Plex Media Server is a sophisticated media management program that takes your entire collection of movies, music, and still images and presents it in a slick and navigable package. It is officially stated that MP4 is supported by Plex. However, sometimes you will find it's unable to add MP4 files to Plex server or even Plex doesn't find/recognize the MP4 files. So what's the matter? If you're in such a situation, read on for details.
According to the official site, Plex media player supports all FFmpeg codecs like MPEG-2 video codec and DTS and AC3 audio codec. So if you want to play a video or an audio in Plex media player you must ensure that the video or audio codec is one from FFmpeg codecs. Take playing MP4 as an example, Plex media player can only play MP4 with the codec H.264 or MPEG-4. However, MP4 is a format container with different codecs and Plex can't detect some MP4 files with other codecs.
Luckily, there is a smarter way to get rid of the incompatibility issues quickly. Simply convert the MP4 files to MP4 or MKV files with codec H.264 or MPEG-4. Along with some help from third party program like EaseFab Video Converter, it can be done effortlessly.
Mpeg 2 Video Codec
Read More:Play MKV files via Plex | Rip DVD for Plex streaming | Get Blu-rays into Plex Server
This video app is professional on fast transcoding MP4 to Plex Media Server with H.264 or MPEG-4 MP4 format (the most compatible video format for Plex) without quality loss. In addition, it not only supports MP4 videos, but also handles various common video formats, like MXF. VOB, MOV, MKV, AVI, WMV .etc. For Mac users, EaseFab Video Converter Mac is also a helpful app to encode videos for further usage.
Simple steps to get Plex recognize, play and stream MP4 files
Step 1. Load original MP4 files
For example, if you download an application from Plex, fully uninstall the copy of the application, and then re-download the application from Plex, the new copy of the application will be associated with a different application identifier than the uninstalled copy of the application.
Click 'Add' button on the main interface to load your MP4 files to the program. Drag&Drop function is included. (Note: batch conversion is supported, so you can load more than one file to save time.)
Step 2. Select output format
Click 'Profile' (located below where your files are displayed) and select the format you want from the drop-down list. To convert MKV for Plex, just choose 'MP4' from 'Common Video' as the output format.
Tip: With the right settings you can retain the quality of the original MP4 file while also saving space. This is particularly helpful when streaming over your network, depending on your network quality. Simply click Settings bar and you can tweak the settings to your satisfaction and even save it as preset.
Step 3. Start MP4 to Plex Conversion
Finally, hit the 'Convert' button at the bottom of the main interface to start the conversion. It will automatically convert MP4 to Plex Media Server compatible video files
After the conversion, click 'Open' to quickly find the converted movies. Then, Plex will recognize, catalog, play and stream these MP4 files at ease.
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