HomePS4 Media Player not reading MP4 files on USB
I decided to try out the new media player, so I put some MP4 movies onto my USB stick to test it out. However, despite the MP4 files are being in supported formats, the PS4 doesn't seem to see any of the files. Do I need to set up my folder structure in a certain way? It seems to read the folders that are on my USB already, just not any of the individual files on them. By the way, the stick is formatted to ExFAT (tried it with FAT-32 earlier, same problem).
Fix PS4 Won't Play MP4 problem
When watching MP4 files stored on USB drive on PS4, you may come across the PS4 MP4 playback issues listed below.
1. PS4 can't read the USB drive
Solution: Make sure your USB storage devices are in FAT and exFAT formats. PS4 doesn't recognize NTFS which means you can't play videos larger than 4GB. So reduce video size or split videos if need be, meanwhile, you have to convert NTFS to FAT32 or exFAT.
2. PS4 Media Player Not Reading any Files on USB
Solution: Create a folder and place all your videos into it when using a USB storage device so that your PS4 system can recognize and read them, otherwise you won't see anything. No specific folder name required for videos, but audio needs to be in a folder named "Music".
3. Can't play MP4 on PS4
Solution: Definitely, your MP4 can play smoothly if it's the right codec compatible with PS4. If not, you need to transcode to a supported one with PS4 video converter. Then you can play MP4 on PS4.
Only MP4 files meet the following standard can be successfully played on PS4:
- Video: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High Profile Level4.2
- Audio: AAC LC, AC-3 (Dolby Digital)
Play unsupported MP4 files on PS4
To play MP4 encoded with incompatible codec on PS4 from USB, you will need to convert MP4 to PS4 readable video and audio format. Here is a workable and simple solution in hand called Pavtube Video Converter for Windows/Mac, the program has enhanced compatiblity with MP4 files compressed with various different video and audio codec listed as below:
Video codec: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (A)SP, H.264/MPEG-4, H.265/HEVC, VC-1/WMV, Real Video, Theora, Microsoft MPEG4 V2, VP8, MVC
Audio codec: MP3, WMA, AAC, AC-3, DTS,ALAC, DTS-HD
You can easily convert MP4 to PS4 compatible H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High Profile Level 4.2 video codec and AAC LC or AC3 audio codec. If the MP4 video is larger than 4GB, you can compress it with the program in the following ways:
Shorten video length with no quality loss:
- Trim or cut video to remove unwanted parts or segments
- Split large video into small parts by file count, length or size
Compress video file size (Please make a balance between file size and quality)
- Output a file format with better quality and small file size such as WMV
- Lower the output video resolution
- Lower the bit rate 20-50% of the default to get small files
- Lower the frame rate of the video to 15 or 10 fps can reduce the file size by as much as 1/2 or 2/3
Apart from PS4, you can also use the program to convert other unsupported file formats such as AVI, WMV, MKV, FLV, MOV, VOB, H.265, AVCHD, XAVC, XAVC S, etc on PS4 from USB drive.
How to Convert and Compress MP4 Files for PS4 Playback from USB Drive?
Step 1: Load MP4 files into the program.
Install and launch the program on your computer, click "File" > "Add Video/Audio" or "Add from Folder" to load unsupported MP4 files into the program.
Step 2: Specify output file format.
Click "Format", from its drop-down option, choose PS4 supported MP4 video codec from "Common Video" > "H.264 High Profile Video(*.mp4)" to output.
Step 3: Adjust output audio codec.
Click "Settings" on the main interface to open the "Profile Settings" window, click "audio codec" drop-down list and select "AAC" or "AC3" as the compatible audio codec for PS4 playback.
Step 4: Trim or split video to shorten video length.
Trim to shorten video length
Open "Video Editor" window and switch to the "Trim" tab, you can drag the slider bars to include the segment you want to remain, click the left square bracket to set start point, and click the right square bracket to set end point when previewing the video or directly input specific values to "Start" and "End" box.
Split video into several small pieces
By clicking the Split button on file list, or from Edit menu, you can launch the Video Split window. Ticking Enable to enable it, and then you can split the file by file count, time length, or file size.
Step 5: Compress video file size.
Click "Settings" to open "Profile Settings" window, you can change video resolution to a suitable file size. 640 x 480 is more preferable by many portable devices such as iPhone, iPad, Android phone and tablet, lower the bit rate 20-50% of the default to get small files or lower the frame rate to 15 or 10 fps.
Step 6: Begin the conversion process.
Go back to the main interface, click right-bottom "Convert" button to begin the conversion from MP4 to PS4 supported file formats conversion process.
When the conversion is completed, click "Open Output Folder" to pop out the folder with converted files, then you can easily transfer and play converted files on PS4 via an external USB drive.
You can also play MP4 files on PS4 via Plex Media Server or DLNA Server.
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