Error Message: Cannot Play Back the Video Stream... (156286)

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to play a video movie file with ActiveMovie or Media Player, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

You are unable to hear the audio while playing a movie.
You are unable to see the video while playing a video.

Also, you may receive any of the following error messages:

Cannot play back the video stream: no suitable decompressor could be found.

Unable to download an appropriate decompressor.

If you click Details on the second error message, you receive the following additional error message:

Error=80040200

If ActiveMovie or Media Player can play at least one of the streams, such as audio or video, you do not receive an error message. You may, however, see the word Warning next to the time index within the ActiveMovie or Media Player window. Moving your mouse pointer over the Warning message displays additional error messages in the form of a Windows ToolTip, such as:

Some of the streams in this movie are in an unsupported format.

Cannot play back the video stream: no suitable decompressor could be found.

CAUSE

These issues can occur due to any of the following reasons:

The audio stream is not supported.
You try to play a movie that contains audio and video that are both in unsupported formats, such as trying to play a file with a .mov file extension that was originally created on an Apple Macintosh-based computer. The Apple Macintosh-based computer has video and audio codecs that are not supported by ActiveMovie or Media Player.
Video compression is not installed.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, use the appropriate method:

Do Not Try to View Unsupported Audio or Video Formats

If the file you are trying to view is unsupported by the tool you are using, obtain and install a viewing utility that supports this file type.

Install Video Compression

If video compression is not installed on your computer, your video functionality may be limited, and you should install video compression:

Windows 98/95-Based Computer

Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then click Add/Remove Programs.
On the Windows Setup tab, click Multimedia, and then click Details.
Click to select the Video Compression check box, click OK, and then click OK.

Windows NT-Based Computer

Obtain and install a third-party viewer.

MORE INFORMATION

The most common video streams that are not supported by ActiveMovie or Media Player are Apple Video RPZA compression, and Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG). A third-party movie viewer, such as the 32-bit QuickTime for Windows movie viewer version 2.1.1.57 or later, may be able to view these files.

The most common audio stream that is not supported by ActiveMovie is Interactive Multimedia Association (IMA). A third-party movie viewer may be able to play these files.

By default, Windows 98 Setup does not install audio codecs under the following circumstances:

Windows 98 Setup does not detect a sound card.
You install Windows 98 using the Compact installation option.

For additional information about troubleshooting these issues, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

234019 Windows Media Player Invalid File Format Error Message

230687 Unable to Download an Appropriate Decompressor

For additional information about troubleshooting Windows Media Player 7 error messages, please view the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=886273

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.