[Fixed] 4K Videos Not Playing on Mobile
When you are ready to enjoy the 4K videos downloaded from the internet on a weekend night, a message pops up telling you “Unable to play video”. Normally, try restarting the mobile device, or changing a video player, and the video files would work. But mostly, things do not go that smoothly, just like the user from XDA Forum:
-Tried playing a 4K video on my G4 and it could not handle it, and only sound kept coming. MKV format is what I tried.
-Installed MX Player with Customer DTS codec support, I have tried all, but nothing helped!!!!
Honestly, 4K playing errors happen everywhere, not just on mobile devices, like that sometimes the Quick app for desktops won’t play 4K videos (60FPS) smoothly. And playback errors on mobile can be caused by any reason, while file format shortage and the lack of memory are responsible for most of the cases. But don’t be frustrated, the post will instruct you on how to solve these issues.
Potential Reason 1 — Unsupported video codecs
Default video player installed with limited and common codecs. If you are going to play some videos with rare and classic codecs, it does work anymore. This happens very often because there are numerous codecs that existed and it’s tough to cover all of them.
Take an example, VP9, sponsored by Google, is an aggressive but open-source codec that will compress video files to half size the H.264. Given that 4K resolution video files are considerable, four times the pixel count than Full HD.
Using VP9 to compress 4K content is beneficial to stream with a boost in image quality. But running VP9 requires compatible hardware, from set-top boxes to mobile devices to displays. Still, there are some devices not supporting the VP9 codec. For technical or commercial reasons? It’s beyond the topic.
Solution:
First off, you have to confirm what codec your mobile use. The most common way is to check the user manual or Google your mobile configuration. If you cannot define it, this video converter can give you a hand.
VideoProc Converter, crowned by a profile library with 370 input formats and 420+ output formats, enables you to transform any codec to go with your mobile device, whether rare and classic codecs like FLV and OGV or newer codecs like VP9 and HEVC.
If you are not aware of what codecs your mobile is in use, you can even rely on the ready-made profiles for various mobile models. Moreover, its hardware acceleration technology allows the converting process to be achieved faster by deploying GPU as far as possible to improve computational performance.
Step 1: Launch VideoProc and import the target video files
You are allowed to batch-load videos or drag-and-drop files directly with the 4K video editor.
Step 2: Select output formats that can go with your mobile
Move to the Video tab to select codecs that are frequently used or click the “Target Format” to select other output formats.
Step 3: Hit “Run” to get it started
Potential reason 2 — Memory has got full
If you have watched natural sceneries, documentaries, or movies in 4K, probably you might not go back to Full HD anymore. 4K videos can offer a jaw-dropping and stunning viewing experience, but it also takes much space and easily gets mobile memory fully stuffed.
Once the mobile memory is full, you have to spend more response time, and the worse is that some programs might not work.
Solution:
Free up space by deleting useless applications, and large media files or clearing app data and cache. Some users may say they don’t want to desert their valuable files. Since that, you can transfer the files to the cloud, but most the cloud service will ask you to pay.
Another way is to resize those large 4K videos on a PC to free up more space. Here are some methods to resize 4K videos with the help of VideoProc.
Method 1: Transcode to more aggressive codecs
VP9 and HEVC can compress videos the half-size than H.264, but make sure they can play on your mobile before converting. The same steps as above are shown.
Method 2: Downscale 4K to 1080p
Call out the format panel by hitting the wheel-shaped icon. Move to the “Resolution” tab and select a lower resolution, besides, you can fine-tune other parameters to avoid a mass quality loss. In this way, the video quality will be degraded, but you won’t tell the differences between them on mobiles.
Method 3: Cut off commercial parts or trailers
Videos have become one of the highest efficient marketing tools, thus, built-in advertisements and trailers are inevitable. But you can cut off all these redundant parts to save time and space, moreover, videos will have no quality loss in quality.
Wake up the cutting toolkit by hitting the scissors-shaped icon. Drag the green knobs to select the start and end time parts. After cutting into multiple clips, you can get more accurate parts by typing the start time and end time and adjusting the sequences of all clips as well. After that, return to the main interface and hit “Run” to get the project started.
Final Words:
Codec shortage and the lack of storage are the main culprits for most of the mobile playback errors, and they are not easy to tackle in common ways like restarting and playing with another player. In this situation, asking for help with a video converter like VideoProc Converter can be your silver lining.
VideoProc, a professional video processing software packed with features like video converting, editing, screen recording, and more, allows you to kick-start or enhance your projects as you wish!