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

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.

i was having the same problems but downloaded the latest version then changed the files to 3gp and they all work fine

you need to download gom player http://www.gomplayer.com/download.html

Thanks, folks, the .mp4 to .3gp rename fix was all I needed after a morning of tearing my hair out with qt 7.3. Nearly human again...

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

Same error on file for both PC and Mac (Quicktime 7.3.1)

Got the file to playback perfectly in VLC though.

Shame it wont work in QT...

I just tried it and it works for me on my iMac, using a file sent from my Samsung t439.

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

Thanks for the insight.... was exactly what I was looking for.

I have windows Vista and have done all the above, folder options sorting out hidden file extensions and renamed the file extension, but it still doesn't work! An ideas folks? Thanks

Got the same problem but changed the file extentions from .mp4 to .3gp and it works fine but i cannot load it on to my iPod Touch in either extentions. Any clues?