# Play Back Error - Conversion failed. The transcoder failed to start up

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/play-back-error-conversion-failed-the-transcoder-failed-to-start-up/935334>\
**Category:** Plex Media Server\
**Tags:** server-windows, player-windows\
**Created:** [January 10, 2026, 10:02am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/play-back-error-conversion-failed-the-transcoder-failed-to-start-up/935334 "2026-01-10T10:02:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chrisj76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@chrisj76](https://forums.plex.tv/u/chrisj76)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2026, 10:02am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/play-back-error-conversion-failed-the-transcoder-failed-to-start-up/935334/1 "2026-01-10T10:02:05Z")

</div>

Server Version#: 4.147.1  
Player Version#:  
\<If providing [server logs](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/) please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only [debug logging](https://support.plex.tv/articles/201643703-reporting-issues-with-plex-media-server/#toc-1) should be enabled\>

Plex has stopped working and I can not play anything every think keeps coming up with Play Back Error - Conversion failed. The transcoder failed to start up.. if I try via the apple tv or even dirctly on the plex server from localhost page via chrome.

I’ve rebooted the server a number of times and same issue .. have had zero issue and now this anyone have any ideas why it would have just stopped working is there a issue with a recent update ?

Found the in the console

Time

LevelError

Thread

Message[Req#93b3/Transcode] Error configuring transcoder: TPU: Failed to download sub-stream to temporary file

Time

LevelWarning

Thread

Message[Req#93d8/Transcode] Denying access to transcode of key /library/metadata/70954 due to terminated session

1.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Winterfell\_PC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Winterfell\_PC](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Winterfell_PC)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 8:40am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/play-back-error-conversion-failed-the-transcoder-failed-to-start-up/935334/2 "2026-02-15T08:40:02Z")

</div>

Same here. This is actually really sad. Were you able to find a fix?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![piraterider1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@piraterider1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/piraterider1)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2026, 10:22am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/play-back-error-conversion-failed-the-transcoder-failed-to-start-up/935334/3 "2026-02-15T10:22:01Z")

</div>

Which server version are you running

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2026, 10:22am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/play-back-error-conversion-failed-the-transcoder-failed-to-start-up/935334/4 "2026-05-16T10:22:36Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.