Videos with EAC3 7.1 audio files not playing in new iOS App

Plex Players Mobile Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.41.8.9834
Player Version#: 2025.18.0 (1109)

With the new iOS Plex App some movies with a certain kind of EAC3 audio track won’t play. They used to Direct Play on the old app, I can direct play them from other platforms and on an older Android phone the audio is successfully transcoded because it does not support this codec. I tried on an iPhone 16 Pro (iOS 18.5) and an iPad Pro M4 (iPadOS 18.5). Here is the MediaInfo from an affected audio track:

> Format                                   : E-AC-3
> Format/Info                              : Enhanced AC-3
> Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital Plus
> Format profile                           : Blu-ray Disc
> Codec ID                                 : A_EAC3
> Duration                                 : 1 h 34 min
> Bit rate mode                            : Constant
> Bit rate                                 : 896 kb/s
> Channel(s)                               : 8 channels
> Channel layout                           : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
> Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
> Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
> Compression mode                         : Lossy
> Stream size                              : 603 MiB (18%)
> Title                                    : EAC3 7.1
> Language                                 : German
> Service kind                             : Complete Main
> Default                                  : Yes
> Forced                                   : No
> Dialog Normalization                     : -27 dB
> compr                                    : 6.02 dB
> cmixlev                                  : -3.0 dB
> surmixlev                                : -6 dB
> dmixmod                                  : Lo/Ro
> ltrtcmixlev                              : -3.0 dB
> ltrtsurmixlev                            : -4.5 dB
> lorocmixlev                              : -3.0 dB
> lorosurmixlev                            : -4.5 dB
> dialnorm_Average                         : -27 dB
> dialnorm_Minimum                         : -27 dB
> dialnorm_Maximum                         : -27 dB
1 Like
2

Thanks for report.

2 Likes
4

I can confirm this is happening as well on my end. iPhone 13 Pro Max / iPad Mini 7 / M1 iPad Pro 13" (5th Gen).

Videos with EAC3 7.1 audio are not playing at all unless I set it to transcode, then it’ll work. But direct playing doesn’t work - player just shows the loader and a black screen until the app eventually crashes.

No issue on my MacOS.

@BigWheel can you confirm if this is a known issue and if a fix is planned please?

Thanks.

5

Same, cant in ip13 and ip14
Only videos with [EAC3 7.1] audio at direct play

6

Ideally if the client can’t direct play the audio stream it should automatically transcode it. Or at the very least there should be a visual feedback / error message that says the client is unable to direct play the audio stream, instead of the infinite loader showing indefinitely before the app eventually crashes.

I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think I’ve had this issue in the past before the whole app rewrite thing a while back.

7

Any feedback from the team regarding this? Is this a known issue / any planned fix?

1 Like
8

I experience the same issue in Ipad. Eac3 7.1 doesnt work.

9

I really hope this will get fixed soon, as I’ve been having this issue for months now. Having the app in this state is unacceptable. No error message, does not trigger a transcode, just infinite loading until it crashes.

10

Same issue still there on latest update 2025.20.

11

@BigWheel any news on the internal status of this issue?

12

Same issue still there on latest update 2025.21.0 which dropped several hours ago.

Very upsetting and embarassing.

13

Same but sadly they don’t care

Plex is a dead app since three or four month

14

Last update 2025.22.0 and this is still not fixed yet.

3 updates in, no news from the team, no fixes to be seen.

@BigWheel can we have some status update on this please? Thank you.

15

Sorry I do not have an update.

16

Having the same issue

17

Adding some logs / info

It used to work before this new experience app is released. If it’s indeed from Apple not supporting 7.1 on iOS/iPadOS any longer, is there anyway plex can automatically transcode just the audio when a video with 7.1 audio is playing? Or at the very least, display an error message, or a popup, or some kind of visual feedback to the user so they know what to do.

Because having an infinite loading screen until it eventually crashes is not ideal, IMO.

Player logs on iOS:

