AC3 Support for VLC iOS?

[thel1zardking]

I am having difficulty getting audio from videos that are AC3 encoded. While VLC was out of the App store I was used a App called It's Playing and they had to remove AC3/MLP/EAC3 codecs from their software for legal reasons but released a helper app to circumvent the issue and restore functionality. Is this a similar issue for VLC 2.0.1 for iOS? I was really hoping this wouldn't be an issue with VLC since it is a free app. Any information on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

[Ruffa-Duffa]

I have been able to run a 720p mkv with AC3 audio without a hitch.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

I am having difficulty getting audio from videos that are AC3 encoded. While VLC was out of the App store I was used a App called It's Playing and they had to remove AC3/MLP/EAC3 codecs from their software for legal reasons but released a helper app to circumvent the issue and restore functionality. Is this a similar issue for VLC 2.0.1 for iOS? I was really hoping this wouldn't be an issue with VLC since it is a free app. Any information on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

Change your timezone to Canada.

[thel1zardking]

Change your timezone to Canada.

I cannot confirm nor deny this finctionality as I live in the Unites States.

That being said will US users ever have similar functionality natively?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

That being said will US users ever have similar functionality natively?

Without any interaction from them, no.

[yairmarx]

sorry, i am a bit slow. I too dont get any sounds from an mkv file, i live in USA, does this mean I wont be able to play my mkv files?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

sorry, i am a bit slow. I too dont get any sounds from an mkv file, i live in USA, does this mean I wont be able to play my mkv files?

https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... ad#p380789

[martymcfly]

I tried a few .mkv files with both AAC and AC3 audio tracks. Video worked great, but neither audio track would play.

Does AAC have the same restrictions as AC3?

Both audio tracks worked for my Canadian friends.

m

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Move to canada And no restriction for AAC.

[martymcfly]

Should the AAC track play for me then? Do I need to remove the AC3 track?

Thanks for all your work - VLC is awesome.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Both should work

[cooterbrown]

Change your timezone to Canada.

any chance the time zone selection could reside in the app settings instead using the phone's time zone?

[cousintim]

I am Canadian! Thanks for the tip.

[amkaplan]

This really does cure the problem. I switched to Vancouver, and then had to clear my Settings and VLC apps from multitasking bar, and voila!

Allan

[Paradox9]

Well this is absolutely ridiculous. Why do I have to change my device's timezone to get audio playback? If I recorded the video, authored the file, and live in the USA, why would It not be allowed for me to hear the audio?

[fkuehne]

Well this is absolutely ridiculous. Why do I have to change my device's timezone to get audio playback? If I recorded the video, authored the file, and live in the USA, why would It not be allowed for me to hear the audio?

Frankly speaking, this is a question you should ask your local government representative…

[chaos2oo2]

wtf? What about germany? Can I switch back the time zone afterwards? Omg...I can not move to canada!!!!!

[Paradox9]

Well this is absolutely ridiculous. Why do I have to change my device's timezone to get audio playback? If I recorded the video, authored the file, and live in the USA, why would It not be allowed for me to hear the audio?

Frankly speaking, this is a question you should ask your local government representative…

Why is this not an issue with the PC and Mac versions of VLC?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Because we distribute from France.

[jjosh_h]

I've had the same problem with no sound. Except, it isn't on all MKV files.

The smaller files, such as old tv episodes on the magnitude of a few hundred MBs play fine. Although, anything above a GB or so seems to start having problems.

I had an iPad 3. The smaller videos would some times play without sound. Although, if I fast forward it would get sound then I'd rewind and it would work. That never worked for the larger files.

Now, I have an iPad Air (5). Its significantly faster. I am not having any problems with sound on the smaller files, but still no sound on larger files. Also, when I was on the iPad, the larger files would be slow, difficult to load through fast forwarding and what not but now it flows and loads fine just without sound.

All that leads me to conclude that it has something to do with the file size. I don't know why, and I don't know how to fix it. So tell me, how do I fix it?

[fkuehne]

We will fix "no audio when playback starts" and "audio drops for a while after seeking" in the next update. Fixes are already, just waiting for other parts of the app to be done so we can submit the update to the store.

[brizone]

So just to confirm, that fix works like a charm.

For those still too obtuse to grasp Jean-Baptiste's drift: It's a licensing problem, dummies. Tell your device that you're not in the USA, and it'll work fine.

If you still want to complain, don't do it here...

[willowiska]

OK, I seriously thought the posts above were a joke. I had some files playing sound and others not. Even though they were all the same filetype. However, I changed my timezone to Montreal, Canada in Settings > General > Date and Time, then force quit the VLC app, launched it again, and the file that moments ago would not play sound, played it just fine.

Amazing! Thank you all.

[ckimble]

I have tried telling my iPad I’m in Canada, force quitting all apps, turning the iPad off and back on again, and I am still unable to get any sound on either of the mkv files I can play and hear fine on vlc for my laptop. Is there a new solution to this problem, since it’s been five years?

Thanks for any guidance anyone can offer.

United States of disappointment