Playing Mp4 Files

[Tubbycoates]

Hi all, I've downloaded some files from YouTube which are in MPEG-4 movie format, with an .mp4 file type suffix. I've tried playing them using QuickTime, but there is no picture. I've downloaded other files of the same type that play perfectly well. Is it somrthing about YouTube that I don't know about?
Thanks in advance.

[bibblebub]

i regularly download videos in mp4 format from Youtube without a problem - the last one just 2 days ago

[Buenchico]

I won't bore you with loads of meaningless drivel about codecs, etc (largely because I don't understand a lot of it myself!). Instead I'll simply suggest using a decent media player (which definitely excludes Windows Media Player, RealPlayer and QuickTime!).

Both VLC (which is the media player most frequently praised in the technical press) and GOM (which is my own favourite) should play Youtube downloads seamlessly:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

http://player.gomlab.com/eng/download/

Chris

[Tubbycoates]

Tried the two downloads you suggested. the second one hung on my laptop, the first one whouldn't play the youtube files. I'll try them on my PC at home.
If it doesn't work, thanks anyway, and if it does work, thanks!

[Buenchico]

How are you saving the Youtube videos? They're not actually sent to your computer in MP4 fomat. They're sent in FLV format, so your method of saving them requires an element of conversion. Perhaps that's the cause of the problem?

[Tubbycoates]

If it's any help, I just hit download which appears above the video clip. This starts off a download via realplayer. Some download as flv files, some as mp4 files, I don't get on option to change this.

[Tubbycoates]

The other problem is my pc and laptop run windows XP and are as old as the hills.