This video has no sound

[Anne O'Day]

Sound or Audio Troubleshooting assistance needed. One of our coworkers has created videos using Adobe Premiere Pro then uploaded to Stream on SharePoint Online. While hosted on SharePoint Online, the video has no sound. When playing the video I can hover over the speaker control icon, and the tip balloon will say "This video has no sound." A visitor can then download the video from Stream, and it will play just fine with audio in Windows Media Player. The behavior is the same across different desktop browsers, Stream mobile app, and same when uploaded to a dev tenant.

I went on a hunt to learn more about video creation and posting and landed on this article.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/video-formats-you-can-play-on-the-onedrive-website-07c008...

Based on that information, the owner re-produced the video with a lower bitrate and that didn't help.

Here are the specs on the file:
Dimensions 1920x1080
Codecs MPEG-4 AAC, H.264
Color Profile HD(1-1-1)
Duration 05:34
Audio Channels Stereo

I'm told this isn't the first time it's happened, only the most recent. Any guidance on how best to resolve?

[#2]

@Anne O'Day I am having the same issue. Currently I am working on group of 7 videos in 4 languages (28 total). Some will have this audio issue, some won't. There is no telling why this happens. Most of them even use the same audio track since they are instructional.

[#3]

Thank you! This is helpful, because I'm being told the same thing that many are all very similar and yet seemingly randomly one will have a problem.

[#4]

It's been a few weeks, and there's still been no resolution with our ticket opened with Microsoft. The one thing that I found for anyone reading this may be interested in knowing ... the problem appears to be with the new Stream player specifically.

If a person navigates to the Document Library hosting the file and goes to the trouble of assembling the archaic version of a URL for that file, then the file can be opened in the Browser directly, without the new Stream Player.

So here are the types of URLs you get if you use the spiffy "Copy Link" or "Share Link", in the new world of SharePoint Online. These will display a Microsoft Stream player to play the video and sound won't work.
https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/marketing/Shared%20Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx?FolderCTID=GUI...

https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/marketing/_layouts/15/stream.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2Fmarketing%2FSha...

But if you know SharePoint well enough to build out the path complete with its %20's and such, but leaving out the extra stuff, then opening the file this way will open it directly in the browser. In this manner, I can get the "no sound" videos to play with sound.

Sound should work:
https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/marketing/Shared%20Documents/filename.mp3

[#5]

@Anne O'Day I just wanted to start a new post about this very issue, but I'll chime in here.

Thanks for the workaround! However, depending on which Browser is being used, the direct links will trigger a file download. Already happened to one of our users ...

My own learning after having migrated from Stream (classic) to Stream (on Sharepoint): None of the mkv containers play sound (whatever the specific codecs), all MP4 videos do. Converting the videos sticking to the "tips for the best video playback experience" for files on OneDrive (see Video formats you can play on the OneDrive website - Microsoft Support) fixes the issue.

Obviously, this is no large-scale workaround either. So, let's hope for some improvements to the new player. So far, the road to the new, improved Stream has been a bumpy one ...

[#6]

My org is seeing this on some videos as well. Fortunately, just a very small number of videos so far. I reported the issue to Microsoft today and will be testing the conversion to *.mp4 workaround that was suggested here. If I receive any info from Microsoft on a more permanent fix I'll let you all know.

[#7]

Once again, this is Microsoft not taking the time to check the work before rolling out a product. Deadlines mean more than ensuring the functionality of the product.

This is a new addition to the increasing number of things that don't work once Microsoft 'Improve' a product. The recent advisory to move away from Stream and use Sharepoint for video sharing saw the loss of the ability to link videos in Powerpoint. Despite growing frustration from users that rely on this for training and Education, nothing has been done.

So, I continue to ask... What on Earth are Microsoft doing apart from drowning in cash?

Microsoft, PLEASE stop concerning yourselves with deadlines and concentrate on ensuring functionality is AT LEAST as good as before the 'improvement'.

[#8]

@ITHelpdesk140 

Any news on this?

