.mp4 video, won't play in QT, Real, Windows Media, but DOES in VLC

If you are having problems playing MPEG4 video in Quicktime 7.4 or 7.5 you should carefully check in

/Library/Quicktime and
/Library/Internet Plug-ins and
Home/Library/Quicktime

to check whether you have any third party plug-ins that are not completely up to date.

Current versions of Flip4Mac and DiVX and Perian do NOT cause failure alone or in combination. However the one SPECIFIC extension that ALWAYS causes the failure alone or in groups is 3ivxMediaImp. All other 3ivx extensions DO work. Remove only that ONE SPECIFIC extension.

Please try this and see if it fixes your problem with QT Player, the QT Firefox Plugin, and iTunes not playing MPEG4 files (including mp4 files).

Older 3ivx and DivX components are often incompatible with new QuickTime versions and are, in many cases, obviated by component packs like Perian.

This is not the only explanation for issues with MPEG4 file playback in QuickTime 7.4 and later, however. The issue with videos from democracynow.org and others, including some of the videos on YouTube, for instance, is the result of that content not complying with MPEG4 standards (namely that they use bogus track dimensions). QuickTime had previously ignored invalid track dimensions but this was changed in order to support properly authored anamorphic content.

The issue was ultimately tracked to content generated by two MP4 creation tool chains, GPAC and MPEG4IP, which carried outdated versions of the MP4Box and mp4creator tools that were improperly authoring the files. These were in use by Democracy Now and other content creators. Apple have informed them of the problem and had them update to later versions of these tools to resolve the issue for their new content.

The update to QT 7.4.1 fixed a number of issues but some problems are unavoidable when working with non-standards compliant content. The standards are important for many reasons including keeping hackers from manipulating improperly coded web pages.

A further problem was the fact that the developers of iSquint conceded that in many cases, the files do not play because they have been created in a non-standard way (the tool used to create them was broken). They have therefore included a Debreaker as a part of the latest version of iSquint. If your files are of this type, then you can run them through this app without having to downgrade QuickTime. This could save you a lot of hassle!

http://www.isquint.org/getit.php

However, in other cases, there is a workaround (also the basis for why those files will still play in iTunes): there are a few ways to trick QuickTime into ignoring the invalid track data. For instance, rename the files .3GP and they'll show up just fine.

Post back if you want a list of the plug-ins you should have in order to play pretty much anything in Quicktime.

The recent (mostly security) update to Quicktime 7.5 has not changed the situation as described. There is still a certain amount of improperly authored content in the wild that QuickTime Player can not support.

Some of those are unfamiliar to me, but presumably you have them for a reason. Given that not all mpeg4 files are playable in Quicktime for the reasons stated, try moving some of those plug-ins to the desktop to see if it helps. My own 'portfolio' is as follows:

These are the downloads and the settings you need in order to view/hear pretty much everything that the net can throw at you: The setup described below has proved repeatedly successful on both PPC and Intel macs, but nothing in life carries a guarantee!

It is known to work in the great majority of cases with Safari 3.0.4, 3.1, 3.1.2, QT 7.3, 7.4.x and 7.5 and OS 10.4.11, and should also work with 10.5.4.

Download and install ( or re-install even if you already had them) the latest versions, suitable for your flavor of Mac, of:

RealPlayer 11 (which is no longer in beta) for Mac from:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15540

Flip4Mac WMV Player from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx (Windows Media Player for the Mac is no longer supported, even by Microsoft)

Perian from http://perian.org/

You should read this support page http://perian.org/#support in case you need to delete older codecs.

The latest version of Adobe FlashPlayer can be obtained from here:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1ProdVersion=ShockwaveFlash

(You can check here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/about/ to see which version you should install for your Mac and OS.

Note that Adobe requires you to uninstall any previous version of Flash Player, using the uninstaller from here (make sure you use the correct one!):

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157

and also that you follow the instructions closely, such as closing ALL applications first.

Some users have mentioned that the latest Flash Player versions (v.9.0.115.0 and 9.0.124.0) in some cases conflict with Leopard 10.5.4, and that they have needed to revert to v. 9.0.47. This can be downloaded from here:

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14266&sliceId=1

You should also ensure that you have downloaded and installed all the correct versions for your Mac of Security Updates up to and including 2008-005. (N.B. Security Updates require both a restart and a permission repair.)

In Macintosh HD/Library/Quicktime/ delete any files relating to DivX (Perian already has them). However it should be noted that Perian is not an internet plugin and will not play DivX files imbedded on a website. For that you will need the DivX Player browser plugin available from http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/

Now go to Safari Preferences/Security, and tick the boxes under Web Content (all 4 of them) to enable Java.

Lastly open Audio Midi Setup (which you will find in the Utilities Folder of your Applications Folder) and click on Audio Devices. Make sure that both Audio Input and Audio Output, under Format, are set to 44100 Hz, and that you have selected 'Built in Audio'.

Important: Now repair permissions and restart.

You should also consider having the free VLC Player from http://www.videolan.org/ in your armory, as this plays almost anything that DVD Player might not.

There is an additional 'fix' you could try if you are having problems with Flash and Quicktime, depending on which type of Mac you have:

On Intel Macs, make sure that you are not running Safari in Rosetta. You can check this, and change it, in the Get Info window.

On PPC Macs, go to the Hard Disk/Library/Internet Plug-Ins folder, and drag the file 'QuickTime Plugin. webplugin' to the desktop. Quit and restart Safari. If things have improved you can trash that file. If they haven't put it back, as the lack of this plug-in can cause QT content in some widgets to cease functioning.

And now there is an additional kid on the block: SilverLight. Microsoft has created their own version of what a replacement for Flash should be. You can read more about it here:

http://silverlight.net/

So, if you go to any sites that have been designed for this new Silverlight stuff, you can download the plug-in from here (but make certain that you are downloading SilverLight v.1.0 for OS X (10.4.8 upwards) if you are using a PPC Mac. Version 2 only works with Intel Macs:

http://silverlight.net/GetStarted/

Recommendation: Close all applications before installing any of the above, repair permissions, reboot, and repair permissions again.

I am not sure if you problem is the format. It seems there is a change in Quicktime handling mp4 files. Not only does it not recognize them, it hangs quicktime if you try to play them. This change occurred with the iTunes 8/Quicktime update. I have mp4 video files that played fine with previous iTunes, but now hang the system. If I try to play them in Quicktime it hangs. On a Mac you can simply do a Get Info to see if the preview comes up. If it does not, it will probably not import and/or hang iTunes/Quicktime.

Apple is now aware of the problem, I am a Mac consultant and worked with Apple Support to narrow the problem. Just written up today so I am not sure when it will get fixed.

Now, if you want a solution, although it is a work around, it is simple. The same file will import and play fine if you change the extension to .m4v instead of .mp4. .m4v is an Apple extension and may or may not work with other players, but it allows the content to play. For those videos already in iTunes, I believe you will need to move them out of iTunes and then delete the file from iTunes. Then reimport it and everything works.