How to Fix VLC Not Playing MP4 Video File Issue?

VLC media player is one of the most widely used players and supports almost all sorts of video file formats. Although MP4 is supported by VLC, there are times where you encounter choppy video playback issue or  your VLC player doesn't play some video files. 

This can be due to various reasons, may be you have an outdated version of VLC or settings are not enabled to play your video file and in some cases you might have a corrupt MP4 file.

Fortunately, there are simple workarounds that can easily fix VLC not playing MP4 file. Stay till the end of the article, along with making your MP4 video playable on VLC, you will also be able to fix any corruptions with your video file.

In this process of fixing the issue the first thing you need to do is to check where the problem lies. 

Is it your MP4 file that is corrupt? 

or is VLC player the culprit?

No Worries, it’s a no brainer task! First play your MP4 video on any other media players and also, play other MP4 videos on the same VLC player.

• If MP4 is playing on other media players, then it’s your VLC  is the culprit; to fix your VLC player issues just go with Part 1
• If your MP4 not playing video on other media players, then the problem lies with your MP4 video. It's a simple task to fix the unplayable MP4 video, just go to Part 2 or you can just go ahead make use of a video repair tool that can help you to make your MP4 video file play on any media player.
  

Remo Repair for MOV and MP4 and help you fix all your woes with the video file in no time. If you are certain that your MP4 file is faulty and needs to fixed, waste no time! Remo is completely free to download and try across both Windows and Mac. Download now.

Part 1: Fix VLC player issues – MP4 not playing on VLC

1 Upgrade VLC to Latest Version:

If your MP4 codec is not compatible with the VLC player, you will not be able to play MP4 video. Usually, older versions of VLC player will have trouble playing MP4 video. All you need to do is just upgrade or download the latest version of VLC player and try playing the MP4 video. If this doesn’t fix the problem, then move on to the next method.

2 MP4 video codec problem - convert MP4 to VLC compatible

Another main reason behind MP4 video not playing on VLC is that your VLC is not compatible with the MP4 codec. Even after downloading the latest version of VLC, if you are not able to play MP4 on VLC, you must consider converting file to VLC compatible file format. You can download the VLC codec pack from the official VLC site and for converting there are various online MP4 convertors available. Choose the one that best suits your needs.

3 Disable hardware video decoding in VLC

VLC not playing MP4 can be due to to the fact that your hardware decoding of the player is not able to handle the rendering effects. It seems that your video has too many subtitle tracks and the video card you are using is not able to accelerate the video. Best solution to solve this is to disable hardware video decoding option on VLC. Below are the steps to do this:

• Open VLC player and go to
  Tools --> Preferences. Then in the lower left of the window, click on Show Settings and select ALL button.
  
  
• Here, all the options will be displayed now. Here navigate to
  Input / Codecs -> Video Codecs -> FFmpeg
  Here disable the Hardware decoding option
  
  
• Once it is done, you can now close VLC and open it up again. Then, just try to play your MP4 video and check if this works. If this doesn’t help, then try the next option.

4 Configure video Output Mode on VLC

Now, it’s time to check the Video Output Mode configuration. Here all you need to do is to configure your X server attribute correctly. For this, just open VLC player and go to

Tools -> Preferences -> Video section -> check the Enable Video box in case it is un-clicked.

Then check the box for Window decorations, in case it is unchecked. Then select ‘X11 video output (XCB)’ in the Output drop-down menu. Now, just save all the settings you made and open your VLC Player again. Now, your MP4 video should be playing on VLC player successfully.

Part 2: Fix Not Playing MP4 file with Remo Repair MOV

There are various reasons behind MP4 video corruption- improper transfer, codec issues, audio-video synchronization issues, interruption while compress the video or converting the video file format and the list grows.

However, you can easily fix any issue with your MP4 or any other video file format using the video repair tool by Remo. 

Remo Repair MOV/MP4 is the most recommended tool across the globe to fix any issue related to MP4 or MOV videos. 

Built with a safe adaptive algorithm that understands the corruption with the help of a reference file, Remo makes the repair process look too simple. For example, all your issues with Mp4 video file will be fixed in just a couple of clicks. 

Isn’t it great? It is completely free to download and try across both Windows and Mac.

5 How to Fix MP4 video not playing on VLC using Remo?

Follow the below explained steps to fix MP4 not playing on VLC or other players issue: 

To fix this VLC not playing MP4 videos issue, first download and install Remo Repair MOV tool. Then, launch the software and follow the below instructions:

Step 1: From main screen- choose Healthy file and provide the location of a healthy MP4 video of same codec

Step 2: Now, provide the path of your unplayable MP4 file by hitting Corrupted File option.

Step 3: Then, click on Repair button to begin the MP4 video repair process

Step 4: Once, the process is successfully completed, you can preview the repaired MP4 by clicking of Preview option and Save the file at any location of your choice.

Before We End: 

Apart from fixing issues with MP4 or MOV files that doesn’t play on VLC, you can also use this tool to fix corrupt DJI videos. Irrespective of the camera model used for shooting these MOV and MP4 videos, this tool will fix them all. It can quickly repair videos shot on GoPro, Canon, Nikon and other DSLRs too.

These are some of the easy methods that help you fix MP4 not playing on VLC issue. Hope, this guide helps you to solve your video playback issue and if you have any queries please do comment below.