0
I've got an Android Umidigi smartphone that records 3GP video files. I'm trying to get these to play on a Windows 7 x64 machine.
For these video files, GSpot displays the following information:
Audio
Codec: mp4a: MPEG-4 AAC LC
Info: 48000Hz 128 kb/s , mono (1/0)
Stat: Status Undetermined
Video
Codec: avc1
Name: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
Status: Codec Status Undetermined
Now, various online resources (such as that forum or that article) make it sound like VLC should be able to play 3GP with these codecs out of the box. However, the computer in question has the latest version of VLC (3.0.8 at this time) installed. When opening one of the 3GP files with that player, the length of the video appears to be correctly recognized (the time bar shows the current playback time and the total duration), but there is neither an image (just the VLC logo, as if there were no video track) and nothing can be heard, either.
VLC's codec information box shows (labels in German, but I presume the ordering would be the same in English and it's easy to figure out):
Stream 0
- Codec: H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (avc1)
- Sprache: Englisch
- Typ: Video
- Videoauflösung: 1920x1080
- Pufferabmessungen: 1920x1080
- Bildwiederholrate: 14.992733
- Ausrichtung: Oben links
- Grundfarben: ITU-R BT.709
- Farbübertragungsfunktion: ITU-R BT.709
- Farbraum: ITU-R BT.709 Bereich
Stream 1
- Codec: MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a)
- Sprache: Englisch
- Typ: Audio
- Abtastrate: 48000 Hz
- Bits pro Sample: 16
- Bitrate: 128 kB/s
To me, this looks as if VLC recognized "something" but doesn't play it for some reason (?)
Now, I've also tried opening the files in other players such as Windows Media Player, MPC HC v1.7.13, and editing software like Windows Movie Maker and Avidemux. Now, I understand these can only play back the described 3GP files if the appropriate codecs are installed on the system. Therefore, I have installed the K-Lite Codec Pack Basic and ffdshow, both of which should contain the required codecs, as far as I understand. Unfortunately, the result is still the same: The files are opened and the players/editors will either show them as unreadable or play back something without any image nor sound.
It should be noted that I have no problems playing back any other video files/formats on that machine with any of the players mentioned above.
What can I do to get my 3GP files to play back correctly?
O. R. Mapper
Posted 2019-12-25T21:37:18.957
Reputation: 561
I've never come across a file that I couldn't play with either MPC-HC or VLC when the K-Lite Pack was installed. I was going to suggest trying any of the other versions of the KLCP, but the website lists 3GP as being a feature of the Basic version. This to me leaves only the possibility that the files themselves are corrupted in some way. Have you tried filming a new video with the phone and then copying that over? – Hashim – 2019-12-25T22:03:13.037
As @Hashim suggests, you can download valid 3GP sample files at https://www.sample-videos.com/index.php#sample-3gp-video . If those work but not your own, then the file has issues, such as having the wrong extension (i.e., it's a mislabeled video of ther type, such as MP4) or containing bad data.
– DrMoishe Pippik – 2019-12-26T03:54:35.1871@Hashim: I have, the issues concern all the videos recorded on the device, including new ones. (They play back flawlessly on the device.) – O. R. Mapper – 2019-12-26T16:47:53.567
@DrMoishePippik: Those work, but I'm not sure they are comparable as they use different codecs compared to my files. (GSpot displays audio "samr: AMR Narrowband"/video "s263/ITU H.263 video (3GPP)" for the first four and audio "mp4a: MPEG-4 AAC LC"/video "mp4v/MPEG-4 Video" for the others. Interestingly, at least the audio codec for the latter ones looks almost the same as in my files, just the info field displays 67 kb/s.) – O. R. Mapper – 2019-12-26T16:52:38.437
Can that 3GP play if you send it back to your Android Umidigi smartphone? If not, then it's damaged. – DrMoishe Pippik – 2019-12-26T18:33:24.470