Quicktime cannot play recorded mp4 video file

Question

I have an mp4 related issue. I’m not very good in video processing related stuff. We have a problem with an image file that is recorded via HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) from a live stream. The HLS chunks are just put together and saved on the file system as .mp4 file. This file cannot be played with Apple QuickTime. VLC can play it. But it is a requirement that it can be played with QuickTime.

However, I found a solution that works. When I use the ffmpeg command -reset_timestamps, the video file can be played with QuickTime. I also see which parameter changes. It’s the start value.

Before use of the command:

ffmpeg -i recorded_file.mp4 

ffmpeg version 1.2.4 Copyright (c) 2000-2013 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Jan  9 2014 09:06:57 with Apple LLVM version 5.0 (clang-500.2.79) (based on LLVM 3.3svn)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/1.2.4 --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --enable-hardcoded-tables --enable-avresample --enable-vda --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags= --enable-libx264 --enable-libfaac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libxvid
  libavutil      52. 18.100 / 52. 18.100
  libavcodec     54. 92.100 / 54. 92.100
  libavformat    54. 63.104 / 54. 63.104
  libavdevice    54.  3.103 / 54.  3.103
  libavfilter     3. 42.103 /  3. 42.103
  libswscale      2.  2.100 /  2.  2.100
  libswresample   0. 17.102 /  0. 17.102
  libpostproc    52.  2.100 / 52.  2.100
[h264 @ 0x7fcb7b015a00] non-existing SPS 2 referenced in buffering period
[h264 @ 0x7fcb7b015a00] non-existing PPS referenced
[h264 @ 0x7fcb7b015a00] non-existing SPS 2 referenced in buffering period
[h264 @ 0x7fcb7b015a00] non-existing PPS 0 referenced
[h264 @ 0x7fcb7b015a00] decode_slice_header error
[h264 @ 0x7fcb7b015a00] no frame!
[mpegts @ 0x7fcb7b004a00] max_analyze_duration 5000000 reached at 5013333 microseconds
[mpegts @ 0x7fcb7b004a00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([21][0][0][0] / 0x0015)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[NULL @ 0x7fcb7b016a00] start time is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
Input #0, mpegts, from 'recorded_file.mp4':
  Duration: 00:25:00.01, start: 68428.580933, bitrate: 1499 kb/s
  Program 1 
    Stream #0:0[0x100]: Video: h264 (High) ([27][0][0][0] / 0x001B), yuv420p, 1024x576 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 25 fps, 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
    Stream #0:1[0x101]: Audio: aac ([15][0][0][0] / 0x000F), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 124 kb/s
    Stream #0:2[0x102]: Unknown: none ([21][0][0][0] / 0x0015)

Use of the command:

ffmpeg -i recorded_file.mp4 output.mp4 -reset_timestamps 0

File after use of the command:

ffmpeg -i output.mp4 

ffmpeg version 1.2.4 Copyright (c) 2000-2013 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Jan  9 2014 09:06:57 with Apple LLVM version 5.0 (clang-500.2.79) (based on LLVM 3.3svn)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/1.2.4 --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --enable-hardcoded-tables --enable-avresample --enable-vda --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags= --enable-libx264 --enable-libfaac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libxvid
  libavutil      52. 18.100 / 52. 18.100
  libavcodec     54. 92.100 / 54. 92.100
  libavformat    54. 63.104 / 54. 63.104
  libavdevice    54.  3.103 / 54.  3.103
  libavfilter     3. 42.103 /  3. 42.103
  libswscale      2.  2.100 /  2.  2.100
  libswresample   0. 17.102 /  0. 17.102
  libpostproc    52.  2.100 / 52.  2.100
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'output.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    encoder         : Lavf54.63.104
  Duration: 00:25:00.04, start: 0.021333, bitrate: 1358 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 1024x576 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 1224 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 12800 tbn, 50 tbc
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
    Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 127 kb/s
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SoundHandler

A lot of the text output changes but the line with the duration, start and bitrate is interesting, as the start value is set to near zero.

Duration: 00:25:00.04, start: 0.021333, bitrate: 1358 kb/s

So to use this solution would be enough. The problem is, I cannot use ffmpeg in the solution that downloads the file (it's for Android). So I try to find a way to do this in Java. However, as I have not much experience in Video processing, I can’t figure out, what this ffmpeg command does and therefore don’t know in which direction to look for a Java solution.

Is there a library that may do the same operation in Java or is there an easy way to do it myself in Java (like adjusting the file timestamp)?

Thanks for you help!

EDIT: The whole console output is now shown, instead of just a part of it.

Answer 1

I have found the solution myself. The problem is not, that the timestamps are wrong, but that the input file is a MPEG-TS stream without a container. As it has the container ending .mp4, Qucktime couldn't play it because the file extension is wrong. When I executed the ffmpeg command, it automatically wrapped the stream into a .mp4 container. So afterwards, Quicktime could play it, because the file format was correct. After renaming the input file to .ts (MPEG-TS stream) file extension, Quicktime could play the input file as well.

The fact, that my command with -reset_timestamps solved the problem led me to the false assumption, that the timestamps are the problem.

Answer 2

The fix for my FFMPEG converted MP4 to play in QuickTime was adding -pix_fmt yuv420p to the parameters.

Found at https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264#FAQ:

Encoding for dumb players

You may need to use -pix_fmt yuv420p for your output to work in QuickTime and most other players. These players only supports the YUV planar color space with 4:2:0 chroma subsampling for H.264 video. Otherwise, depending on your source, ffmpeg may output to a pixel format that may be incompatible with these players.

If interested, here's the entire FFMPEG command I used:

ffmpeg -i $1 \
  -acodec libfaac -b:a 96k \
  -vcodec libx264 -b:v 1.5M \
  -pix_fmt yuv420p \
  -threads 0 -s $2 $destination/$filename.mp4