You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

lcg's avatar
lcg
New member | Level 2
7 years ago

Downloading mp4 from drop box to my desktop not working

I have tried downloading mp4 videos from drop box to my desktop both individually and as a zipped file and the videos will not play in quicktime. The zipped folder does not open at all.

  • If its larger than about 2gb the zip files can get corrupt. Download them one at a time, or, install Dropbox (www.dropbox.com/downloading) and let them download locally that way.

    You do, however, need to make sure that the computer has the appropriate codecs to play everything installed.
  • Hi,

    There might be number of reasons why QuickTime is not playing your mp4 files. But the main reason i believe is unsupported codec used in your MP4.

     

    First of all, MP4 is just a container with packaged video and audio streams that can be encoded with number of different codecs. And Apple's QuickTime supports only certain video and audio codecs in your MP4 format. If your mp4 file has unsupported codecs QuickTime will not play it. 

     

    I'd recommend you to use VLC Media Player (https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html) or K-Lite codec pack that comes with Media Player Classic (https://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm). Both of them are free, constantly updated and support virtually all existing video and audio codecs.

     
  • Hi,

    There might be number of reasons why QuickTime is not playing your mp4 files. But the main reason i believe is unsupported codec used in your MP4.

     

    First of all, MP4 is just a container with packaged video and audio streams that can be encoded with number of different codecs. And Apple's QuickTime supports only certain video and audio codecs in your MP4 format. If your mp4 file has unsupported codecs QuickTime will not play it. 

     

    I'd recommend you to use VLC Media Player (https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html) or K-Lite codec pack that comes with Media Player Classic (https://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm). Both of them are free, constantly updated and support virtually all existing video and audio codecs.

     
  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    If its larger than about 2gb the zip files can get corrupt. Download them one at a time, or, install Dropbox (www.dropbox.com/downloading) and let them download locally that way.

    You do, however, need to make sure that the computer has the appropriate codecs to play everything installed.
    • DrSteven's avatar
      DrSteven
      New member | Level 2

      This worked, but I  no idea why.  If I use Finder and go to Dropbox most all video, show as not playable, but the data are there. I also found that trying to copy from Dropbox and paste on my desktop did not work. I then used the Dropbox app, and though I only tried it for a few videos, it worked. Why????

      • fancy_socks's avatar
        fancy_socks
        New member | Level 2

        I just used the desktop app to sync a folder of videos and I'd say 75% of them did not work after syncing to desktop. I downloaded one directly and it worked.

         

        Comparing the two, I noticed that the working one had the following in More Info (when I used command-I to get info.)

         

        Codec: AAC, mp4

        Dimensions: 1800x900

         

        The broken media files do not have any codec, dimensions, duration or color profile stuff.

         

        Dropbox: why are my files that sync via the app not retaining those pieces of data?

  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    Hi lcg, thanks for posting your question on the Forum & welcome aboard! ðŸš¢ I just wanted to follow-up on this matter.
     
    Were you able to check back with Mark's suggestion or were you able to resolve your concern in the end? If the situation persists though, could you let me know the size of the files & that of the .zip folder? Could you also provide me with a screenshot of what you’re seeing, including any error message?
     
    Please keep us updated & if you have any questions, please feel free to get back to us here. Thanks in advance, and I hope you have a great week ahead!