Fix GoPro Video Won't Play on Computer (Windows 10/11)

“I have a GoPro 8 black edition. The footage is all MP4. Apparently, Windows 10 does not support viewing MP4 files? How can I look at my footage on my computer?”

You probably wonder why your computer won’t play your GoPro MP4 files, as all other MP4s play just fine. The truth is, the MP4 container is not the issue, but the resolution and the codec are. You probably have shot your GoPro videos in 4K resolution. And GoPro would use HEVC codec to encode your video when shooting in high resolution and high frame rate (See this article https://community.gopro.com/s/article/hevc?language=en_US). However, your computer’s hardware isn’t powerful enough to support 4K resolution, and all Windows systems don’t have an HEVC decoder. Naturally, you can’t play GoPro on the computer properly.

You can check your GoPro video codec and run the Windows Video Playback Troubleshooter (go to steps in #part 2) and see if your computer comes with support for 4K and HEVC. If the cause is confirmed, you can read on to see the corresponding fixes in the next part.

Quick tips to find the cause of your failed GoPro playback:

1. HEVC codec issue: GoPro video only plays audio; GoPro MP4 has no video.

2. 4K resolution issue: GoPro video choppy; GoPro videos skipping.

* Here are the methods to help fix your GoPro video issues on Windows.

• On Windows 10, go to the “Start” menu and open “Settings”.
• Next, navigate to “Update & Security.”
• Find “Troubleshoot” > “Video Playback”, and then run the troubleshooter.
• Choose “I want to continue with this troubleshooter.”
• Click “Next” on all dialogs until the troubleshooting is complete.
• Now, you can see the problems found. Click “View detailed information” to get the recommended solutions to the detected issues.

Tips. You can install the HEVC codec from the Microsoft Store for $0.99 to fix the GoPro HEVC codec issue. But this codec only works on your Windows 10/11 device. If you want to play your GoPro videos on any device without a codec problem, you are advised to change the codec instead. The next solution will show you the how-to.

On the other hand, the 4K playback is a hardware issue and cannot be tackled normally. You can either upgrade your computer or convert 4K to a lower resolution to fix the issue. Jump to #Solution 4 to learn more details.

H264 is a video codec compatible with mass devices, including most PCs, smart TVs, iPhones, iPad, Android, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, etc. You can easily fix the GoPro HEVC codec issue by converting HEVC (H265) to H264.

WonderFox HD Video Converter Factory Pro is a professional video converter that will help you convert HEVC videos to H264 without compromising the video quality. Moreover, it provides options to change video resolution, bitrate, frame rate, etc. The conversion is easy and fast (hardware acceleration available). Here is a simple workflow of the software to change the HEVC codec for your GoPro files.

Free download the GoPro video converter before you start.

Step 1. Open HD Video Converter Factory Pro on your PC and enter the “Converter” module.

Step 2. Import or drag your GoPro HEVC videos into the converter.

Step 3. Click the right-side format image to open the output format list. Next, go to the “Video” category and choose H264 as the output profile.

Optional. If needed, you can change the resolution to 1080P in the “Quick setting”.

Step 4. Finally, click “Run” to start the conversion. The converted files should have no problem playing on your Windows media player.

Tips. Adjusting the high bitrate and high frame rate of your GoPro videos to lower values is also a good way to reduce GoPro file size and play GoPro videos on low-end devices smoothly. Download Download the video conversion software to try modifying these parameters.

If you don’t mind a different media player, you can find an HEVC player to play the HEVC videos, which is the easiest way to solve the GoPro HEVC playback problem. VLC Media Player and PotPlayer are two of the most popular and reliable HEVC video players available for Windows. You can get them on their official websites.

Note that the 4K videos will still stutter in these HEVC players because your computer’s hardware does not support 4K.

If you can’t watch GoPro 4K videos on your computer, you can upgrade your PC if it is within your budget. You should check the minimum system requirements when choosing a new system. Otherwise, you will need to convert the GoPro 4K videos to 1080P to fix the issue. You can use the HD Video Converter in Solution 2 to convert your GoPro 4K to a lower resolution. And here are the simple steps.

Step 1. Run HD Video Converter. [Quick Download Quick Download]

Step 2. Open “Converter” and add the 4K videos to the conversion list.

Step 3. Navigate to the “Quick setting” on the lower-right of the program and drag the slider to point to a lower resolution.

Step 4. Hit “Run” to start the resolution conversion.

Tips. If you need to change the video format, you can click on the format icon to change it to your wanted profile. You can also edit the parameters in the “Parameter settings” below.

If your GoPro videos play slow on a computer or choppy on a laptop, it might due to the high resolution or high frame rate that your computer cannot work well with. The best fix is to reduce the resolution and frame rate of your GoPro videos to a level your computer support. Yet, in doing that, you will lose some video quality inevitably.

GoPro produced an official GoPro Player that allows you to play 5.3K, 4K, custom videos, as well as HEVC, H.264, Apple ProRes, and CineForm on Windows 10 or later. But it requires your graphics card to support HEVC decoding.

In this article, we’ve provided four solutions to help with your GoPro playback issue on your computer. But besides these methods, you might also need to free up RAM to play GoPro videos on your PC and other devices since they are usually resource-intensive. We hope these advice above can solve your problem.

That’s all we want to share about how to fix the GoPro video won’t play on computer. Thanks for reading till the end. Have a nice day!