2025/08/06 12:56:44.009 (2814157) ➖ (private) | selectTrack 1
2025/08/06 12:56:44.009 (2814157) ➖ (private) | selectTrack not loaded 1
2025/08/06 12:56:44.040 (2812570) ➖ (private) | Playing url: REDACTED/library/parts/1034/1754051244/file.mkv?X-Plex-Token=REDACTED&X-Plex-Product=Plex%20for%20iOS&X-Plex-Platform=iOS&X-Plex-Platform-Version=18.6&X-Plex-Model=iPhone14%2C3&X-Plex-Device=iOS&X-Plex-Device-Name=iPhone&X-Plex-Device-Vendor=Apple&X-Plex-Device-Screen-Resolution=1284x2778&X-Plex-Device-Screen-Density=3&X-Plex-Version=2025.22.0&X-Plex-Language=en&X-Plex-Features=external-media%2Cindirect-media&X-Plex-Provider-Version=6.5.0&X-Plex-DRM=fairplay%3Avideo&X-Plex-Client-Identifier=REDACTED&X-Plex-Device-Notification-Token=REDACTED&X-Plex-Session-Id=REDACTED
2025/08/06 12:56:44.160 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | playerStateDidChange - preparing
2025/08/06 12:56:44.160 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | prepareToPlay
2025/08/06 12:56:44.460 (2814419) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] maximumOutputNumberOfChannels: 2, preferredOutputNumberOfChannels: 0, isSpatialAudioEnabled: true, isUseAudioRenderer: false 
2025/08/06 12:56:44.460 (2814419) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] currentRoute max channels: 2
2025/08/06 12:56:44.461 (2814419) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] outputNumberOfChannels: 2 output channelCount: 2
2025/08/06 12:56:44.461 (2814419) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] FFmpeg AVChannelLayout: stereo order: AVChannelOrder(rawValue: 1) mask: 3
2025/08/06 12:56:44.461 (2814419) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] out channelLayout: stereo
2025/08/06 12:56:44.492 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] audio type: prepare audioFormat)
2025/08/06 12:56:44.493 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] set preferredOutputNumberOfChannels: 2
2025/08/06 12:56:44.493 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] outputFormat AudioFormat: <AVAudioFormat 0x12ea7abc0:  2 ch,  48000 Hz, Float32, deinterleaved>
2025/08/06 12:56:44.493 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] outputFormat channelLayout tag: 6619138, channelDescriptions: []
2025/08/06 12:56:44.494 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] new sourceNode inputFormat: <AVAudioFormat 0x12bcdc410:  2 ch,  48000 Hz, Float32, deinterleaved>
2025/08/06 12:56:44.507 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | playerStateDidChange - readyToPlay
2025/08/06 12:56:44.507 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | play
2025/08/06 12:56:44.507 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | playerStateDidChange - buffering
2025/08/06 12:56:44.507 (2812570) ➖ (private) | selectTrack 2
2025/08/06 12:56:44.508 (2812570) ➖ (private) | selectTrack subrip, 23bps(English)
2025/08/06 12:56:44.508 (2812570) ➖ (private) | selectTrack 1
2025/08/06 12:56:44.508 (2812570) ➖ (private) | selectTrack eac3 (Dolby Digital Plus + Dolby Atmos), s16, 48000Hz, 4.0, 1,5Mbps(English)
2025/08/06 12:56:44.509 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | play
2025/08/06 12:56:44.509 (2812570) ⚠️ (private) | playerStateDidChange - buffering
2025/08/06 12:56:44.520 (2814512) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] maximumOutputNumberOfChannels: 2, preferredOutputNumberOfChannels: 2, isSpatialAudioEnabled: true, isUseAudioRenderer: false 
2025/08/06 12:56:44.521 (2814512) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] currentRoute max channels: 2
2025/08/06 12:56:44.522 (2814512) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] outputNumberOfChannels: 2 output channelCount: 2
2025/08/06 12:56:44.522 (2814512) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] FFmpeg AVChannelLayout: stereo order: AVChannelOrder(rawValue: 1) mask: 3
2025/08/06 12:56:44.522 (2814512) ⚠️ (private) | [audio] out channelLayout: stereo
2025/08/06 12:56:44.522 (2814512) ⚠️ (private) | Decoder did Failed : Error Domain=ExperimentalPlayerErrorDomain Code=15 "SWR init failure." UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=SWR init failure., inChannel=4 channels (FL+FR+FC+SR), outChannel=stereo}

Mediainfo:

General
Unique ID : 289287077598467888124525307250861123368 (0xD9A2AA1E72F7EAF899501E0887F3A728)
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 10.7 GiB
Duration : 1 h 37 min
Overall bit rate : 15.8 Mb/s
Frame rate : 23.976 FPS
Writing application : mkvmerge v91.0 ('Signs') 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.4.5 + libmatroska v1.7.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings : CABAC / 5 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 5 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1 h 37 min
Bit rate : 14.3 Mb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 804 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.39:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.386
Stream size : 9.68 GiB (90%)
Writing library : x264 core 164 r3192+3 1ae89dd [Mod by Patman]
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=11 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.98:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=48 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=25 / lookahead_threads=4 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=8 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=250 / rc=crf / mbtree=0 / crf=14.6 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=62500 / vbv_bufsize=78125 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.35 / pb_ratio=1.25 / aq=3:0.80:1.00 / zones=667,1217,b=0.7/132682,139270,b=0.8/139271,139461,crf=20/139623,139655,crf=20
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Source : CAN Warner Bros. Blu-ray (2025)

Audio
ID : 2
Format : E-AC-3
Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus
Format profile : Blu-ray Disc
Format settings : Dolby Surround EX
Codec ID : A_EAC3
Duration : 1 h 37 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 1.04 GiB (10%)
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Source : CAN Warner Bros. Blu-ray (2025)
Dialog Normalization : -28 dB
compr : -0.28 dB
cmixlev : -3.0 dB
surmixlev : -3 dB
dmixmod : Lo/Ro
ltrtcmixlev : -3.0 dB
ltrtsurmixlev : -3.0 dB
lorocmixlev : -3.0 dB
lorosurmixlev : -3.0 dB
dialnorm_Average : -28 dB
dialnorm_Minimum : -28 dB
dialnorm_Maximum : -28 dB

From plex XML info: EAC3 7.1

<Stream id="11075" streamType="2" selected="1" default="1" codec="eac3" index="1" channels="8" bitrate="1536" language="English" languageTag="en" languageCode="eng" audioChannelLayout="7.1" requiredBandwidths="1535,1535,1535,1535,1535,1535,1535,1535" samplingRate="48000" displayTitle="English (EAC3 7.1)" extendedDisplayTitle="English (EAC3 7.1)"></Stream>
18

4 updates in (~2 months) since first report. We’re at 2025.23.0. This issue is still not yet fixed.

19

@BigWheel can you give us anything? Have you told anyone on the team about the issue? Can you give us anyone we can reach out to who would be responsible for fixing this sort of issue? I would just like to know what happened with my bug report after 2 months :downcast_face_with_sweat:

20

It is assigned to a dev but I don’t have an ETA among the many bugs they are looking into

2 Likes
21

Latest update: Version 2025.24.0.

5 updates in / 2 months 1 week since first report, issue is still there and hasn’t been fixed yet.

1 Like