[SOLVED] Great video but no audio on .mp4 files

Gregg Bell · 04-29-2017, 07:11 PM

The video is great but there is absolutely no sound in the .mp4 files I'm downloading. I'm running Xubuntu 16.04LTS and have played them in VLC, Parole, and Videos. All have perfect video but no audio. I've checked that the sound is at 100% and that the mute button isn't clicked.

Any ideas? Thanks.

hydrurga · 04-29-2017, 07:35 PM

How are you downloading them? Can you give an example mp4 on the net that you're having problems with?

Are you getting sound out of your machine otherwise?

BW-userx · 04-29-2017, 07:40 PM

Got handbrake ? you could try re-sampling one of them and change the audio defaults add one and change its out put to a different encoder.

ondoho · 04-30-2017, 01:22 AM

i will venture a guess that they have sound, but it doesn't playback.

do you have sound at all?

how are the videos encoded?

open them with mplayer or mpv, and post the terminal output.

btw, you've been here long enough to know that you should have provided more info in your OP.

rokytnji · 04-30-2017, 09:25 AM

Default sound chip setting probably. In VLC settings. Or Pulse Audio. Google should take it from there.

Gregg Bell · 04-30-2017, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

How are you downloading them? Can you give an example mp4 on the net that you're having problems with?

Are you getting sound out of your machine otherwise?

Thanks hydrurga. I got the .mp4 (I'm having problems with all .mp4s though) from Pexels. Here's the link:

https://08-lvl3-pdl.vimeocdn.com/01/...18187fe692276e

And sound works fine on all other files (Youtube, browser-stuff, .wmv files, .mp3 files etc).

Btw Installed the 'unrestricted extras' too. That made no difference.

Gregg Bell · 04-30-2017, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BW-userx

Got handbrake ? you could try re-sampling one of them and change the audio defaults add one and change its out put to a different encoder.

Thanks BW. I do have Handbrake but that sounds like a pretty complicated solution. I'll keep it in mind if nothing simpler turns up.

Gregg Bell · 04-30-2017, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ondoho

i will venture a guess that they have sound, but it doesn't playback.

do you have sound at all?

how are the videos encoded?

open them with mplayer or mpv, and post the terminal output.

btw, you've been here long enough to know that you should have provided more info in your OP.

Thanks ondoho. Yes, have sound. It plays on movies, browser videos, .mp3 files etc.

I don't know how they are encoded. I tried to track that down and got as far as the screenshot, then didn't know which to download.

I don't know how to open them with mplayer or mpv. I checked in the terminal and neither program is installed, but I wouldn't know how to open them there anyway.

Yep, will provide more info. next time.

Gregg Bell · 04-30-2017, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji

Default sound chip setting probably. In VLC settings. Or Pulse Audio. Google should take it from there.

Thanks rokytnji. I had issues with PulseAudio using a webcam, so when you mentioned it I checked PulseAudio but couldn't see anything wrong there.

And I checked the audio settings in VLC. Some of the .mp4s have 'stereo/left/right/reverse stereo' settings but changing them makes no difference.

And I don't know what a 'chip setting' is or where to look for it. (Couldn't find anything for 'chip setting' in Google.)

Shadow_7 · 04-30-2017, 12:20 PM

Use avprobe or ffprobe to verify that the video has audio.

$ avprobe file.mp4

$ ffprobe file.mp4

I had an issue like this recently, I needed something for mp3 audio to be installed. mpg321, libmpg123-0, it's been a while.

Rickkkk · 04-30-2017, 12:39 PM

Hey Gregg_Bell ... I believe you need the proper AAC codec which is part of the gst-plugins-bad package. Could you check if that is installed on your system ? In many distros it is not by default.

Cheers,

ondoho · 04-30-2017, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

I got the .mp4 (I'm having problems with all .mp4s though) from Pexels. Here's the link:

https://08-lvl3-pdl.vimeocdn.com/01/...18187fe692276e

i'm not getting audio on this either.
not in the browser, and not when playing it with mpv.
and i NEVER have problems witht mp4s.
mediainfo says there is an audio track, and it's it's AAC encoded.
My system is definitely capable of playing that.
therefore i surmise that this video has an audio track which is SILENT.

hydrurga · 04-30-2017, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Thanks hydrurga. I got the .mp4 (I'm having problems with all .mp4s though) from Pexels. Here's the link:

https://08-lvl3-pdl.vimeocdn.com/01/...18187fe692276e

Of the sample I tried, none of those Pexels videos have audio (well they do have an AAC audio track but there appears to be nothing on it).

I think that may be how they are supposed to be, being stock video clips.

Gregg Bell · 04-30-2017, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

Use avprobe or ffprobe to verify that the video has audio.

$ avprobe file.mp4

$ ffprobe file.mp4

I had an issue like this recently, I needed something for mp3 audio to be installed. mpg321, libmpg123-0, it's been a while.

Thanks Shadow. I'm not sure I did this right. The .mp4 file is on the Desktop. Anyway here's the avprobe file.mp4 results:

Code:

gregory@gregory-OptiPlex-GX520:~/Desktop$ avprobe file.mp4
ffprobe version 2.8.11-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 Copyright (c) 2007-2017 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 5.4.0 (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.4) 20160609
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.16.04.1 --build-suffix=-ffmpeg --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --cc=cc --cxx=g++ --enable-gpl --enable-shared --disable-stripping --disable-decoder=libopenjpeg --disable-decoder=libschroedinger --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzvbi --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libzmq --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencv
  WARNING: library configuration mismatch
  avcodec     configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=0ubuntu0.16.04.1 --build-suffix=-ffmpeg --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --cc=cc --cxx=g++ --enable-gpl --enable-shared --disable-stripping --disable-decoder=libopenjpeg --disable-decoder=libschroedinger --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzvbi --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-x11grab --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libzmq --enable-frei0r --enable-libx264 --enable-libopencv --enable-version3 --disable-doc --disable-programs --disable-avdevice --disable-avfilter --disable-avformat --disable-avresample --disable-postproc --disable-swscale --enable-libopencore_amrnb --enable-libopencore_amrwb --enable-libvo_aacenc --enable-libvo_amrwbenc
  libavutil      54. 31.100 / 54. 31.100
  libavcodec     56. 60.100 / 56. 60.100
  libavformat    56. 40.101 / 56. 40.101
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 40.101 /  5. 40.101
  libavresample   2.  1.  0 /  2.  1.  0
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  2.101 /  1.  2.101
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
file.mp4: No such file or directory

Gregg Bell · 04-30-2017, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rickkkk

Hey Gregg_Bell ... I believe you need the proper AAC codec which is part of the gst-plugins-bad package. Could you check if that is installed on your system ? In many distros it is not by default.

Cheers,

Thanks Rick. I checked Synaptic. I don't have it but it's there. I was a little hesitant installing something called "bad" though. (LOL) I read the description in Synaptic and part of it went: 'GStreamer Bad Plug-ins is a set of plug-ins that aren't up to par compared to the rest.' Are you sure I'm not going to screw anything up by installing it?