I have an ipad 3. I have downloaded a movie which is sitting in dropbox on ipad. The movie is in .avi format. I am aware that ipad does not play .avi formats and have downloaded 'playable' app on my ipad. How do I play the movie in my dropbox, using 'playable'?

Done so far: Rotated the ipad in portrait mode - opened drop box - clicked on the movie - and tried clicking on the arrow button on the top right hand side, but the arrow is disabled

Hi and welcome to the Forum!

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Originally Posted by shank

I have an ipad 3. I have downloaded a movie which is sitting in dropbox on ipad. The movie is in .avi format. I am aware that ipad does not play .avi formats and have downloaded 'playable' app on my ipad. How do I play the movie in my dropbox, using 'playable'?

Done so far: Rotated the ipad in portrait mode - opened drop box - clicked on the movie - and tried clicking on the arrow button on the top right hand side, but the arrow is disabled

What app have you installed to play that .avi file? I ask because maybe it really doesn't play .avi files. Dropbox supports the "Open In..." function, so if there is an app that can open a file, pressing that arrow will help you open it. If there is no compatible file, Dropbox will show that grayed out arrow.

So, if I may, I suggest trying another app? A free one, for sure (don't want to buy something unless you know it works, right? ). A lot of people have had success with OPlayer HD (the Lite version), although there are many more free ones...

Hope this helps.

Marilyn

Originally Posted by shank

I have an ipad 3. I have downloaded a movie which is sitting in dropbox on ipad. The movie is in .avi format. I am aware that ipad does not play .avi formats and have downloaded 'playable' app on my ipad. How do I play the movie in my dropbox, using 'playable'?

Done so far: Rotated the ipad in portrait mode - opened drop box - clicked on the movie - and tried clicking on the arrow button on the top right hand side, but the arrow is disabled

Apps on iOS run in a so-called "sandbox" mode. For security reasons, only Apple apps can interact with each other, but other apps can only access their own, and not anything from others.

In order for Drobox to be able to play your video file, it needs to be in a supported format:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/83/en

Rather than trying to use the Dropbox app, try logging into your Dropbox account from Safari, and then tap on the AVI file.
If your video player app supports web-links, it might be able to play the video then.

Otherwise, use a video player with dropbox support in it, such as OPlayerHD Lite:

OPlayerHD Lite - the best free video and music media player for iPad for iPad on the iTunes App Store

If your have downloaded some .AVI videos from the internet but the stock player will not play them, my recommendation would be to install a third-party media player, like Playable or Video Downloader, the latter can also download online videos. Hope it helps.