MediaElement doesn't play 3GP file

Question

I have a Windows Store app that uses the MediaElement. As per this MSDN post http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/Hh986969.aspx, 3GP files are supported (as long as they are using the supported codecs).

I downloaded a sample 3GP file from here http://techslides.com/sample-webm-ogg-and-mp4-video-files-for-html5/ and small.3gp seems to work in Windows Media player (on Windows 8.1) but not in Xbox Video (or my custom app).

Question 0: Why the discrepancy between Media Player on Desktop and Media Element in the Modern Apps?

Question 1: Is there a (official) list of sample videos that work as per the MSDN post above? If not it will be mighty helpful to have one.

Question 2: How do I determine the encoding of a 3GP (or any video) file? Any 3rd party tools? Windows Media Player's property page doesn't provide anything.

Answer 1

To answer Question 2: above use FFPROBE.exe. I downloaded ffprobe and ran it on small.3gp and this is what I got

Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'small.3gp':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : 3gp4
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso23gp4
    creation_time   : 1970-01-01 00:00:00
  Duration: 00:00:05.53, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 311 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h263 (s263 / 0x33363273), yuv420p, 352x288 [SAR 12:
11 DAR 4:3], 295 kb/s, 15 fps, 15 tbr, 15 tbn, 29.97 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 1970-01-01 00:00:00
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
    Stream #0:1(und): Audio: amr_nb (samr / 0x726D6173), 8000 Hz, mono, flt, 12
kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 1970-01-01 00:00:00
      handler_name    : SoundHandler

Now can anyone throw light on why MediaElement doesn't like this 3GP file? As far as I can see the video is pretty much in line with what MediaElement supports. Can't tell if the Audio is an issue. Windows Media Player doesn't play any audio for it.

Answer 2

Hi sumitkm77,

In general 3gp is the supported format in Windows Store App, but when I trying to play your video, I got 0xc00d5212 error code.

However, I saw your analysis result for 3gp file:

• Stream #0:0(und): Video: h263 (s263 / 0x33363273), yuv420p, 352x288 [SAR 12:11 DAR 4:3], 295 kb/s, 15 fps, 15 tbr, 15 tbn, 29.97 tbc (default)
• Stream #0:1(und): Audio: amr_nb (samr / 0x726D6173), 8000 Hz, mono, flt, 12 kb/s (default)

Looks like that Audio is a not support format, should be AAC. I will trying to passing this topic as a customer wish to our senior engineers.

If the MediaElement meet a strange stream, it will not skip like Desktop Media Player does, instead it will fire a MediaFailed event, where you could delivery some error messages to your user.

--James

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Answer 3

Thanks Jamles,

Looks like I was right. Thanks for the validation! I'll see if I can create a pass through transform and resolve the issue in the meanwhile.

As I am learning the hard way, the myriad combinations of Audio and Video encoding creates almost infinite possibilities, so kudos to the team who built the Media Element. Customers do expect on par performance between desktop and modern apps I am sure they are working towards getting there.

Also is you can raise my request in Question 1 with the appropriate team. It will help Media App developers a lot.

Cheers,

Sumit.