After the introduction of MP4 videos, it has become quite easy and convenient for all of us to stream and watch videos, play movies and enjoy a good deal of audio-visual media. MP4 videos are basically HTML5-encoded videos that are saved in an MP4 container file. This has become so popular that everyone who publishes videos online wants to encode their video in MP4 format. Still, there are several issues that arise out of streaming an MP4 file like;
Choppy video playback, Audio-Video Lag, Audio shuttering, frames being lost, unsynchronized subtitles, long buffering issues,s, etc. And it becomes quite troublesome when you come across the error " This video file cannot be played" watching a video sometimes. So why do these videos play slowly?
Let’s have a look at some of the reasons associated with streaming of MP4 videos. And solutions to solve the slow streaming of MP4 video files.
Table of Contents
What are the reasons for slow streaming MP4 videos
How to fix slow streaming Mp4 videos
What are the reasons for slow streaming Mp4 videos?
MP4 files are constructed with small data files termed atoms which hold all kinds of audio and visual information related to the video. These bits of data are transmitted in a stream to the user while watching the video file. But there are some more special atoms that are called moov files, these moov have all the information related to the video and atoms that hold the data.
When the streaming is requested, the player or browser starts gathering the file information and looking for these moov files. The basic demerit of using this format is the scattering of the atoms, which means scattered information.
When trying to stream the atoms, the player would look for moov atoms at first, to gather the information of all other atoms and start playing the video, this is the buffer time that you experience every time you stream a video. So if the moov file is easily found, it will initiate the flow of all the atoms, otherwise, the player would be continuously looking for moov files and download all the atoms meanwhile, without playing the video.
- Slow processing speed
- Less availability of memory
- Low bandwidth
- Loosely Optimized MP4 video file
- The inability of a computer to receive the file.
Whatever may be the reason, there are some practices that will help you troubleshoot the slow streaming of MP4 videos.
How to fix slow streaming Mp4 videos
Optimize MP4 files
The availability of more space and powerful graphic options like graphic cards are among the foremost recommendations for slow-streaming MP4 files. There are several ways by which we can make the streaming of videos fast and smooth. With a few steps, the playback problems of MP4 files can be solved.
Optimize encoding
First of all, while creating an MP4 file you can optimize the video file for better streaming. This will reorganize all the atoms of your video along with the moov files making it better for streaming.
This can be done during the encoding of the video, the encoding platform offers an option to ‘optimize for streaming’ or ‘optimize for web’. This helps in arranging the moov files at the start and hence the player finds it convenient during streaming to retrieve other atoms smoothly and serially.
Selection of player/browser
streaming the video with a relevant player or browser is a very crucial part of video playback. Most of browsers and players are equipped with this streaming function, but all of them are designed for different codec efficiency. There is also a dissimilarity in the size of the software of the browser.
The use of light players is recommended with an adequate codec, similarly, a light browser would encourage smooth playback of the MP4 file.
Resource optimization
with the help of cleaning software and a little effort from your end, you can free up a lot of space. This would lead to generating space for streaming operations.
There are some methods that are helpful in optimizing resources for our purpose.
Close all the running applications:-
- Close all windows that are not required.
- Disable add-ons and other toolbars.
- Shut down unnecessary programs.
- Remove all the startup programs from startup window.
- Internet enhancement – There are some of the ways when you can lighten a load of internet connection, hence helping in MP4 playback.
- Make sure to stop the background update.
- Improve cable connection.
- Stop antivirus blocking.
- Using DNS servers.
Delete the Browser History.
Delete all offline content and browser history:-
Control panel > Internet options > General tab > Delete files > Delete all offline content
There is a huge streaming of MP4 video minutes around the globe on the internet. So many MP4 videos suffer heavy streaming which makes them slow sometimes. But most of the time, the suggestions above will help you get rid of slow MP4 files.
To conclude – There are several methods where we can have these offline files on our PC to view anytime. You can face a similar issue with such Video files partly due to the moov atom issue, or partly due to the missing of stream files in the computer or during downloading, in such cases, you can repair mov file.
