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I have tried to play movies on the Apple TV app through mirroring on both my Apple TVs, two Vizio TVs with Airplay and my iMac with up to date software. None of my movies will play. They play fine in the app when not connected to Airplay. How can this be fixed?
iMac 27″, macOS 11.2
Hmm, strange, though not unprecedented (see: [1] [2] [3] [4]).
Could it be that the content that you are trying to stream is a copied or downloaded file, but not from Apple servers? Or could it be that you are trying to stream Apple content while offline? Could it be that the format of the video file is supported by the sending device, but not by the receiving device? (The Apple TV app on Mac is a bit more versatile than the AirPlay receiving devices.)
Could it be that you are trying to stream a Home Sharing file on the Mac, through iPhone, with AirPlay from there? Such a double hop wouldn’t work. Stream from the device where the file is located.
This issue 🚫 is also known to happen for some web videos, where the content provider didn’t make provisions for AirPlay compatibility in their streams, or blocked AirPlay use.
If none of the above applies to your situation, then I would suggest to contact an expert from the Apple Support staff for further assistance. Contact Apple for support and service (phone numbers) or start your support request online (chat/email/callback).
Update: in iOS 17.2 or macOS 14.2, none of my video files manually added to the TV app will AirPlay to my smart TV, but they will AirPlay to my Apple TV box. They will also not AirPlay to my smart TV from the QuickTime Player app. I will be reporting this as a possible bug.
Music will AirPlay just fine to the TV, and videos in the Photos app on iPhone will AirPlay just fine. The same video (shot on iPhone) doesn’t AirPlay when played from the TV app or QuickTime Player or Phots app on Mac.
Please use in-app AirPlay controls for best results, i.e. use the AirPlay icon in the player window (lower right) to connect to an Apple TV box or AirPlay-enabled smart TV on the same home network.
Screen mirroring (the other method) involves screen capture, which is blocked for DRM’ed content.
Thanks for the suggestion. I have just tried that technique and it still does not work. I started playing the video on my iPhone from Library in Apple TV app. It started playing fine. As soon as hit the Airplay icon and selected my Vizeo smart TV it stopped playing. Same with my Basement Apple TV. What appears on the screen, at the corner of the screen, is a red circle with a bar across. (See picture below). These videos are videos that I took of my grandson riding a horse. They play fine on the phone in the Apple TV app, but freeze as soon as Airplay is selected, either through the method you suggested, or by screen mirroring. Same thing in both cases.
I have been through the threads that you mentioned and tried some of the solutions. The file I am trying to Airplay is an MP4 file that I filmed myself and uploaded to the Apple TV app on my computer. It then shows up in my Library on the Apple TV app on my phone. When I try to airplay it to either of my Apple TV boxess or three Vizio smart TVs, it will not stream. On the Apple TV boxes, I get the 🚫 while on the Vizio's I just get a blank screen. My workaround has been to put the video onto a USB stick and run it from there by selecting USB input on Vizio's. It would seem odd that Apple would restrict a person's own videos in a common format like MP4. I can play the videos from Quicktime on my Mac and select screen mirroring from my Mac and play them that way, but since the computer is in a different room it is hard to pause, etc. Very frustrating. I do thank you for your help. The double hop may be the problem. It will definitely mirror from the Apple TV app on the Mac, where it is located, to the Vizio TVs. I will explore this further with Apple directly.
You are correct. It was the double tap. When I loaded the videos directly onto my phone where they appear under "Home Videos", they play through Airplay on the Apple TV box. Like you, though, they will not play on the Vizio Smart TVs. They give an incompatible format, although they are MP4s. In a pinch, I can play them on the Vizio's from a USB drive. This means the Vizio's can interpret MP4s but not through Airplay on the Vizio's. It sounds like it is a problem with Smart TV's Airplay.
Movies from Library on Apple TV app do not play
