# MP4 Error 2041



## wdf123 (May 29, 2006)

Hi, wondering if anyone can help me.
I have some video MP4 quick time files I have tried to play but when I try and open them I get the message:

Error -2041 an invalid sample description was found in the movie.

Does anyone know howto resolve this?

Many thanks in advance.


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## blah789 (Aug 25, 2008)

Not sure about the specific error. I've found some MP4 files which couldn't play in QuickTime, but which would play in VLC Media Player (http://www.videolan.org - very clean install, should you choose to remove it later, it doesn't leave residues or junk on your system), so I'd suggest you try that first.
I would guess they're created by programs that may not make standards-compliant MP4 files (or with features specifically unsupported by QuickTime Player).


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## wdf123 (May 29, 2006)

I tried VLC but I got no sound or puicture.


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## deleted010511 (Apr 29, 2009)

Try converting the file to an AVI, or MPEG. It sound like the file is corrupted.


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## blah789 (Aug 25, 2008)

I googled a bit and looked here
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1089403&tstart=0
It seems renaming the extension to 3gp works for some people.
uncheck the box "hide file extensions for known file types" in folder options to see the extension

addendum: i've seen a lot of cell phone movies which are actually 3gp files renamed as mp4. it's a very bad practice, as it leads to the problem you're seeing. it's done for marketing reasons, to say the cell phone can take "mpeg-4 video". this may be partially true, as the 3gp container can have the video stream in MPEG-4, but the container itself (file format) is 3gp, not mp4.


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## wdf123 (May 29, 2006)

I have changed the file extension to 3gp but now get the message:
error 8971: an unknown error has occurred


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## blah789 (Aug 25, 2008)

One suggestion here
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=138445&page=6
is to rename it to m4v. QuickTime is dumb and goes by file extensions rather than contents. Perhaps m4v will make it ignore the audio stream?
If all else fails, I guess try converters. I'd say try yamb first and see if you can demux (demultiplex - that's a big word for separating the audio and video streams) the mp4. If you try yamb (still in beta, so buggy, but freeware), save your start menu should you wish to uninstall it. To be exact save the folder
C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Start Menu
It trashed mine when I tried to uninstall it (pretty annoying bug).


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