The VLC Media Player is one of the popular players that supports almost all video file formats. You can use this media player to play multimedia files of any format, and MP4 is one of them. But sometimes, you may experience problems while streaming your MP4 video files.

Whenever you experience issues like VLC not playing MP4 files, don’t worry! Try to find the exact reason for this issue and popular troubleshooting methods to fix it.

Before you proceed with these methods, it is important to identify whether the issue is with your video files or with the media player itself.

In any of these cases, you can go through the methods mentioned in this article to know how to fix VLC not playing MP4 videos.

Common Errors You May Encounter While Playing MP4 Videos

Check out some common errors that may occur on your device while playing MP4 video files in the VLC player:

Playback Error: It occurs when the video file you want to play is not supported by your player. This may be related to compression of your video file..
Freezing: Your video files get corrupted if there was any interruption while downloading them on your device.
Codec Issue: If the codec required to play your video file is not available on your device, you will be unable to play your video files on that PC.

What Causes the VLC Player Not Playing Video Files Issue?

There are several reasons behind the problems that occur while playing the MP4 video files on the VLC player. Some of these include:

Missing MP4 Codecs
Outdated version of Windows OS or VLC player
Video settings are not properly configured
The MP4 video file may be corrupted
The location where the MP4 file is stored, could be corrupted
There may be an issue with your video editor, online converter, or any other application

Whatever is the cause for the MP4 video not playing in the VLC player on your device; just apply the methods given in the following section to fix the issue.

How do I Fix the ‘VLC not Playing MP4 Videos’ Issue?

In this part of the blog, we will discuss some common methods that you can apply to fix the VLC Media Player Not Playing MP4 videos:

Method 01: Enable the Automatic Repair Feature

Windows VLC player provides an in-built feature that you can use to automatically fix corrupt video files. You just need to enable the Automatic Repair feature on your media player. After that, it will automatically fix the minor issues with your video files on its own.

Go through the following steps to turn ON this option on VLC media players:

First, click on the Tools menu on the VLC media player and then select “Preferences”.
Now, from the Preferences menu, go to the "Input & Codecs" option.
At last, select the "Always Fix" feature next to the damaged or incomplete AVI files drop-down menu.

Method 02: Change the Audio-Video Settings

There may be issues with the audio or video components of your video file.

Many users found that changing the related settings helped them to fix the VLC not playing MP4 issues. If VLC cannot play MP4 files because of audio-video-related issues, you can go through the following steps to fix it:

Open VLC Media Player and go to Menu > Tools. Click on Preferences.
Now from the Preferences window, check if both the Audio and Video components are enabled.
If there is any syncing issue, navigate to Settings > Adjustment and Effects > Synchronization. Then, change the Audio track synchronization value. The positive value will increase the audio delay while the negative value will hasten the audio in your video file.
Similarly, you can use Windows Media Player if MP4 video files are not playing properly on your device. Just launch Windows Media Player and then go to Menu > Options > Performance. After that, you can add or truncate some frames to properly configure the audio or video configuration-related issues.

Method 03: Configure the Video Output Mode

Windows OS consists of multiple output drivers, including DirectX and OpenGL, which manages various functionalities while streaming video files. DirectX allows you to play video, media, sound, etc. while OpenGL is related to graphical API. You can configure Output mode settings in the VLC player to fix the video not playing issues.

For this:

Launch the VLC player on your device and go to Tools > Preferences; then click on the Video tab.
From the drop-down menu next to the Output field, choose any relevant option like OpenGL, or DirectX, or select it to automatic.

After that, try to play your corrupt video again and check if you are able to play it.

Method 04: Repair MP4 Videos Using Repair Software

Most of the time, you will be unable to play your video file if it is corrupted. In such cases, you can fix your videos using a professional video repair software.

To repair corrupted video files, you can use software which is specifically designed to repair video files of multiple formats. You can use this to repair videos of 17+ file-formats including MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, and more. The software can repair your video files stored on any storage device, including SD cards, HDDs, SSDs, and others using a few simple clicks.

This kind of software can help you to repair almost all kinds of minor and major issues with the video files. It can easily fix issues like missing video/audio, damaged or corrupted file headers, dropped frames, and many other errors like VLC not playing MP4 videos.

Wrapping Up:

MP4 is the most popular video format, which you can play on any media player and operating system. But sometimes, issues may occur when the VLC player fails to play video files. When you encounter issues like MP4 video not playing in the VLC media player, try to find the exact cause of the issue.

In this article, we have covered all the aspects that will help you to know how to fix VLC Not Playing MP4 videos in very less time.

How to Fix VLC Media Player Not Playing MP4 Videos?