Can I watch 3D movies on my Mac? If not, can I just watch them normally in 2D (not having 2 pictures side by side).


  • What Mac Do you have? 3D movies on a PC require nVidia 3D Vision graphics card, glasses and screen It can be done, if you have a Mac Pro, running Windows, but not with any other Mac. You can watch always watch 3D movies in 2D on your Mac though. – Paul Eccles Aug 1 '11 at 14:42
  • > You can watch always watch 3D movies in 2D on your Mac though. how? – nanda Aug 1 '11 at 16:41
  • Well it's just a matter of opening them, VLC plays pretty much anything. Do you have any 3D movies? – Paul Eccles Aug 1 '11 at 16:43
  • yes, it can be played with VLC. But the problem I got two set of videos running side by side. How can I select only to run the right side, for example? – nanda Aug 1 '11 at 16:47
  • Try this Step 1: under "Tools" -> "Effects and Filters" -> "Video Effects" -> "Video Output / overlay" -> "[x] Wall (Line: 1 Column: 2)" Step 2: Now the video is cut twice and streamed, one of the two windows can be minimized (for simplicity, minimize, where no menus, but it goes well with the other) – Paul Eccles Aug 1 '11 at 16:51

According to this Apple document:

Autodesk’s FBX for QuickTime enables QuickTime as a 3D viewing solution that supports content from any professional 3D package. With FBX for QuickTime, digital artists can share, view, and interact with 3D content seamlessly, efficiently, and at no cost. Now available for both Mac OS X and Windows.

So, I'm guessing that's a yes.

If you want to take that 3D movie and convert it to 2D, you can most likely use MPEG Streamclip for that.

  • 2
    This answer is way off base. FBX is a universal file format that's used to describe 3D model data, not movies. This quote simply refers to opening an FBX file and being able to pan/rotate around a 3D model. It has nothing to do with watching 3D movies. – Shaun Budhram Mar 19 '14 at 3:54

I tried the suggested VLC technique (on MacOS X) for viewing just one "side" of the 3D movie, but can't get it just right.

Referring to the first answer --- there's no "Tools" menu to start with --- what is the Mac equivalent?

Referring to the last answer --- in the "Video ->Aspect Ratio ->" submenu, there are a few fixed aspect ratios, non of which stretches the single side to the desired proportions, and I haven't found a way to add new aspect ratios to the menu.

Also, I found that the best way to remove one side is using the "crop" tab in the "Window->Video Effects..." dialog, specifying "1024" on the right crop (leaving the rest sides with 0 cropping).

Still this is a partial solution for me in that I can't properly enjoy the movies because of the wrong aspect ratio.


Yes. A Mac can display side-by-side 3D content such as 3D content from YouTube and other sources. Furthermore, the refresh rates needed for alternating glasses is easily achieved by Macs produced in the last 10 or more years. The same goes for 3D encoding schemes where half of the screen goes to each eye with a prism or mirror to help the process. Lastly, the encoding that uses color shifting is fine with the resolution for Macs so unless your 3D has some odd requirements that you don't list, the answer is yes.

What you need to see that content in 3D is a 3D display system. I use a pair of Vuzix video eyewear connected to me Mac or, with an alternate Controller (interface box), I can also connect them to my iPhone or iPad and watch 3D content from those as well.


Try ATK Player. It presents 3D videos in red-cyan, green-magenta or amber-blue mode. You need a suitable glasses to watch your 3D videos.


With VLC on Mac OSX the menu options are different from Windows.

VLC v2.1.5 menu options are ...

Window -> Video Effects

When the Video Effects pop-up window is displayed, select the Miscellaneous tab and tick the Anaglyph option.


There are some available color-coded 3D movies available, you need cheap color glasses instead of electric synchronized and extremely costly ones. Most common is the famous red-and-blue style. Common cinema movies from like Avatar are displayed in a different brown-and-green color spectrum.

But if you want to watch it 2d, then you just have to download VLC, then open your double movie, then select menu "Video -> Aspect ratio -> *" then here you will select to double the original width. Now when your video looks ok, you just hold the control key and scroll the trackpad to zoom your screen into one of the 2 videos. Et voilá!


In mac VLC. either go to "windows" tab or press command+E. in that go to mice' tab and click on the Anaglyph.. thats it SBS movie will play in normal 3D


There are plenty of tutorials on the web on how to watch SBS 3D movies on your mac, such as using VLC player, however how to watch a SBS 3D movie in 2D on a mac is much harder to find. For that you need another player (VLC for mac will not give you a good Aspect Ratio (AR) because there is no option to customize the AR. Windows version does have custom AR). Instead you could download the free media player Sview http://www.sview.ru/en/download/, there are others that can do the same thing this is just one option.

Once you open the movie in Sview DO NOT ENLARGE TO FULLSCREEN YET. Start by setting it up like so:

Media > Stereoscopic Format > Parallel Pair

Change Device > Dual Output

View > Stereo Output > Left View

View > Display Ratio > 2.21:1

Now you should see your movie in 2D and in the correct AR. It's time to go fullscreen and enjoy.


A Mac can display side-by-side 3D content with 3D players, or turn them into 2D files instead.


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