Question :

I’ve found this old Flash videos (in .flv format) on an old hard disk and I want to play them on my Mac / iPhone, but QuickTime gives a “The document could not be opened”-error, stating “The file isn’t compatible with QuickTime Player.”

Is there a simple way to convert them to a video file format that QuickTime can handle (preferably .mp4) ?

Answer :

Yes, there is : the FREE Smart Converter app can do this for you very easily. Just do this :

• first, download the FREE SmartConverter.app (by ShedWorx) from the Mac AppStore :
  • https://apps.apple.com/us/app/smart-converter/id447513724?mt=12

• open the SmartConverter.app
• when the Smart Converter window opens, drag&drop the .flv-video file that you want to convert onto it
• then, click the Mac-button (in-between the QuickTime and iPad buttons)
• then, click the blue Convert-button (bottom right) and wait for the conversion to finish
• then, after noticing that the blue Convert-button has changed into a blue ShowFile-button, click on it
• in the Finder-window that opens, click on the converted video file (that now has an .mp4 file extension) and it will open in the QuickTime Player app

That’s it !

enjoy 😉