VP9 codec support on iOS devices
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Is vp9 codec supposed to be supported in the iOS version? Specifically in an .mp4 file uploaded as a custom episode via “Files”. I have tested a file that plays fine in the web (Win11) and Android app. The same file played in the iOS app (iPad Air 2) only plays sound.
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Hello @yeahwhatevz!
Pocket Casts uses Apple’s built-in video/audio playback engine on iOS and the VP9 codec isn’t currently supported by that framework. So until this is something that Apple adds support for, we’re not able to support playback of this codec on iOS.
There does appear to be some evidence that Apple has allowed for VP9 decoding in the YouTube app a few years ago, but that seems to be a special case just for that app. However, that could be an indication that Apple may be adding support for it more broadly in the future.
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Hi,
VP9 (in WebM container) videos are playable in recent macOS versions but not in iOS versions. I guess macOS and iOS versions share the same video/audio playback engine, so iOS version could support VP9 also.
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Hi @npppp
You’re right that VP9 playback works on the macOS version of Pocket Casts. However, the reason it doesn’t work on iOS is due to a difference in how Apple exposes codec support across its platforms. On macOS, VP9 decoding is available to third-party apps through Apple’s media frameworks, but on iOS, Apple currently does not make VP9 decoding available to apps like Pocket Casts.
Since Pocket Casts relies on Apple’s built-in playback engine on iOS, we’re limited to the codecs that Apple supports on that platform. Unfortunately, this means VP9 video won’t play on the iOS version until Apple decides to enable that support.
For video podcasts or custom files that need to work across all platforms, we’d recommend using the H.264 codec, which is universally supported on iOS, Android, web, and macOS.
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