VLC Not Playing MP4 Files? Get VLC Repair Solutions [2023]

A common notion set in our minds and seems true is that VLC supports every file format and can easily play any video regardless of its file type. Not only this, but the VLC media player also allows you to stream your live video as well as offers you the facility to record your desktop. However, the situation can be very vexing when you urgently need to watch a video, and you see the "Can't play this file" error instead. If you are facing the same situation, then you have landed at the right place. We have described some of the handiest methods to get rid of the VLC audio lag and the VLC video lag issue.

Read the complete article to find how to repair VLC MP4 and MKV files within minutes.

Part 1. Why Is VLC Not Playing MP4 Files

It is a very unusual activity for the VLC media player if it suddenly stopped working or won't play a video file because, due to its unlimited features, it has earned a good reputation in the market. The maximum chances are due to a broken header or unfinished I/O operation that is left in the mid. With the increasing number of users, it is noticed that many people complained about the VLC repair mp4 problem.

The greatest and instant solution to this problem is restarting your operating system or reinstalling the VLC media player again. Because sometimes, it is because of windows or VLC's internal software issue. So, hopefully, doing this may resolve the glitch.

Here are some reasons that cause the VLC not playing MP4 files issue.

Part 2. How to Repair "VLC Not Playing MP4 Files"?

You can see a whirlpool of the guides regarding the post How to Repair "VLC not playing MP4 files." Finding a perfect and ideal solution to repair your damaged videos might be time taking, and in case if you choose the wrong method or product in a hurry, it can take you several hours to find a perfect one.

Looking at your ease, we have proposed the two best techniques after passing through several experiments, which will truly help you to repair the corrupted video files.

Solution 1: VLC Video Repair

Repairing your damaged video files using the VLC media player is by far the best and efficient way. You might be wondering, VLC is a media player, then how it can repair the damaged videos. Well, that's the excellent perspective of the VLC media players that allows it to repair the MP4 video files.

So if you found that the video file that holds very significant information or memories has been corrupted due to an unknown reason, then, fortunately, you can repair that MP4 file on your own by going through some basic steps.

So, Let's see how to fix VLC not playing MP4 files problem.

Step 1: First of all, open the default VLC application, and it will appear with a black screen yet having options for modifications and editing. Those options hit the click on the Tools option that will be further expanded to different actions.

From the very last among the options, choose the preferences option, or press Ctrl +p to access the preferences feature.

Step 2: It will immediately take you to another window. Then, click on the Input /Codecs feature and then hit the Show All radio button located at the left-bottom of the window.

Step 3: After reaching the next screen, carefully follow the steps' sequence to get the expected results. You see a screen like this at the start, but that's no the place where we have to make changes.

Step 4: The flow of the steps will be:

Find the Input/Codecs option from the window. Expand it.

Here, you can see the video codecs option. Further, expand it.

From the next actions, select the FFmpeg feature, and as a result, there will appear a rush of actions.

On the right side, find the Hardware Decoding field among the options. Make sure it is Disabled. If it is not set to Disabled, then choose the respective feature.

Click on Save to save changes.

Close the window and play the corrupted video for a test. You will find that corruption is gone from the video.

Video Tutorial on How to Repair Corrupted MP4 Video Files

Solution 2: Wondershare Repairit Online Video Repair

Another solution to repair the corrupted and damaged MP4 files will be introduced in this section. You can repair them using the Wondershare Repairit Online Website. It is a user-friendly tool and solves the problem of corrupted MP4 effectively.

Wondershare Repairit Online

• Repair different video corruption issues, including video not playing, video no sound, video black screen, etc.

• It supports customers repair 150 videos per month and supports each video of 3GB online.

• The online version supports various video formats: MOV/MP4/M2TS/MKV/MTS/3GP/AVI/FLV/MXF/M4V.

• Security enough: videos are transferred via a 2048-bit encrypted connection and deleted after 3 hours.

• It fixes videos online without damaging the original quality or integrity.

Follow the guidelines if you are new to this interface.

Step 1: Uploading the Video

The first step is easy. You have to open the website. There, you will find a (+) where you will insert the corrupted video. As you add the video, you will see the uploading bar.

Step 2: Repairing Process Initialization

The repair process starts after a couple of seconds automatically.

Step 3: Saving and Repairing the next video

The last step is where your video will be repaired and previewed on the screen. From there, you can save it and repair the next video.

Solution 3: Wondershare Repairit Video Repair Software

Besides the VLC media player, Wondershare Repairit for the desktop will be another good choice to repair damaged video files. It's a very agile and reliable tool to repair corrupted as well as damaged videos. It stands highest amongst its fellow competitors.

If you have many videos (over 150 videos per week) need to be fixed, or the corrupted video is larger than 3GB, even the video formats are out of the supported range, please try the desktop version of Wondershare Repairit.

Here is a brief list of Repairit's features.