I have hundreds of mkv files in classic no with no sound. A rayher big issue...

[#9 · Accepted solution]

Yes. We opened a ticket for the problem, and Microsoft was able to provide a resolution for us. I don't know whether they did something to apply just to our tenant or might apply for all.

As part of the solution, we were asked to re-upload the videos after they made some change somewhere. (Meaning when I opened this thread back in in May 2023, re-uploading or uploading to different places never helped. But after they made a change and asked us to re-upload, the audio definitely did start working. For some videos, the only copies we had were in SharePoint, so downloading then re-uploading did also work.)

I don't know if that will be helpful or not - I was reluctant to update the thread since I didn't know if it was a fix just for us or more globally. I'd suggest you try a few files and see if re-upload helps. If not, then open a ticket for sure.  

[#10]

I just uploaded an original MP4 file, filmed with my Samsung Note 10+, and it has no audio.
So converting to MP4 is not a guaranteed solution... :(

[#11]

I should be more specific: MP4 just being the container, what seems to be the actual problem is the audio codec used, as the video just plays fine. My problematic files seem to use AC3 (Mediainfo is a useful tool to check this out), which is not supported by the new improved video player (as per the link posted above). If I stick to codecs recommended in the tip box when I recode the files with Handbrake, the play just fine. Still a hassle.

What's also gonna be a hassle is downloading and then re-uploading the files if MS support actually can fix the issue upon request (as described by @Anne O'Day above). I've yet to do this.

[#12]

"A hassle" seems like a very diplomatic expression...
My video, directly from the Galaxy Note 10, uses the AAC-LC audio codec. There is no way to change that in the phone.
The video bitrate is unnecessarily high at 31 Mb/s, but again, that is what the phone delivers.
Publishing a player (Stream) incapable of handling videos directly from cell phones is not very impressive. Compare it with VLC; that player can handle just about anything you throw at it!
And you're right: MediaInfo really is an essential tool when working with media!

[#13]

You're right, @Hakan_Sjorling. I suppose outrage is inevitably followed by surrender. This forced switchover to a way less versatile player that is embedded in all MS products has created a host of further issues I'm struggling with (e. g. MP3s can't be streamed from OneDrive to Apple TVs anymore).

Well, I'll hand in a ticket and let you know if there's anything in the making.

[#14]

Just throwing my hat into the ring as we're experiencing the same issue. Users have reported the video having sound previously but now they don't. They work upon downloading them, also re-encoding the video in Handbrake and re-uploading it seems to fix the issue.

[#15]

@Neven Wenger Thanks for sharing the input on your experience, Neven. Audio and video codecs outside of the list documented at the following link are unsupported and result in either no audio or video - see Video formats you can play on the OneDrive website - Microsoft Support

Our team recognizes there's an existing gap in codec support and are working to ensure parity with Classic Stream which supported some of the codecs mentioned on this thread (e.g. Dolby AC3). I don't have an ETA to share yet, but we are aware of this problem and working to provide a solution.

[#16]

Anne, if possible, would you mind sharing a sample video that is not working (direct message or including it in the support ticket)? According to the video metadata shared above, this video should playback.

[#17]

@Dwyane George 

One example from me with no sound: Apokalypse Hitler 1_2-20200528_114524.mkv

[#18]

Our ticket was resolved in August. There were so many that were not working, more than a dozen. We were advised that something was fixed on the back-end, so we downloaded them and re-uploaded, which did in fact resolve the problem for at least 9 that I tried personally, and the video owner said she fixed the others. So at this point, I'm not sure I could share a sample any longer because we "fixed" them by re-uploading. Cheers!
(Happy to send you the ticket info if you'd like it.)

[#19]

Thanks for keeping us posted! Glad to hear it! I haven't encountered additional files with this behavior after the 2-3 we found in July, but we have a number of teams that still have content in on-prem shared drives that need to be moved eventually, so I was anticipating we'd bump into it again at some point. Hopefully, whatever was done to resolve this will keep us in the clear.