MP4 Problems? MP4 Is NOT a Codec!

[R Neil Haugen]

Mp4 is NOT a codec. It is a wrapper ... a container ... which can hold many different codecs!

This is why most of the volunteers here immediately request that you provide a screengrab from the free utility app MediaInfo Tree View so we can see what's actually in that "mp4" file.

And every camera and app creating them, allows for different options and details to the file structure. Besides using who know's what codec. This is why Premiere struggles to understand them at times.

And why sometimes even seemingly "simple" things like renaming can help Premiere properly understand that file's structure.

[neil wilkes]

Well said, Sir.

It's just like Quicktime (.mov) and AVI in this respect as well. None of these are codecs, none at all - and it is important too, but for me perhaps the biggest surprise is that we have to keep pointing this out - I have been doing this for decades now, and people are if anything even more ignorant today than they were back when we were having exactly the same discussion about why certain AVI files could not be opened in Encore!

It's staggering to me that given how spoiled people are with access to information these days that in general they appear to be even more ignorant. I blame 'social' media, as it appears that these days it is just assumed that if it's important someone will post it on Facebook, or some other appalling, dysfunctional garbage software.

Aargh.

Rant over

[R Neil Haugen]

I defininitely agree that the ignorance level today is higher. And that is with if being easier than ever to find free information on this stuff!