how to play a google drive video in vlc or iina on a mac
by sumit paul · last updated
to play a google drive video in vlc or iina on a mac, the video has to be a file the player can open from finder. you can download it from drive.google.com, open it through google drive for desktop (which downloads the whole file when you open it), or use a streaming drive that lets the player read the file straight from the cloud. then right-click the file in finder, choose open with, and pick vlc or iina.
why not just paste the link?
vlc has file › open network and iina has file › open url, so pasting a drive link feels like it should work. it usually doesn't. a drive share link points to drive's web page with its own player, not to the raw video, and large files add a virus-scan warning page in front of the download. you can find workarounds online, but they break often and won't work on private files. a file in finder is the dependable route.
your options
| method | waits for full download? | disk space used | cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| download from drive.google.com | yes | the full file | free |
| google drive for desktop (stream mode) | yes, on open | the full file, kept | free |
| rclone mount | depends on cache settings | depends on cache settings | free, open source |
| streaming drive (feather drive) | no | a small cache | paid, 3-day free trial |
option 1: download it
- open drive.google.com, right-click the video, and choose download.
- when it finishes, find it in your downloads folder.
- right-click › open with › vlc (or iina), or drag it onto the player's icon in the dock.
fine for a short clip. for a 10 GB recording you wait for all 10 GB, and you need that much free space. delete it afterwards if you don't want the copy.
option 2: google drive for desktop
- install google drive for desktop and sign in. drive appears under locations in finder's sidebar.
- browse to the video, right-click › open with › vlc or iina.
this is google's free app and it shows your whole drive, which is its big advantage. in stream mode the video looks like it's on your mac, but opening it downloads the whole file first, then hands it to the player, and keeps the copy. you can make it available offline (right-click in finder) so it's ready ahead of time. our guide to stream vs mirror explains the two modes.
option 3: rclone mount
rclone is a free, open-source command-line tool that can mount google drive as a folder. on a mac it needs a fuse layer such as macfuse or fuse-t installed first, and some setup in terminal. with the right cache settings, players can start before the whole file arrives. it's powerful and covers dozens of cloud services, but it takes more tinkering than an app. see how to mount google drive with rclone on a mac.
option 4: a streaming drive
feather drive mounts google drive and dropbox in finder and fetches only the byte ranges a player asks for. vlc or iina starts playing in about a second, seeking jumps straight to the new point, and get info shows zero bytes on disk. in our side-by-side test, a 1.22 GB video opened in 1.7 s, while google drive for desktop took 1 min 44 s because it downloaded the whole file first.
- download feather drive, connect google drive, and switch on the file system extension when asked: system settings › general › login items & extensions › file system extensions › feather drive.
- put your videos in the feather drive folder in finder. they upload to drive.
- right-click a video › open with › vlc or iina.
be clear on the limits. it needs macos 26 or later, covers google drive and dropbox only, and only sees files you put in it (google's drive.file permission), not videos already elsewhere in your drive. it needs an internet connection to play, and playback is only as smooth as your connection is fast compared with the video's bitrate. it's a paid app with a 3-day free trial.
vlc or iina?
both are free and play almost any format, so this comes down to taste.
- iina is built for macos. it looks like a mac app, supports picture in picture and the touch bar, and uses mpv underneath.
- vlc runs on every platform, has more options for codecs, filters and network streams, and is often the one that plays a file nothing else will.
- quicktime, already on your mac, plays h.264, hevc and prores fine and is worth trying first.
to make one the default: select a video in finder, press command-i, pick the app under open with, and click change all.
if the video won't play in drive's browser player
that's often a format or processing problem, not a broken file. vlc and iina usually play it anyway. see google drive video not playing for the causes and fixes.
related
- google drive video not playing or still processing: how to fix it
- how to open a large video from google drive without downloading it
- how byte-range streaming plays a huge video without downloading it
- how to use google drive in finder on a mac
common questions
can vlc play a google drive link directly?
not reliably. a normal drive share link opens drive's web page, not the video file, so pasting it into vlc's open network usually fails. get the file into finder instead: download it, use google drive for desktop, or use a streaming drive.
why use vlc or iina instead of drive's player?
drive's web player plays a limited set of formats and caps playback at 1080p. vlc and iina play almost any codec at full resolution, with subtitles, audio tracks and frame stepping.
does google drive for desktop download the video when i open it in vlc?
yes. in stream mode, opening a file downloads the whole thing before the player gets it, and the copy stays on your mac until you remove it.
how do i make iina or vlc the default for videos on a mac?
select a video in finder, press command-i, choose iina or vlc under open with, and click change all.