[vlc-devel] Regression in VLC version 3.0.1 - raw ".h264" video files do not play properly

[Ross Finlayson]

I have discovered that raw H.264 (“.h264”) video files that play OK in VLC 2.2.8, no longer play properly in VLC 3.0.1 (and the most recent 4.0 build).  Sometimes the files play jerkily; sometimes they don’t play at all.  (I am on a 2017 MacBook Pro,  running Mac OS 10.13.3)

Examples:

The file
	http://www.live555.com/tmp/does_not_play_in_vlc_3_0_1.h264
does not play at all in VLC 3.0.1, but plays OK in VLC 2.2.8

The file
	http://www.live555.com/tmp/jerky_in-vlc_3_0_1.h264
plays jerkily in VLC 3.0.1, but plays OK in VLC 2.2.8

Note that this problem applies only to *raw* H.264 video files: Those that contain only a sequence of H.264 NAL units, each prepended by a 4-byte ‘0x00 0x00 0x00 0x01’ MPEG ‘start code’.  If I convert these raw files to “.mp4” files (using “ffmpeg -c copy”), then the resulting “.mp4” files will play OK in VLC 3.0.1


Ross Finlayson
Live Networks, Inc.
http://www.live555.com/