Since the release of the new Intel Macs, Intel Mac users have not been able to watch WMVs, unless they ran Quicktime and their web browser of choice in Rosetta. Running in Rosetta dramatically slowed down the programs, and was very inconvenient to do just for WMV playback. So, Intel Mac users had a choice. They could deal with a slow web browser or they could avoid WMVs all together. I have personally opted to stay away from the file format – until now.

About an hour ago, Telestream released Flip4Mac 2.1 beta. Flip4Mac is the software which allows Window Media playback on Mac. The new version claims Universal Binary support, meaning Intel Mac users can now “enjoy” WMVs Rosetta-free. At the moment the software is only available to select beta testers, which I happen to be. A public beta is expected in the next few weeks, with the final version in the next month or so.

In the short time I’ve had this beta, I’ve already begun putting it through its paces. I’ve tried playing WMVs through several web players. That hasn’t gone too well. While the WMV file plays, the formating of the web player gets screwed up, often making the player window smaller and having text overlay the video. I’ve also tried playing WMVs through embedded players. That’s worked perfectly and has performed like any video file should. Finally, I’ve run some tests with downloaded videos in Quicktime. As expected, that has worked wonderfully also.

So it appears at the moment that WMVs played through those fancy web players don’t seem to be working too well. While it is annoying, it’s beta software, so I can’t really complain. Hopefully those bugs will be worked out by the time the player hits public beta, and if not, they should be worked out by the final version. Other than that issue, it’s looking like in the not-to-distant future WMVs will no longer be a problem for Intel Mac users.