First released in 2006, Perian is a component for Apple’s QuickTime software that allows for the playback of many popular video file formats, including DivX, AVI, MKV, and VP6. In addition, the component supported almost twenty video codecs, more than half a dozen audio formats, subtitles, and more.
The project’s discontinuation was announced in a note posted on the project’s homepage, though the developers didn’t specifically say why they had chosen this moment to retire Perian, other than that “it’s time for all of [them] to move on.”