M4V files taking minutes to start streaming

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.41.3.9314-a0bfb8370
Player Version#: 8.44 (iOS)

I’m a long time user of Plex but not a power user. I set my server up years ago and keep it updated but rarely change any settings.

I’ve found today that any m4v video takes many minutes to start streaming on our local network. I’ve tried iPhone and LG TV. This is a new issue - one my my kids’ favourite films is in this format and they’ve watched it many many times without issue.

Other video file formats stream fine and basically instantly. m4v files are taking about 5 minutes to start. At first we thought they simply weren’t working - it’s taken quite a lot of perseverance and troubleshooting to hone in on the issue.

I’ve checked all apps are up-to-date, I’ve restarted the MacBook the server run ons, and I’ve re-scanned the relevant library. None of these made any difference.

These files play fine via the Plex app (not Plex Server interface) on the same machine the server runs on.

Can anyone suggest why this might suddenly be happening? Are there any settings I need to check or change? Thanks in advance!

2

Replying to my own post. (Sign of madness?!)

I still have no idea why Plex has started struggling to start playing m4v files, but I have discovered that remuxing them as MKVs using MKVToolNix resolves the issue.

Remuxing takes less than a minute per file. Once done they can be streaming immediately, in the same way that, for me, m4vs would stream.

I haven’t changed any settings in MKVToolNix - the defaults work fine. Literally just open the source file and immediately start multiplexing.

Hopefully this is useful if anyone else has this issue.

1 Like
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Had you tried just changing file extension mp4? m4v to mp4

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Yes tried that. Same problem. But files originally encoded to MP4 play fine. I’m not clued up enough to know what that could mean. :slight_smile:

5

You might try using Subler (subler.org) to optimize one of the m4v/mp4 files. It remuxes the file and relocates the MOOV atom (fast start) so the file can start streaming sooner.

From the FAQ: “It interleaves the audio and video samples, and puts the “MooV” atom at the begining of the file, restoring the Quicktime “fast-start” (also known as “pseudo-streaming”) ability of the file.”

Subler is also a nice tool for adding/removing video/audio/subtitle tracks and embedding metadata from online sources.

Subler is Mac only, but you tagged the post server-mac so hopefully not a problem.

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