Error: "This file contains some media which isn’t compatible with QuickTime Player."

> What settings should I use to fix this with handbrake?

Convert to H.264 or H.265 video and AAC audio wrapped as .mp4.

> downloaded from YouTube

Google, Youtube, Facebook might use VP8 or VP9 video and OPUS audio codecs that have to be converted to more common H.264/265 and AAC/PCM codecs.

...

There is the "old" H.264 (AVC Advanced Video Coding) and new H.265 (High Efficiency Video Coding HEVC) that needs macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later.

QuickTime Player refuses to play some H.265/HEVC flavors (as well as Final Cut Pro 10.6). Currently macOS 11-13 Big Sur, Monterey and Ventura are more forgiving but they still has the following issues with "Codec ID" and "Chroma subsampling" options.

You can check all those pesky details with apps like Invisor (my favorite because it neatly highlights differences when a folder is dropped on it) or MediaInfo.

H.265 Codec ID hvc1 plays OK.

H.265 Codec ID hev1 has an error message "This file contains some media that isn't compatible with QuickTime Player" and plays audio only. There is a lossless fix if you install ffmpeg and add '-tag:v hvc1' without re-encoding in the Terminal:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c copy -tag:v hvc1 output.mp4

Chroma subsampling 4:2:0 (Bit depth 8 bits) plays OK.

Chroma subsampling 4:2:2 (Bit depth 10 bits) has an error message "This file contains media which isn't compatible with QuickTime Player". It fails in Mojave, opens anyway in Big Sur, no problem in Ventura.

Usually H.264 Codec ID avc1 is OK. But DJI Mavic3 5k H264 10Bit420 does not open, and Sony XAVC displays only black frame.

Google, Youtube, Facebook might use VP8 or VP9 video and OPUS audio codecs that might have to be converted to more common H.264/265 and AAC/PCM codecs.

Google might use webm wrapper and open source community Matroska mkv wrapper that might have to be converted to a more common mp4 (or its very close cousin m4v or mov) wrapper (usually losslessly with ffmpeg although subtitles might be unsupported in other wrappers).

VLC and IINA should have no issues with playing any decent new or old codec. Handbrake, VLC and ffmpeg can be used to convert old codecs to new H.264 or H.265 wrapped as common mp4 (or its very close cousin m4v or mov). ffmpeg can output also ProRes.

> I'm hesitant to add anything if there is an easier or better solution

As I said, IINA should have no issues with playing any decent new or old codec.

https://iina.io/

p.s. to my surprise Sonoma QT Player has added support for Opus audio. Otherwise it is as above.

What settings should I use to fix this with handbrake?

I am having a very similar problem with videos taken from an Android phone (not sure of the version, just that it's older). This is a new issue as I was, and have been, watching, editing, and posting these videos for MONTHS up to this point. I thought it was an upgrade issue, but checking web sources most of the information is for earlier versions of Quicktime (shows currently running 10.5). I went ahead and updated to Sonoma but the issue still exists. Again, this was not an issue just 2 weeks ago and hasn't been for several months so I don't understand the why when there hasn't been any change in the software. I am on a MB Air M1 2020. All information points to a conversion software but I'm hesitant to add anything if there is an easier or better solution. I am somewhat computer savvy but updating this or that to coding isn't one in my bag o' tricks, so a suggestion that is more user friendly would be the request.

> I can't even import videos I DL from google photos in iMovie. Is that a codec problem ?

Might well be. Google Photos has "Original quality" and "Storage saver" settings. The latter option was recently "updated" to convert downloaded movies to Google's VP9 codec which is incompatible with Mac apps.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255195689?answerId=259666422022#259666422022

Is there a nicer way to fix ?

I can't even import videos I DL from google photos in iMovie.

Is that a codec problem ?

I don't think a different app would do the trick.

Thanks.