Plex player does not play videos with no sound track (spinning circle)

Plex Players Streaming Devices
,
1

We have bigger setup (6 TV, 4 projectors) with mixed streaming boxes (Hako PRO, KICKPI K1, xiaomi), we use it to play ads and event spots. When Hako Pro play what ever we give to it, other boxes don’t. We had problems with KICKPI K1 and Xiaomi to play files when Hako Pro had no problems. We looked at logs and found out that the missing sound track was the problem; we added an empty sound track and both KICKPI and Xiaomi started to play videos.

It would be nice if, on devices that are more finicky (differences in codecs? Is it a matter of Android TV version itself?), the Plex player would either display an appropriate message when there’s no audio track or allow the player to ignore the missing audio track and simply play the video.

It took a while to find the problem, the Plex player only showed a spinning circle.

2

I think this depends on the file type. Can you post the xml info for a video that won’t play?

3

Not a file type, already tested that (mp4, mkv, h264 etc.), it’s a device type problem, some devices dont accept video files without audio, then plax pleyer can’t play it (spinning circle). Make yourself any video file, remove audio from it and test it on Android TV box, some will play if fine, some will not. Attached xml of that video.

MediaInfoLib

<track type="General">
<VideoCount>1</VideoCount>
<FileExtension>mp4</FileExtension>
<Format>MPEG-4</Format>
<Format_Profile>Base Media / Version 2</Format_Profile>
<CodecID>mp42</CodecID>
<CodecID_Compatible>mp42/iso2/avc1/mp41</CodecID_Compatible>
<FileSize>31118121</FileSize>
<Duration>110.000</Duration>
<OverallBitRate>2263136</OverallBitRate>
<FrameRate>30.000</FrameRate>
<FrameCount>3300</FrameCount>
<StreamSize>14640</StreamSize>
<HeaderSize>40</HeaderSize>
<DataSize>31103489</DataSize>
<FooterSize>14592</FooterSize>
<IsStreamable>No</IsStreamable>
<Encoded_Date>UTC 2025-11-15 12:47:09</Encoded_Date>
<Tagged_Date>UTC 2025-11-15 12:47:09</Tagged_Date>
<File_Created_Date>UTC 2025-11-17 14:50:21.725</File_Created_Date>
<File_Created_Date_Local>2025-11-17 15:50:21.725</File_Created_Date_Local>
<File_Modified_Date>UTC 2025-11-17 14:50:25.499</File_Modified_Date>
<File_Modified_Date_Local>2025-11-17 15:50:25.499</File_Modified_Date_Local>
<Encoded_Application>HandBrake 20230911051740-c2865823f-master 2023091101</Encoded_Application>
</track>
<track type="Video">
<StreamOrder>0</StreamOrder>
<ID>1</ID>
<Format>AVC</Format>
<Format_Profile>Main</Format_Profile>
<Format_Level>4</Format_Level>
<Format_Settings_CABAC>Yes</Format_Settings_CABAC>
<Format_Settings_RefFrames>1</Format_Settings_RefFrames>
<CodecID>avc1</CodecID>
<Duration>110.000</Duration>
<BitRate>2262071</BitRate>
<Width>3838</Width>
<Height>2158</Height>
<Stored_Width>3840</Stored_Width>
<Stored_Height>2160</Stored_Height>
<Sampled_Width>3838</Sampled_Width>
<Sampled_Height>2158</Sampled_Height>
<PixelAspectRatio>1.000</PixelAspectRatio>
<DisplayAspectRatio>1.778</DisplayAspectRatio>
<Rotation>0.000</Rotation>
<FrameRate_Mode>CFR</FrameRate_Mode>
<FrameRate>30.000</FrameRate>
<FrameCount>3300</FrameCount>
<ColorSpace>YUV</ColorSpace>
<ChromaSubsampling>4:2:0</ChromaSubsampling>
<BitDepth>8</BitDepth>
<ScanType>Progressive</ScanType>
<StreamSize>31103481</StreamSize>
<Encoded_Library>x264 - core 164 r3100 ed0f7a6</Encoded_Library>
<Encoded_Library_Name>x264</Encoded_Library_Name>
<Encoded_Library_Version>core 164 r3100 ed0f7a6</Encoded_Library_Version>
<Encoded_Library_Settings>cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x1:0x131 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=24 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=300 / keyint_min=30 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=22.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=20000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00</Encoded_Library_Settings>
<Encoded_Date>UTC 2025-11-15 12:47:09</Encoded_Date>
<Tagged_Date>UTC 2025-11-15 12:47:09</Tagged_Date>
<colour_description_present>Yes</colour_description_present>
<colour_description_present_Source>Container / Stream</colour_description_present_Source>
<colour_range>Limited</colour_range>
<colour_range_Source>Container / Stream</colour_range_Source>
<colour_primaries>BT.709</colour_primaries>
<colour_primaries_Source>Container / Stream</colour_primaries_Source>
<transfer_characteristics>BT.709</transfer_characteristics>
<transfer_characteristics_Source>Container / Stream</transfer_characteristics_Source>
<matrix_coefficients>BT.709</matrix_coefficients>
<matrix_coefficients_Source>Container / Stream</matrix_coefficients_Source>
<extra>
<CodecConfigurationBox>avcC</CodecConfigurationBox>
</extra>
</track>
</media>
</MediaInfo>

Plex file analysis show, audio channels=0:

[mp4 h264/] Duration: 482000ms, 1920x1080 (1.777778) 24.000fps, bitrate=4008kbps, audio channels=0, optimizedForStreaming=1 ("/movies/videoV4.mp4")
4

Is there a way to report a bug to Plex team?