ASF Player for Mac – Playing ASF Files on Mac With Elmedia

Have troubles when opening .asf on Mac? Unfortunately, QuickTime, the default player on macOS, is not compatible with this Microsoft file format. But you can still open ASF files on Mac with Elmedia Player. It is the easiest and most reliable solution that delivers impressive and smooth video playback.

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What is an ASF File?

ASF stands for Advanced Systems Format and is a proprietary digital video and audio container format. Developed by Microsoft, it is commonly used for storing and streaming audio/video files. Files with the .asf extension can also contain additional metadata, including title, author, and description.

The ASF format defines how the data in the file is organized but does not define the encoding method. WMA (Windows Media Audio) or WMV (Windows Media Video) are often stored in the ASF container. They can be compressed using various video codecs.

How to Play ASF Files With Elmedia Mac Player

Step 1. Download and Install Elmedia Player on your Mac

Instal Elmedia Player for ASF playback on macOS

Step 2. Run Elmedia and Select Videos in .ASF format

You can add files to the ASF player in several ways:

Drag and drop ASF files onto the Elmedia icon in the dock or on top of the player;
Right-click the file and select “Open With”. Select Elmedia Player.
Go to “File” > “Open”. Locate the file you want to play and select it.

Step 3. Enjoy Watching Your Movies

Elmedia Useful Features for Playing ASF Files on Mac Even More Convenient

Mac Program to Play ASF Without Converting

Elmedia Player is the best ASF player Mac users can rely on. This media player for Mac provides enhanced versatility and can open almost any file format, including MP4, ASF, MOV, AVI, MKV, MP3, WMV, and WMA. It even plays niche formats like FLV and SWF. Moreover, the tool comes with hardware-accelerated decoding capabilities to ensure you never experience lags, quality defects, and slowdowns.

Create and Manage Playlists

Create your own playlists to make watching videos more convenient. You can categorize and save your movies and videos in your library and watch them anytime. With the playlist feature, you don't have to worry about finding the right video files in a bunch of folders. Since Elmedia supports almost all formats, you can be sure that your ASF files will play without problems here.

Dedicated Playback Controls

Elmedia Player gives you full control over playback. Adjust playback speed, tweak subtitles, sync audio, and video, bookmark the best scenes, and that's not all you can do in this ASF file player. Picture-in-picture mode is another handy feature that allows users to play videos in the background.

Continuous Looping

Play your favorite movie scene non-stop with Elmedia Player. There is a unique feature called A-B Loop that allows you to set a specific segment of any audio or video file that you need to play continuously.

Other ASF Mac Players

There are many QuickTime Player alternatives that play ASF videos with ease. With that in mind, we've rounded up the best solutions and reviewed their features.

VLC

VLC is a popular cross-platform media player, available for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. It's free and open source. VLC supports various multimedia formats and resolutions and gives its users advanced control over videos, including subtitle synchronization, and video/audio filters. Among other things, you can fully customize the player by adding skins. However, VLC's interface seems to be rather outdated compared to other apps.

VLC vs Elmedia

No matter what file format you play, Elmedia Player attracts Mac users with its minimalist design and smooth interface.

Elmedia Pros:

A-B Loop feature;
Playlist creation and customization;
No additional codecs or modifications required.

QuickTime

Apple QuickTime player comes preinstalled on Macs and Macbooks and ensures a smooth video viewing experience. But still, it offers a limited number of supported formats and codecs. In order to enjoy ASF files through QuickTime, you will need to change them to a player-compatible format using a dedicated converter. Alternatively, you can opt for a replacement to play ASF files on Mac.

QuickTime vs Elmedia:

If you have problems playing ASF or any other format, Elmedia is here to help. It plays virtually all media formats without the need to install extra plugins or codecs.

Elmedia Pros:

Variety of supported formats;
Unique playlist creation;
Skillfully composed presets.

GOM

Another ASF player worth considering is GOM. It is free, has a simple interface, and includes advanced features to provide a high level of playback. GOM handles a wide range of video and audio formats (AVI, WMV, ASF, M4V, and others) and supports the playback of media content directly from the Internet. With this tool, you can also play even damaged video and audio files. Besides, there is a paid premium Player Plus as well.

GOM vs Elmedia:

Despite GOM Player’s niche features, Elmedia still wins on some points. It is ad-free and lets you stream local files to Chromecast, AirPlay, Roku, and DLNA devices.

Elmedia Pros:

Ad-free experience;
Streaming capabilities.

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Comparison Chart of ASF Video Players for Mac OS

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Top features		Elmedia Player	VLC	QuickTime	GOM
ASF format support (and other formats)	ASF format support (and other formats)	yes (m4v, h264, MPEG-4, MOV, etc.)	yes (WMV, TS, MPEG-4, H.264, etc.)	no (AVI, WAV, m4v, .mp4, etc.)	yes (MKV, WebM, MTS, MOV, etc.)
Need for an additional codec to play .asf files extension	Need for an additional codec to play .asf files extension	no	no	yes	no
OS	OS	OS X 10.12+	Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later	QuickTime Player 7 for Mac OS X v10.6.3	Mac OS X 10.13(High Sierra) or higher
Free version	Free version	yes	yes	yes	yes

What other users are saying about Elmedia

If you are searching for an advanced media player for your mac system, then Elmedia Player 7 is here for you. Elmedia Player 7 is known as the best media player amongst the new generation of Mac users.

John Rike, Techwibe 4.5

Elmedia Video Player for Mac offers a wide range of features to meet all your multimedia needs. You can stream directly to Smart TV or Apple TV.

Jignesh Padhiyar, Igeeksblog 4.8

Elmedia Player has a wide variety of other features and capabilities, but having the ability to play just about every possible video format, tweaking settings as needed for sync, audio and video problems.

Dave Taylor, ASK DAVE TAYLOR 4.8

It can play any file format including the widely-used ones like AVI, MP4, FLV, SWF, WMV, MKV, MP3, M4V, etc without the need of installing any other plugin or codec.

Chesky Ron, Techwalls 4.8

Overall rating 4.5

based on 11950 reviews

FAQ

How to open ASF files on Mac?

Unfortunately, the default Mac player cannot play ASF files. The best way to open such files on your Mac is to use third-party software. You can explore our list above and choose the one that suits you best. Alternatively, you can convert ASF file to a friendly format and then play it on Mac.

Do I need to convert ASF video files to play them on Mac?

If you don't want to use a converter, you can download a media player that can read the .asf file. Elmedia Player, VLC, and GOM will be great choices for opening ASF files on Mac.

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Requirements

Requirements: OS X 10.12+

Latest version

Latest version: v8.18(3409), released 28 Mar, 2024 Release notes