Google Photos video download not working.

> google's official response: Root Cause: It's likely that Apple's media player no longer supports the vp08 coding format, leading to the playback issue you're experiencing. This isn't necessarily due to a file type incompatibility, but rather a specific codec incompatibility within the MP4 container.

That response sounds weird because as far as I know, macOS has never supported VP8. Furthermore, VP8 supports only .webm and .mkv movie containers which as far as I know, macOS has never supported neither.

...

I just tried to encode VP8 in a .mp4 container and ffmpeg refuses to do it:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx -c:a aac -b:a 128k output.mp4
Could not find tag for codec vp8 in stream #0, codec not currently supported in container

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx -crf 10 -b:v 1M -c:a libvorbis output.mp4
Could not find tag for codec vp8 in stream #0, codec not currently supported in container

But that succeeds to a .mkv (.webm needs Vorbis or Opus audio) and IINA can play that OK:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx -c:a aac -b:a 128k vp8_aac.mkv
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx -crf 10 -b:v 1M -c:a libvorbis vp8_vorbis.webm
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx -crf 10 -b:v 1M -c:a libopus vp8_opus.webm

I tested those VP8 .webm and VP9 .mp4 movies encoded with ffmpeg. In macOS Mojave, Big Sur or Sonoma QuickTime Player or Safari can not play such movies. On the other hand, in Big Sur and Sonoma Firefox can.

I'm also having this issue. Regardless of who's "fault" it is, it's frustrating and had made me loose many hours of trying to figure out work arounds!

I have a Pixel 6 and a 2020 MacBook Pro Sonoma 14.0.

My best work around is to download "Android File Transfer" on my MacBook. Then connect Pixel and MacBook with a cable and transfer the files. It's pretty gimmicky to get the pop up to go away and actually let you access the files on my MacBook but once you're in you can explore the files. It takes a while to load once you go into your camera album and you can't actually see a preview of the videos, so you have to look up the file name in your phone and then match it to the file on the Mac.

Also, has anyone tried going back a MacOS to a previous OS? Would that solve anything?

Still hoping for a solution to just download from Google Photos like I used to, but this will do for now.

FWIW Google Photos (including downloading a video from there) works OK for me (macOS 13.6, MBP 2017).

Thanks for the info. I have always used the original quality setting. I wonder what glitch there might be in the storage saver option.

hmm not obvious how to delete my response here. so here it stays

I'm having this same problem... Would you mind posting your Handbrake settings that worked to resolve this problem? Thanks.

I found a workaround that can help, sending the video from the mobile to the Mac using AirDrop fix the problem

Summary tab: Format mp4

Video: H.264(x264)

Audio: AAC (CoreAudio)

I think the other ones may also work but just tried that and it seemed to work

You should try downloading Googl photos app. It works for me. For now...