iOS Playing mp4 on iphone

Emrebel

Emrebel

Adept
I am trying to play an mp4 on the phone but for some reason it only shows file name when I open it.
I can open in vlc but not play with native player.
Check the image below:
5F3EAB74-1BA4-47E9-8C67-BF674A9C9A94.png
 
iPhone or iOS supports MP4, m4v formats and they should have H.264 encodings to run. It appears that either the video has different encoding or it has been saved/processed from elsewhere (like laptop) and now you're trying to watch it on your phone. In both the cases, you won't be able to play the video and you need to convert the video to support on your iOS device
 
tech.monk said:
iPhone or iOS supports MP4, m4v formats and they should have H.264 encodings to run. It appears that either the video has different encoding or it has been saved/processed from elsewhere (like laptop) and now you're trying to watch it on your phone. In both the cases, you won't be able to play the video and you need to convert the video to support on your iOS device
Click to expand...
Like via handbrake?
 
iOS is notorious for not playing many common formats and requires very specific codec and all. This is using their stock player or safari. I use jellyfin (inside safari) and when I try to play any of the videos, most would not play. Especially if it is x265, it would never ever play. I use vlc player, nplayer or Infuse to play my offline or jellyfin files to avoid this issue.

I liked nPlayer so much that I even bought it but it does not work directly with jellyfin (only works over SFTP or UPNP). For jellyfin media, I use Infuse as it has trakt scrobbling.
 
tech.monk said:
Apple call this as Performance Optimization and Privacy Control. Worst part is Apple will never accept this nor acknowledge it.
Click to expand...

Well people who use apple (like me) either already knew this limitation or get it know later and feel betrayed. Anyways, the solution is not so difficult so at least we are good on that front. Also, 3rd party softwares provide greater control and features.
 
During conversion to h264 or h265, one has to use a certain tag if using ffmpeg. That tag is especially so that Apple devices will recognize and play that file.
 
rdst_1 said:
During conversion to h264 or h265, one has to use a certain tag if using ffmpeg. That tag is especially so that Apple devices will recognize and play that file.
Click to expand...

But is it really worth the effort? Why not use VLC or some other app from app store?
 
raksrules said:
But is it really worth the effort? Why not use VLC or some other app from app store?
Click to expand...
vlc appears buggy to me on ios.
First of all it is not detecting my offline files on device.
Second I connected it to GDrive to stream which is also buggy.
I mean vlc is totally awesome on android but on ios it feels broken to me
The core issue is not with just playing but that if I want to share it with someone or on any social app it doesn’t even appear in videos
 
raksrules said:
Well people who use apple (like me) either already knew this limitation or get it know later and feel betrayed. Anyways, the solution is not so difficult so at least we are good on that front. Also, 3rd party softwares provide greater control and features.
Click to expand...
Their is no denying fact to it - I myself use the iPhone 6s fully updated as my backup phone. But what Apple packages it with software is frustrating (if you know your stuff)
 
Emrebel said:
vlc appears buggy to me on ios.
First of all it is not detecting my offline files on device.
Second I connected it to GDrive to stream which is also buggy.
I mean vlc is totally awesome on android but on ios it feels broken to me
The core issue is not with just playing but that if I want to share it with someone or on any social app it doesn’t even appear in videos
Click to expand...

If you expecting to put your video files in any random folder and expect vlc to know like it does in android, it will not. For me, I use iTunes and directly copy files from laptop to the vlc app's directory and then it works fine.

Honestly for anyone expecting things to be done android way, iPhone is not for them. Not being condescending, just stating the fact. Myself loves using iPhone but still get frustrated by these things.
 
raksrules said:
If you expecting to put your video files in any random folder and expect vlc to know like it does in android, it will not. For me, I use iTunes and directly copy files from laptop to the vlc app's directory and then it works fine.

Honestly for anyone expecting things to be done android way, iPhone is not for them. Not being condescending, just stating the fact. Myself loves using iPhone but still get frustrated by these things.
Click to expand...
suprisingly I found infuse fits my purpose.
Also I can just maybe export to iphone friendly format from the handbrake.
 
Emrebel said:
suprisingly I found infuse fits my purpose.
Also I can just maybe export to iphone friendly format from the handbrake.
Click to expand...

Infuse is great app but has restrictions on certain codecs and all. To play anything and everything, they need us to pay. I have myself sideloaded the paid version which I have to refresh every week. nplayer is another option you can try which has ads I believe. I paid for this app as I really like it's interface and overall it plays everything.
 
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