Written by VLC users who try to play the common MP4 file format often encounter the following problems:
“VLC stop playing MP4 files just the other day now its not the file because i’m using another mp4 player and it works great but again Vlc won’t play it and i tried to fix in Preferences but to no avail can somebody help me on this.”
“When trying to play an mp4 file the video stops and stutters at certain points but the audio remains. It stops for around 5 secs then resumes at where the video should have been, so i miss that 5 secs of the video. But it does this alot during the video making it unwatchable. Can anyone please help me?”
From above question, we can conclude that people may fail to play certain MP4 files with VLC, suffer VLC MP4 playback stutter issues. The following article will why you encounter those issues and solutions to fix those issues.
Issue 1: VLC won’t play certain MP4 files
Although VLC has included native playback for MP4 file format, however, it is well known that MP4 is a container file format, which can can use to store various different video and audio codec. VLC only includes playback support for MP4 file encoded wit MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.263, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, H.265/HEVC, VC-1/WMV, Theora, VP8, VP9, Real Video, etc. If the MP4 video are encoded with other incompatible codec, you will fail to open them with VLC.
Solution 1: Down VLC codec pack.
Try update your VLC to the latest version, and download VLC codec pack for this matter. There is not much to illustrate about this solution, since it is like “key-to-door” problem. Once you get the keys and you can open the certain door.
Solution 2: Convert MP4 to VLC supported codec
Directly convert MP4 to VLC best compatible H.264 codec can be the most convenient way to fix VLC not play certain MP4 files issues. Here, you can get the job easily done with our professional MP4 to VLC Converter – Pavtube Video Converter (get Mac version), which can batch convert multiple MP4 files with the resolution of 4K/2K/HD/SD to VLC best compatible H.264 codec with fast conversion speed and perfect output file quality.
Tips: The windows version of Pavtube Video Converter supports H.264 codec encoding acceleration with up to 6x faster speed on a computer with Nvidia Graphic cards that supports Nvidia CUDA(H.264 encoding).
Issue 2: VLC MP4 playback stutter
Solution: People often have VLC stutter issues when they try to play some high definition media over a network. If you are playing H.264 MP4 with VLC, you can fix this problem easily by enabling the GPU accelerated decoding feature in VLC by following the steps below:
Open VLC Media Player and click on Tools > Preferences or press Ctrl-P to open the settings window of the program. If you are using the simple settings interface, click on Input & Codecs on the left sidebar and check the Use GPU accelerated decoding box there.
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Check use gpu accelerated decoding box
If you are using the all interface select Input/Codecs > Video Codecs > FFmpeg > Hardware decoding instead to enable acceleration this way.
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Enable hardware decoding
Click on the save button afterwards and restart the media player to work with the new setting. Try playing several video files to see if hardware acceleration makes a difference in terms of playback. If it does, keep the setting enabled. If it does not, just go back to the settings to uncheck the option again.
As this solution works with MP4 video encoded with H.264 compression codec, in addition, VLC hardware acceleration for H.264 is only available for selected operating systems. While Windows Vista and newer versions of the Microsoft operating system are supported, Windows XP is not at this point in time.
Therefore, if you are using Windows 10/8/8.1/7 or Mac OS or the MP4 file you are try to play on VLC is not encoded with H.264, this solution would be useless. The good news is that you can still fix this video stuttering issue easily with Pavtube Video Converter, which has perfect for 4K/2K/HD/SD MP4 files with various compression codec like H.264, H.265, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, WMV/VC-1, Real Video, etc. You can easily use the program to compress 4K to 1080p or 1080p to 720p or even smaller file resolution for smooth playback effect with VLC media player.
Step by Step to Fix VLC MP4 Playback Issues
Step 1: Load MP4 video into the program.
Download the free trial version of the program. Launch it on your computer. Click “File” menu and select “Add Video/Audio” or click the “Add Video” button on the top tool bar to import source MP4 video files into the program.
Tips: The program supports batch conversion mode, so that you can load multiple MKV files into the program for conversion at one time.
Step 2: Define the output format.
Clicking the Format bar, from its drop-down list, here, it would be much ideal for you to choose one of VLC compatible HD file format to output such as “H.264 HD Video(*.mp4)” under “HD Video” main category.
Step 3: Compress 4K to 1080p or 720p.
Click “Settings” on the main interface to open “Profile Settings” window, under “Size(pix)” drop-down list, choose “1980*1020” or “1080*720” to compress 4K MP4 to 1080p or 720p to get smooth video playback experience, you can also change other settings according to your own needs.
Step 4: Start the video compression process.
After all setting is completed, hit the “Convert” button at the right bottom of the main interface to begin 4K MP4 to VLC best compatible H.264 MP4 HD video format conversion and compression process.
When the conversion is finished, click “Open Output Folder” icon on the main interface to open the folder with generated files. Now, you can smoothly watch compressed files on VLC with no issues.
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