No support for MPEG2

As an Apple user I figured I was very well equipped when it came to video files. So when I recently was asked to make some edits to an MPEG file I thought, "no problem". Actually there was a problem. When I tried to open the clip in Quicktime I received an error message stating that this was "not a video file". I initually thought the file must be corrupted. Just to make sure I gave VLC a try where it worked beautifully. I was confused to say the least. I checked the file extension and the file info, but nothing was out of the ordinary. The file extension was .mpg and the info confirmed it was an MPEG. After a little research I concluded that the file was an MPEG2. I then discovered the only way to view an MPEG2 in Quicktime was to purchase the $20 dollar upgrade from Apple. But wait... I still need to edit these videos, and iMovie doesn't support MPEG2. Even after you purchase the upgrade.

So what did I do? I thought you would never ask. The solution was quite simple thanks to a little piece of software called ffmpegX. The user interface is as simple as drag, drop and export. Great little piece of conversion software, and it's free.