MOV file won't play, help please.

[LarryJoe33]

I have a very important mov file that will not play with QT. I took it with my phone. When I try to open it with QT, it starts to convert it, but then says can't open. Any ideas or is there another player I might have better luck with?

 

[Boyd01]

.mov files are containers and can have a variety of different contents. You could see if it will open in VLC which is free/open source and pretty good at opening whatever you throw at it: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

For converting between formats, I like Apple Compressor but that costs $50. Handbrake is also really good and is free open source: https://handbrake.fr

 

[LarryJoe33]

Thanks. I’m afraid the file may be corrupt. It’s only 8.4MB and shows a duration of 0. I took video with my phone and it’s around two minutes long original. I’m guessing there is no way an 8.4mb file could be two min long.

 

[imaccooper]

How did you transfer it to your computer and how are you actually hitting play on the file? I have gotten the same result when I forgot to actually put the file on my computer and then came back a day or two later and hit play and nothing happened. It was because I was playing the file from an sd card or email or something the first time and it was fine, but then I removed the source file and when you try to play obviously you get nothing.

If you emailed it, and have since deleted the email, go back and pull the deleted email and reimport. If you used messenger, the same. If you used airdrop, check your downloads folder for the original file or maybe trash in case you have deleted your downloads recently. Or if you still have the original you can try to reimport and see if you get better results.

 

[LarryJoe33]

Thanks. The clip is in a folder that is mixed with pictures and used at my moms funeral services. I am almost positive I emailed or texted myself the file from my phone on which it was taken. Then I saved it to the folder and eventually copied the folder to a thumb drive to put on a screen at her wake. I will scour my emails. Thanks for all your help.

 

[imaccooper]

Thanks. The clip is in a folder that is mixed with pictures and used at my moms funeral services. I am almost positive I emailed or texted myself the file from my phone on which it was taken. Then I saved it to the folder and eventually copied the folder to a thumb drive to put on a screen at her wake. I will scour my emails. Thanks for all your help.

Could not be the case at all, but it is possible if you emailed the file and then copied it, what was in that folder was actually referencing something on your computer deep in your email saves. Upon another copy the source would have not been present and thus you would not get any playback.

Obviously if you have been able to play it from that thumb drive before, then this is not the case, but its worth looking at. Does the clip play from the folder on your computer or is that file no good as well? If all sources are bad and you have not gotten them to work except for maybe once when you originally sent the email/text message, then my guess is that you copied the file from the email into the folder and the file can no longer find what it is supposed to be playing. If this is the case, then you are probably going to have to find the source either from your phone or the email/text that you sent to yourself to get the file back. Good luck!

 

[LarryJoe33]

Thanks again for all your efforts and suggestions. No luck on the email/text search. I would imagine my best bet is to try and find that thumb drive.

 

[kohlson]

If you emailed it, would it be in your Sent (or Out) folder. Is it still on your phone?