Why are videos that once played fine now pixelated?

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Level 1

103 points

Why are videos that once played fine now pixelated?

I have hundreds of home movies and other content that I've made through the years and played just fine with no problems. Now, the videos have become all pixelated with green/red areas all throughout.

I'm on my main iMac that I've had for 5+ years where I've played this content before. I'm getting the same result if I to play the content via Apple TV. I've tried moving the content to a different hard drive. Same result.

What has happened? I'm stumped how to play these videos now.

Thank you!

iMac Pro

Posted on Dec 14, 2021 3:56 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 15, 2021 1:04 PM in response to Ramblinmanva

Hello

Thanks for reaching out in Apple Support Communities.

Let's see what we can do to get your videos playing as they should again. Are you trying to view the videos in Photos? If so, have you seen and tried the steps found in If you can't play videos in Photos on your Mac?

If you are still not able to watch videos, let us know the app(s) you are using, the macOS installed, and if you see any error message pop-up.

We'll be here if you need us.

Take care!

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Answer 2

Ramblinmanva Author

Level 1

103 points

Dec 15, 2021 1:07 PM in response to barberlives123

Thanks for the response.

No, not trying to play through videos in Photos. These were files I've had in my library for many years (with no issues) and I've tried playing them through TV app on my Mac and iMac, through the Apple TV device, and I tried just manually playing the files through Finder using VLC. All have the same result of this new problem.

Thank you.

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Answer 3

SnickZ.

Community Specialist

Dec 16, 2021 5:44 AM in response to Ramblinmanva

Ramblinmanva,

Thank you for the additional information, let's keep looking into what could be the cause. What is the file format of the videos that experience the pixilation? Are these videos kept in the Photo library? And if so, do you have iCloud Photo Library? Are these videos kept on a separate external hard drive?

We look forward to your replies.

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Answer 4

Ramblinmanva Author

Level 1

103 points

Dec 17, 2021 8:41 PM in response to SnickZ.

Thanks for the questions. I have pinpointed the issue to what I think is a corrupted external hard drive going bad. Backup files play fine but the originals on this hard drive are blocky. Going through the process of re-formatting and likely having to replace this 2 year old hard drive. Thanks for the help all the same.

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Why are videos that once played fine now pixelated?

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