please open the Terminal, and enter the following command:

mdls -name kMDItemContentTypeTree -name kMDItemContentType NameOfVideo.mkv

Instead of entering the name manually, you can also drag and drop a mkv file into the window. Please post the output here.

[kittonian]

The problem is not launching VLC, though I did restart the Mac just to be sure. VLC loads up and works just fine. It also plays the MKV files just fine. It is the Mac OS X operating system that is no longer recognizing VLC as a suitable application for playing MKV files. You can still choose to use VLC to open the file and all works well. You cannot set VLC as the default application to open MKV files as of the 3.0 release.

Also, this is happening across all MKV files and is directly related to VLC's interaction with OS X. It has nothing to do with a single MKV file, but just because you asked, I ran the command in Terminal with a TV show I had available. Here's the output;

kMDItemContentType = "org.perian.matroska"
kMDItemContentTypeTree = (
"org.perian.matroska",
"public.movie",
"public.audiovisual-content",
"public.data",
"public.item",
"public.content"
)

[dfuhrmann]

Thanks for the reply. I know this is not a problem specific to a single mkv file, but its still helpful, as it shows that the mkv extension seems to be taken by "org.perian.matroska". Could you try deinstalling Perian and check if it works afterwards with VLC?

[VincentBrick]

I have also been periodically having this issue over the last several months, except the file type seems to vary, is not just limited to .mkv.

[kittonian]

I removed Perian, which didn't seem to be installed in the first place, but I installed the latest version and then removed it completely. No difference.

[kittonian]

Here's the workaround:

1. Get Info on an MKV file from a Finder window
2. Go to the "Open With" panel and select the VLC app by choosing "All Applications" instead of "Recommended Applications"
3. In the Get Info window, click the "Change All" button and confirm

This seems to reset things so that VLC will be the default player for all MKV files. It does not work to do it simply with the Open With command on the file, you must do it through the Get Info panel.

[dfuhrmann]

It is possible having a glitch in macOS itself, or depending on the other applications you have installed on your system. kittonian, would you be so kind to list which applications on your system are able to open mkv files, additionally?

[kittonian]

No. It is not a glitch in my installation. Others are reporting the same issue. This happened directly after updating to 3.0 from 2.8. 2.8 worked fine, 3.0 does not. The OS doesn't even recognize VLC 3.0 as being able to open MKV files. This is a bug in the new VLC.

[dfuhrmann]

I did not say its a glitch in your installation. I am saying it is likely a buggy behaviour of macOS itself. We are using a new way of declaring the file associations in 3.0, compared to 2.2. That new way is how Apple documented it and seems totally correct.

But still, there are some problems, but only reported by a very small number of users so far, if I may say.
Therefore, would you be so kind to answer my question about other video applications you might have installed? This would greatly help to track down the problem further.

[kittonian]

Besides the latest version of Plex the only other software to play videos I have installed is MKVToolNix and MPlayer OSX Extended. I have software to edit video such as Adobe Premier, After Effects, and Final Cut Pro X, along with software like Subler, Jubler, Handbrake, and Quicktime. I went through my entire applications folder to see if there was anything else I was missing, but nope, that's all I have.

[dfuhrmann]

Thanks for the help. It turns out MplayerX is actually the culprit: This application incorrectly declares some rules about the mkv file extension, which breaks other applications like VLC as well.

We will provide a workaround for VLC 3.0.1.

[kittonian]

Not MplayerX with all the Malware, MPlayer OS X Extended. Totally different software. Plus, I just went through and completely removed it because I haven't used it in years and it's made no difference.

[dfuhrmann]

If you want, you can test the latest development build for 3.0.1 from http://nightly.videolan.org/build/macosx-intel/. This should have the workaround included.

[kittonian]

Yup, all seems good with the latest build. OS X recognizes VLC as a qualified app to play MKV files, you can set the "open with" command successfully, and I was also able to restore the VLC icon to the individual files in the Finder window via the following commands in Terminal:

sudo find /private/var/folders/ -name com.apple.iconservices -exec rm -rf {} \;
sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store
killall Dock
killall Finder

[MythRa_Isbee]

Hello... first-time poster here

SuperMegathanks to the Devs... rock on! :horns:

I experienced the issue noted by the OP; though, I am running Mac OSX 10.13.3 installed cleanly and recently to my mid-2011 Mac Mini fitted out thusly:
i5 / 8GB RAM / 500GB SSD / AMD Radeon HD 6630M 256 MB.

I tested http://nightly.videolan.org/build/macos ... 5-0514.dmg installing it after uninstalling 3.0.0 stable. I continued to experience the issue: could not open .mkv files in VLC

I made a lucky guess, and resolved the issue by uninstalling VLC, and then installing https://get.videolan.org/vlc/2.2.8/macosx/vlc-2.2.8.dmg:

[dfuhrmann]

MKV extension support now works the same way as 2.2.8, in the 3.0.1 version. Please reinstall 3.0.1 (make sure it is correctly copied into your Applications folder, and started at least once), restart your Mac if needed, and assign the new VLC again to the mkv extension in the information panel.

[Mac_User]

OS X 10.11.4
VLC 3.0

My issue is similar to others here. After upgrading to VLC 3.0, all .mkv files no longer have VLCs associated file type icon and just show a blank white icon. All .mkv files show as associated to VLC in Get Info window and Change all... is grayed out. Double-clicking opens .mkvs in VLC.

What I've tried:

reinstall 3.0
reinstall 2.2.8
toss all prefs, reinstall 2.2.8
Get Info > Open with... VLC 2.2.8
Change All... VLC 2.2.8
Restart
Open VLC 2.2.8 and dragged .mkv file onto it.
Tried changing associated file to QuickTime so as to re-associate it with VLC,
but couldn't as QT doesn't play .mkvs.

All to no avail.

I've got hundreds of .mkv files so manually replacing the VLC icon with terminal-fu is out of the question. The so-called workaround listed above is the traditional Mac way of associating file type to applications for single or multiple files. And it doesn't work here.

I'll try 3.0.1, but I like the look of 2.2.8 much better, so it's my hope that I can fis this with 3.0.1 and then go back to 2.2.8 where I had no problems.

[Mac_User]

OS X 10.11.4
VLC 3.0.1

Ok, I tried VLC 3.0.1 - 20180211-0513 and 3.0.1 - 20180225-0515, no joy.

Did the same drill as in my previous post and a few more restarts, no joy.

[dfuhrmann]

Our nightlies website nightlies.videolan.org provides a new version every night, usually. Your version is from 11.02.2018, which is too old (the problem was fixed only this week). Please always try the last available version.