[Windows] mp4 file with H264 AVC codec not working as expected

[achimmihca]

Unity version

6000.3.2f1

Unity editor platform

Windows

AVPro Video edition

Core

AVPro Video version

3.3.4

Device hardware

Windows 11, see attached DxDiag.txt

Which Windows version are you using?

11

Graphics API

D3D 11

Video API

Media Foundation

Audio output

System Direct

Any other Media Player component configuration required to reproduce the issue.

Steps to reproduce:

• open Demo_MediaPlayer.unity
• Set MediaPlayer.MediaSource to absolute path to the mp4 file
• Enter play mode
• Click on timeline
• Console shows error: [AVProVideo] Error: Loading failed. File not found, codec not supported, video resolution too high or insufficient system resources.
  • But the codec should be supported

Which output component(s) are you using?

No response

Any other component configuration required to reproduce the issue.

No response

The issue

I have an mp4 file (H264 - MPEG-4 AVC) that fails to play in AVPro, but it works in VLC for Unity.
Furthermore, I found that AVPro, Unity API, and even Windows Media Player fail to play the file. But I do not know why.

What is the problem with the file?

Do you have an idea what VLC for Unity does differently to make it work?

Note that videos are user provided content in my case, so I cannot make assumptions about encodings. Reencoding is not an option.

I would prefer to use AVPro because it is the more stable API. But seems like VLC for Unity has broader encoding support.

Result of ffprobe video.mp4

Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from '.\Billy Joel - The River Of Dreams.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : dash
    minor_version   : 0
    compatible_brands: iso6avc1mp41
    creation_time   : 2022-09-10T18:41:22.000000Z
  Duration: 00:04:09.62, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 3709 kb/s
  Stream #0:0[0x1](und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709, progressive), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 2085 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 30k tbn (default)
      Metadata:
        creation_time   : 2022-09-10T18:41:22.000000Z
        handler_name    : ISO Media file produced by Google Inc.
        vendor_id       : [0][0][0][0]

Media information

Download mp4 from OneDrive https://1drv.ms/v/c/eef04e27f7073c50/IQD0i7IjJy0_RZFPPvCKLx8bAVwCblq9BhITz8Cbyp-qg2k?e=3n6oci

Log output

[AVProVideo] Error: Loading failed.  File not found, codec not supported, video resolution too high or insufficient system resources.

[Chris-RH]

We did this to the file and then it worked in Windows 11:

ffmpeg.exe -i "Billy Joel - The River Of Dreams.mp4" -c:v copy -c:a copy test.mkv
ffmpeg.exe -i test.mkv -c:v copy -c:a copy "new_Billy Joel - The River Of Dreams.mp4"

[achimmihca]

From my understanding, above commands copy the audio/video as-is and just rewrite the container.

The mp4 was created via recent version of yt-dlp.
My guess is that the container uses a modern or unusual format, possibly because it is optimized for streaming.

Will AVPro Video be able to handle such mp4 files in the future?

Another issue I see in AVPro with this mp4 is that AVPro has an error only after seeking a position. In contrast, when trying to load the video without seeking a position, it just fails shows nothing (no video, no error).

As I said, the original file works fine in VLC Media Player and VLC for Unity.
So my assumption is that the mp4 is valid.

[Chris-RH]

There is just something about the format that Windows doesn't like, seeing as Unity and WMP are also having issues with it. AVPro, like WMP, relies on the hardware for decoding. VLC has a much larger codec library, so can manage to play files that other players can't.