Files that don't normally work on the Mac all work using QuickTime, with Perian handling the file formats. When QuickTime is used to play a file, that file just works (no more error messages). Perian works without you realizing it is there. All the standard file formats are supported, but there's a ton of less-commonly found file formats supported by Perian, too. Perian supports a variety of file types for both video and audio files. It installs easily as long as you have no software already installed that can conflict with Perian. Perian is available from several sources, but not the App Store when we looked.
Basically, Perian enables QuickTime application support for a wide variety of media files. Perian is a software app that makes viewing your media files easier.
