VLC can but Instagram and "Gallery" cannot play my videos

Question

I've been busy over the past few days trying to compile a timelapse from a string of images using FFMPEG. After initial issues, I've got it working and have a perfect MP4 that plays in VLC player. It doesn't play in Windows 10's Films & TV player though. The file is given by VLC as:

H.264 MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (avc 1)
712x1080
720x1090 buffer
6.4 MiB
30 FPS
13 seconds long
Decoded format: Planar 4:4:4 YUV full scale 

I have transferred it to my phone and it plays fine on my VLC Android app. It can't play on my Samsung S8's "gallery" though (it displays a grey area with an exclamation mark in it) or upload on my Instagram app (just a grey area where the video is meant to be).

I thought it was an issue with the H.264 level, so I have recompiled my timelapse in FFMPEG into eight separate files, using H.264 levels 3.1, 3.2, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 5, 5.1, and 5.2 (and a ninth using FFMPEG's default). Still, none play.

I hope I've given enough information about the file, if not feel free to ask for more. Can someone give me guidance on what is up with my files? Thanks!

Answer 1

If this is still your command,

ffmpeg -r 30 -start_number 1744 -i IMG_%04d_EDITED.JPG -vcodec libx264 -preset veryslow timelapse.mkv

Change to

ffmpeg -framerate 30 -start_number 1744 -i IMG_%04d_EDITED.JPG \
       -pix_fmt yuv420p -vcodec libx264 -preset veryslow timelapse.mkv