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Why can QuickTime not open .MOV videos shot with Apple devices? The media format is listed as compatible.

I am not able to open old videos I made using my iPhone 4S using QuickTime. I get an error message saying that QT cannot open the file and when I click on Tell me more, it shows me the list of formats the QT can open, and the videos I want to open have the specified formats. Can anyone help?

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jul 3, 2015 9:16 AM

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7 replies

Jul 6, 2015 5:35 AM in response to VRCOP

I am not able to open old videos I made using my iPhone 4S using QuickTime. I get an error message saying that QT cannot open the file and when I click on Tell me more, it shows me the list of formats the QT can open, and the videos I want to open have the specified formats. Can anyone help?

Sounds like either a security update issue or a corruption/conflict problem. Try opening the files in an alternative player like VLC which has its own built-in codec support structure and does not invoke Apple's "file security" checks. If the files play in VLC, then the file data is okay. If the files won't play in either the QT or VLC players, then it is likely that something has corrupted the files—which could be anything from a workflow issue to a failing or intermittent HDD problem.

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Jul 6, 2015 8:42 AM in response to VRCOP

Have I lost all my videos then?

That depends of the specific nature of the problem. If the data is missing or corrupted, then there is little you can do. On the other hand, if its something incorrect in the atom header, then it might be possible for an experienced person to fix it. However, this is not something I would normally try and do. On the third hand, if file copies are stored in your iCloud account or backed up by an video/photo management, TimeMachine, or similar app, then it is usually very easy to "recover" files.

User uploaded file

Jul 6, 2015 9:39 AM in response to VRCOP

The format of 'file:///Users/virginieregnault/Documents/IMG_3901%284%29.mov' cannot be detected. Have a look at the log for details.

If these files were recorded natively on your 4S iPhone, they would be recorded as H.264 video with AAC audio—Apple's default IOS mobile device format. This VLC message could indicate the files you are trying to open could be orphaned "reference" files (a workflow storage issue). For example, here are the messages I get for such files:


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QT 7 player


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QT X Player


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VLC Player


Such files are usually very easy to identify because they contain no playable data and are essentially just a file container pointing to another "standalone" file that contains the actual data. E.g., try opening the Finder Info Window for one your problem files. If it looks something like this:


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(i.e., only occupies a few hundred bytes of data in a 4K file container), then this is likely to be your problem. Such files could only be "fixed" if you still have the missing "standalone" file stored/archived somewhere on your system. There could be other, different problems here, but this was the first I found in my "sample problem files" folder that returned the exact error message you indicated above for VLC. This would be a "missing data" issue. To "fix" this particular problem you need the missing original "standalone" file containing the actual encoded data. Without it, you can do nothing. This problem usually occurs when a user either saves the original file as a "reference" file or uses a "reference" file workflow to quickly pass data from one app to another "by reference" to save file space and then keeps the wrong file or moves the "standalone" and/or "reference" files to different locations which effectively "orphans" the data.

User uploaded file

Jul 6, 2015 10:20 AM in response to VRCOP

So, I went to Finder Info on the file and this is what it says, which is not only a few hundred bytes but 28KB on a 33KB file container (?), if I understand correctly, but I am not sure how to read it:

We can assume this is not a zero time duration "edited" version of the file since VLC would ignore such edits and play the entire file. On the other hand, since the data is confirmed to be QT compatible H.264/AAC content in an MOV file container (according to the atom headers which can still be read) but VLC cannot actually load and play the encoded audio and video data, we are back to looking at files that are likely corrupted by either handling or storage workflows common to all of the problem files here. I.e., this does not appear to be a random problem affecting a single file here or there but rather an entire collection of videos which were apparently all processed in the same manner and does not bode well for recovery efforts.

User uploaded file

Why can QuickTime not open .MOV videos shot with Apple devices? The media format is listed as compatible.

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