Wondershare Repairit - Video Repair

Try It Free Try It Free

849,105 people have downloaded it.

• Repair damaged videos with all levels of corruption, such as video not playing, video no sound, out-of-sync video or audio, playback errors, header corruption, flickering video, missing video codec, etc.

• Repair videos of diverse formats, including MOV, MP4, M2TS, MKV, MTS, 3GP, AVI, FLV, MXF, KLV, INSV, M4V, WMV, MPEG, ASF, etc.

• Repair damaged or corrupted videos caused by video compression, system crash, video format change, etc.

• Repair critically damaged or corrupted videos available on SD cards, mobile phones, cameras, USB flash drives, etc.

• Repairit has a quick and advanced scanning mode. You can use either depending on the level of corruption the video file has undergone.

• No limit to the number and size of the repairable videos.

• Support Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022, and macOS 10.10~macOS 14.

Repair Videos Using Repairit

The quick mode is only feasible when you are looking to repair/remove the simple video errors.

Hence, the Advance mode allows us to add an extra sample video shot. But the condition is that video files must be taken from the same device. Also, the file format should be the same as the corrupted video.

We will now see a step-by-step guide on how these methods work to repair our damaged computer.

Step: 1 Add Damaged Video

Click the Add button or "Add video and start repairing" area to add the software screen's corrupted file.

Step: 2 Quick Repair Damaged Videos

After the completion, when all files are added, you can click on the Repair button to start the repairing process.

Step: 2 Preview and Save Repaired Videos

When all of your added files become damage-free, you can preview the repaired result and save the videos.

Advanced Repair (Optional)

If the video file fails to be repaired, there will be a reminder of repairing failure and an Advance Repair option beside the damaged video files. Just click the Advanced Repair button to repair severely damaged video. But you need to add the sample files. Just click the folder icon to browse and choose one.

When the videos have been fully added, you can press the Repair button to start the repairing process with advance mode.

Part 3. How to Repair Other Video Errors on VLC Player

Besides the corrupted video files, there are some other issues that user experience on the VLC player. Well, we have picked those who were most searched by the people regarding the VLC media player. So let's see how to repair other video errors on the VLC media player.

4K video lag on VLC player

Sometimes, when UHD videos are played on the VLC, they may refuse to play the video properly. Large-definition videos may start lagging or skipping frames on your VLC media player due to the large size.

However, that's not a big deal. You can use multiple ways to repair the 4k lag in VLC media players. One of the best picks to repair 4k videos lag is Repairit Video Repair Tool.

Secondly, if your VLC media player is still unable to play 4K videos, you may need to do some changes like enable GPU acceleration or escalate your cache value, both of which are essential and effective actions to allow you to play 4K videos within VLC.

To avoid future lagging, you can make changes in Input/Codec. Apply the settings that best suit your videos. You can find the settings from Tools>Preferences > Input/codecs options.

Before this, you may know some potential reasons that cause 4k lag so that you can prevent them the next time.

Likewise, VLC has also enhanced the graphics option on its application in its new update.

If this issue is happening just because of stream speed issues, then you can customize the buffer speed per stream.

Else, here are somethings that you must try to avoid from the 4k video lag on VLC.

Otherwise, you have to face video corruption and thus need to get solutions for HD video repair.

Repair MKV file with VLC

A great number of the search is found on the keyword "repair Mkv file VLC," which indicates that the people are facing problems in running their MKV video files. There is no fact that the VLC media player created the issue. However, you can perform a quick repair through your VLC media player.

Repairit Video Repair Tool is a great source to repair MKV files that are damaged and no more working on the VLC media player.

Besides this, there are several ways to repair MKV files with VLC. Some of them that you can try are:

These methods are for VLC else. You can use the Repairit Repair Tools to repair the MKV files.

MP4 videos have no audio

It sometimes happens when you are unable to listen to the audio of the MP4 video or the video produces multiple sounds simultaneously. Well, in that case, try playing more than one MP4 file and check whether all the video files are unable to produce audio or if it was just the only one?

If this video has an audio problem, Repairit can efficiently repair this kind of video. You can try this robust software to repair your MP4 video file's audio issues.

There are possibly three kinds of issue that usually occur:

Part 4. How to Avoid Video Playing Errors

Sometimes it is very frustrating when you play the video and get an error message, and nowadays, it has become very normal. But there are also solutions as well to get rid of the video playback issues.

Video playing errors can be defined as those issues which don't allow the videos to run properly. It can be anything, freezes, corruption, black screen, etc.

There would be a reason behind every playback issue. Some of the prime factors that cause video playback errors are:

By keeping the latest version of the media player can also help to avoid video playing errors.

I hope the article will truly meet your needs but if the above techniques didn't solve your particular VLC not playing MP4 files, leave the comment, and we will come to you as soon as we can. But I am sure that the Repairit will be able to provide you with satisfactory results.