# Plex being dumb?

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-being-dumb/875888>\
**Category:** General Discussions\
**Created:** [April 23, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-being-dumb/875888 "2024-04-23T20:17:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Plexihexi1231](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Plexihexi1231](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Plexihexi1231)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-being-dumb/875888/1 "2024-04-23T20:17:38Z")

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hi there,

why does plex convert MKV to MKV on a new apple device? why can’t it stream directly? bandwidth is not the problem.

![Unbenannt](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/9/5/2/952df508e1978a246af7f64c03912d106968af2c.png)

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**Author:** ![pshanew](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/pshanew/32/160555_2.png) [@pshanew](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pshanew)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 9:23pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-being-dumb/875888/2 "2024-04-23T21:23:51Z")

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Do you see the same if you disable subtitles?

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**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-being-dumb/875888/3 "2024-04-23T22:11:45Z")

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There is no conversion/transcoding happening. Only a re-packaging.  
Most likely reason is that an audio or subtitle stream was picked which is not the first in the file.

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**Author:** ![Plexihexi1231](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Plexihexi1231](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Plexihexi1231)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 6:24am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-being-dumb/875888/4 "2024-04-24T06:24:10Z")

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And that means the whole movie has to be transfered before playback starts? because that is the problem. it takes forever to process (upload) the file instead of streaming it in pieces. it has the same subtitle (none) and audio format as all the other movies that work fine.

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**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2024, 7:21am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-being-dumb/875888/5 "2024-04-24T07:21:42Z")

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> [@Plexihexi1231](#):
>
> And that means the whole movie has to be transfered before playback starts?

There’s nothing in your screenshot that suggests that this is happening.

Although it is rare with MKV files, it could be due to a bad mux with bad/missing interleaving.  
Drag the file into MKVtoolnix and remux it. Then try playback of this remuxed file.

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**Author:** ![Plexihexi1231](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Plexihexi1231](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Plexihexi1231)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2024, 5:32am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-being-dumb/875888/6 "2024-04-25T05:32:36Z")

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Will try. I should have posted another screenshot (plex dashboard) where it says “buffering” constantly and time played is stopped.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 5:33am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-being-dumb/875888/7 "2024-07-24T05:33:15Z")

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