Fix ‘Can’t play video file’ error Android.

Fix 'can't play video' or 'video file cannot play' error message in Android for video playback and for online streaming like YouTube and for facebook.

You might have encountered many times a message saying “Can’t play video” or “Sorry, this file cannot be played” while trying to play a video in a player or even during online streaming. Today after searching on lot of forums and Q&A sites I have come up with the potential solutions to fix the problem of unable to play video on Android.

  • For video playback problem in video player or WhatsApp videos you can try to uninstall Google Plus updates.

Go to Settings>Apps/Application manager>Google Plus app>Uninstall Updates.

There is a weird relation between video playing and G+ app, most probably the G+ updates modify some system files causing the problem. Check for video file format and make sure it is with •(dot) extension.

  • For YouTube streaming a simple reboot should get it working again, you can also check for network connectivity.

Clearing cache can also resolve the problem. Go to Setting>App manager>YouTube>Clear Cache. You can also uninstall the Twitter app, reboot device and check for YouTube.

For other streaming services like from Facebook make sure you have not enabled video playing only when connected to wifi.

  • For Android Lollipop and above users, if video playback and/or online streaming services like YouTube are causing issues. You can try this potential method, Go to Setting>About phone, tap 7 times on Build version to unlock developers option in settingScroll down in developers option until you see entry under media called Use AwesomePlayer (deprecated) and enable it. If it previously enabled disable it, reboot your device to check for the fix.

You can also uninstall the G+ updates for the video playback fix.

Read: Download Paid Android Apps for free (SAFE)

Note: This fixes should help in video playbacks and online streaming. If you are facing any issue please comment below.

If you've any thoughts on Fix ‘Can’t play video file’ error Android., then feel free to drop in below comment box. Also, please subscribe to our DigitBin YouTube channel for videos tutorials. Cheers!

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Nikhil Azza
Nikhil is a Tech Blogger who sometimes loves to write real-life lore. He has been writing content for the past 8 years, with over 1K+ articles written on Android, Mac, iOS, Social Media, Cloud Storage, Software, and General Tech. Know More

12 Responses

  1. Jason Ciehoski says:

    I have movie hd on my s5..was working fine and now..all I get is can’t play video?wth..I tried unis tallinn Google updates still didn’t work…can someone please help…thanks

  2. Gabriel says:

    Jason ciehosko
    Same here bro !!

  3. Margaret Caughie says:

    Megabox says can’t play video. Tried everything, help please.

  4. Margaret Caughie says:

    Still not working help please

  5. Margaret Caughie says:

    Still can’t play video on my tablet, I don’t keep well and as an old lady l am housebound and look forward to these films. Can you help please.

  6. Odin says:

    Does anyone know any app please

  7. Venkatesan says:

    Sun next app play back error. Uninstall and re install this but same problem.

  8. Vladimir says:

    When I play a video on YouTube it just stops at the beginning and it won’t go any further. If I clear cache, it will play, but the video will turn black, so I can only hear video, but I can’t see it. But it’s not just YouTube, any videos on any other app, the videos that I filmed with my phone, literally any video can’t play. Just a message pops up saying “Error. Can’t play this video.” The only solution I found was to reset the phone. Then I can play videos for a few hours, and then I have to reset it again. I don’t want to reset my phone every time I want to watch videos, so I need help. I’m using ZTE Blade A512 (Android 6.0.1), please help me if you can!!!!

  9. Roger says:

    Hey guys.
    Moviehd is no longer available. Its been shut down for good. Any site that says it will fix it is bogus. All they want you to do is downloading apps that will infect your phone, table or computer.

  10. Sayz says:

    My android won’t play any videos at all, not in my gallery, Instagram, or on YouTube. I totally deleted my Google + out of frustration, & hv cleared cache for YouTube. Could someone please tell me what to do? Thanks?

  11. Jim says:

    Does anyone have a problem with Firestick Freeflix app on downloads to ES File Explorer? A message comes up: “Media error. Sorry, cannot play this video”?

  12. Johnathan says:

    I hv recorded a few nice memories video using a dashcam. But when transfer that sdcard to preview into my android and computer, it won’t play at all. So many player I tried to such us VLC, Real Player, GOM, Wmedia player even classic media player and several player, it’s failed.

    I’m really sad because that video is my family went for vacation at overseas..

    For admin information, my sdcard is new and capacity is 128gb. I hv check the details every single video was recorded, there hv name of recorded, date and duration time of recorded, and format in “.avi”…

    Why this happen?
    How to solve it?
    Please help/ guide me out of this problem.

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