Cannot play a particular MP4 file

Question

I need to play an MP4 file that I received. I tried to play that on Mac and PC both also tried to play it with VLC media player, windows media player, QuickPlay etc. However, It just does not play. All the different players error out differently but none of them is able to play it successfully.

Now, I downloaded a sample mp4 from web to make sure of the problem is with all MP4 files or it is Just this Mp4 file. It seems to have problem with this particular Mp4 file since I am able to play the other Mp4 files all fine.

Now, my question is that what are my options? May be the file is corrupted or may be I need to install a particular codec. May be I need to convert this file to some another format. However, the question is that if there is any test I can run on this file to know if there is a problem for sure?

Answer 1

Your file is almost definitely corrupt VLC will play almost anything.

I have had this problem before.

Try downloading the original MP4 again. If this has not been fixed, try installing the Xvid Codec.