error -2041: an invalid sample description was found in the movie

I have the exact same problem with videos coming from my HTC TyTN PDA Phone. I was shooting and sharing video of my daughter from this phone just fine, then the new Mac Quicktime updates and I can't watch any of them....very disappointing and frustrating!

Exact same problem with .mp4's taken across from my iMate JASJAM. Will not play in iTunes or Quicktime at all when using the mp4 file extension. If I change the file extension to m4v, they will play with no error message AND NO AUDIO!!! Very frustrating.

I have the exact same problem. I have a PPC 6700, and now I can't view movies I created with it in mp4. If change extension file to 3GP video works just fine.
Also, when I try to see a webpage with a Quicktime video clip, I only get a Quicktime logo with a big question mark in it, but no play.
I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, but nothing seems to work.
I have Windows XP, and it worked fine until a couple weeks ago. Not sure if when upgrading to Quicktime 7.2, though.

I have had the same problem. Clicking on an mp4 file, an error in Quicktime regarding the invalid sample description (however, the same file opens in VLC and other applications, but not iTunes or Quicktime). Is it correct to understand this problem has not been solved yet?

I have the same problem. I get the -2041 error when trying to open in Quicktime on a PC and a "an invalid sample description was found in the movie" on my MacBook. With the K-lite codec pack, I can play the video in VLC or media player classic but no audio. Help!

I could view mp4 movies from my fiancée's NEC mobile fine before, but since upgrading to Leopard I can no longer view them and also get the error: An invalid sample description was found in the movie.

I hope someone can figure this out, or someone was able to contact Apple directly regarding this.

Tried the renaming mp4 to 3gp and it did work for me so thanks for that tip... kinda silly how it use to be able to play the files despite the filename before, and now you have to rename them. Hopefully it'll be addressed in the next QuickTime update.

I think I may be able to offer some help. I use the PPC6700 phone and got this error. After reading the threads I changes the extension to .3gp and it did not work. I then went to settings > folder options > view and unchecked the box "hide file extensions for known file types. All of a sudden the file i had renames from movie.mp4 to movie.3gp showed up as movie.3gp.mp4. I then deleted the mp4 and it played fine. Give this try. Let me know if this was useful.

Hey everyone i had the same problem. and i was able to solve it.

Now i have a PC so i am not sure whether it will work for macs or not.

Anyways Solution:

Google mp4 player. The second option on the list http://www.download3000.com/download_19434.html has an mp4 player you can download. Once downloaded, proceeed to install it. Once installed any videos you had trouble with before should work. Once a movie clip is downloaded, open it. If it cant play it, then it will download the necessary codecs to play the video.

This worked for me, so i hope it works for u guys.

Good Luck

Same problem with vista and probably my xp at home.... but changed (vista) under organize, folder and search options, view tab, and then the option under the hidden file and folders options.
I did receive sound so who knows.... thanks for the advice guys!!

This has something to do with Qualcomm and AMR audio... There are other threads going around here about that.

By simply renaming the to .3gp gets around quicktime player's inability to parse the file, but does not solve anything.

AMR is not a legal stream inside an MP4 container... but can be used... QT 7.1.6 was able to parse the file without renaming.

A decent all-in-one player that I use is "Media Player Classic". (it's a like the VLC player but written better for windows).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaPlayerClassic

HI , ihave the same exact problem with .mp4 files from my PS3 .
I have a PS3 & the PS3 eyecam . i can easily create videos and export them to the PS3 hard drive and then transfer them to ym pc , while they ahve the QT player icon and the .mp4 eextension i cannot play the files at all i receive this error
error -2041: an invalid sample description was found in the movie

and the only player that i can play them in is the VLC player and they play exactly how they were recorded .
Now i have bought QT pro a couple years ago and paid good money for this player - i generally use the QT player to export videos and i like the features it has , but wheni cannot play a mp4 file with this player i BOUGHT im not very happy . i would really like to see APPLE fix this ASAP .

anyone know wof a solution . also i dont know how to change the files format from .mp4 to .3gp . andy help with that would be great .

CHeers

It appears changing the file extension to match what the file thinks it is internally solves the problem. Converting other files and the process should change the extension, but doesn't seems to cause this problem. If you do a get info, at least on a Mac, where you can see the preview, and you get no preview, just an icon, changing the file extension, from say mp4 to m4v, will eliminate the error and a preview appears. If you have other video, and the extension is incorrect, chances are if you change it, it will begin to work, the number of extension options is limited.

Hello people,
The solution it’s quite simple, changing the file extention would solve your problem,

In Vista: open my computer -> Organize (it’s on the top left tab) -> Folder and search option -> View then untick the “hide extensions for known file types” then apply. Then go to the actual MOV file that you have from your Pocket pc or else, change the format to 3gp, ie if video.mov to video.3gp.
In XP : just rename the extension format to .3gp

I know the cause and the solution for this problem. The cause is a wrong AudioType code in the MP4 container. The correct should be 64, but some encoders put this code as 103. To change this I use mp4UI ( http://mp4ui.sourceforge.net/). The steps are:

1. open mp4ui
2. Go to the options tab
3. Disable Add hint tracks, make ISMA compliant, optimize on close and enable Advanced functions/information
4. go to the general tab and open your mp4 file
5. right click on the audio track(s) and choose set properties in the advance submenu
6. in the preset list choose AudioType, change the value to 64 and click OK
7. Click on close and try to open your file with quicktime. It should work. It has worked for me with about a hundred files...

Good Luck!