BleepingComputer.com: Playing avi files from PC on MAC

I was not sure if this was a PC or MAC issue so I will post in both sections..Either way I will need help from someone with knowledge of both OS's
Anyways the problem I am having is when I try to play avi files from my PC on a MAC they will either not play at all or play on divx with no audio.Or in some cases the video will start playing but be shown as a 10 sec long video when it should be much more as it is a 1.3 GB file. (A full length movie)
I am transferring them via usb flash drive. I have tried on 2 different MAC machines, both running Snow Leopard and no joy on either. I am assuming it is a codec issue but since I am a PC user, I am not very familiar with MAC. Also the MAC machines do not belong to me so I do not have the freedom to experiment with them. I should also note that the avi files play flawlessly on other PC's. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

This post has been edited by hamluis: 26 December 2011 - 05:23 PM
Reason for edit: Moved from Vista to Mac.

I have Perian and Flip4Mac plugins installed on my Macs and together they are all I need to watch most videos.
Ask the owner to install them on the Macs.

Thanks. I found Perian and all is good now. I will keep in mind the flip4mac in case I may need it in the future..
thanks again.

JimeeB, on 26 December 2011 - 11:18 AM, said:

Mod Edit: Deleted post in other Mac forum ~ Hamluis.

I would also recommend installing VLC. It is such a versatile media player in terms of format compatability that I use it to playback pretty much everything that I don't have in my iTunes library.