New: InnoUnpacker (Sep 17, 2025), Platform 30.1 (Sep 27, 2025)
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On starting to view a .MOV video file, VLC shows the opening couple of frames, then freezes, holding the picture static. The audio meanwhile continues to play correctly.
The same video file plays perfectly well on Windows Media Player.
I'm on XP sp3, with latest version of VLS (2.2.1).
Any ideas whats going on here?
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This is nearly always related to the specific video. It likely has a bit of corruption or bit errors at that moment in the video that the codec Windows Media Player can handle but VLC can not. You can always try an alternate player for that specific file like MPC-HC Portable.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Interesting. The failure applies with a large number of my .MOV files. These are all generated by a dash-cam that I use, which has been entirely reliable with other video players. So I converted this .MOV file to .mpg (using videotovideo.org convertor), and this time VLC was able to play it. The file is quite large at 400Mb, but that should not be an issue. I suspect there may be a gap in VLC which fails on this particular type of .MOV file. If you would like an example (smaller) file demonstrating the failure, just ask.
If you're interested in pursuing it further, you should get in touch with the publisher. We don't make VLC, we make it portable.
Side note: If your dash cam can generate a standard format other than MOV, I'd do that. MOV is a container like MP4 and MKV but it often only contains the clunky proprietary Quicktime video format created by Apple which has never played well on VLC. An open standard format will likely work better across every device and media player. Like using an MP4 container with H.264 video.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thank you for that helpful advice. I will approach my dash-cam people, and perhaps VLC too.