How to Play MP4 Files on Xbox One from USB/PC?

"I'm trying to play a MP4 movie on Xbox One. So what I tried to do is putting the video on this 64GB USB then plugging it into the Xbox One. Right when I plug it in, it identifies it and says 'external storage ready to launch'. So I open it and it just says "Error 0xc00d36c4". The media player can't play MP4 files on USB? How can I play MP4 on Xbox One?"

Support of streaming media has been added on Xbox One for a long time, even 4K streaming is available now for new Xbox One X. And of course, Xbox One allows you to play movies and music from USB flash drive, computer, or wirelessly through local network, as long as you have installed Xbox media player app. So there is no doubt that you can play MP4 files on Xbox One, which after all is known for wide compatibility. However, not all MP4 files are compatible with Xbox One. So, this guide will help solve Xbox One not playing MP4 error and teach how to play MP4 files on Xbox One step by step.

Part 1. Why Xbox One Won't Open MP4 Videos?

According to the official Xbox support page, if there pops a message of error 0xc00d36c4, it possibly means Xbox One doesn't support the video format. On the other hand, you need to know that .mp4 is only a file extension for MP4 container. Whether your MP4 video can be played on Xbox One or not is decided by the video codec format instead of the file extension. So you should know first what video formats with .mp4 extension are supported by Xbox One. Check the supported formats below:

• Xbox One supported video formats: .asf, .mkv, .mov, 3GP, 3GP2, AVI DivX, DV AVI, AVI uncompressed, AVI Xvid, M-JPEG, MPEG-PS, MPEG-2 MPEG-2 HD, MPEG-2 TS, H.264 AVCHD, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, MPEG-4 SP, WMV, WMV HD
• What video formats can be contained in MP4: HEVC/MPEG-H Part 2/H.265, MPEG-2 Part 2, MPEG-4 ASP, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, H.263, VC-1, Dirac, others

As you can see, only videos in H.264 or MPEG-4 ASP codec contained in MP4 can be played correctly on Xbox One. If you have some MP4 videos encoded in other codecs that Xbox One cannot read, you will possibly run into video playback issue. So, you need to transcode your MP4 to Xbox One supported formats first.

Part 2. How to Solve Xbox One Won't Play MP4 Error?

As mentioned above, you need to convert video to MP4 (H.264) or any other Xbox One supported video formats with a video converter. Winxvideo AI is a known video converter program, with which you can easily convert videos directly to Xbox One preset or change video into file formats compatible with Xbox One.

To avoid video playing compatibility issues on Xbox One or any other devices, you can follow the steps to convert video to MP4 (H.264) for playing on Xbox One, or convert videos to AVI to play on Windows PC, MOV for iPhone, iPad, iTunes, video to 4K MKV/MP4 for playing on UHD TV, etc.

Step 1. Get Winxvideo AI.

Download Winxvideo AI for Windows here as an example. Browse the folder that saves downloaded files, find the MP4 converter .exe file and click to start the installation. Then, open the program and click Video Converter button on the main UI.

Step 2. Load your MP4 video file.

Click "Video" button in the top left corner or the "+" button in the center of the main interface to add your MP4 source video. Or you can simply drag and drop the file into the main interface to get it loaded.

Step 3. Choose an output format for Xbox One.

There pops up the Output Profile window after the file loading. To play MP4 on Xbox One, go to "General Profiles" > choose "MP4 Video (Recommended), Codec: h264+aac" and then click OK. Or you can directly select Xbox One preset under "Device Profile" > "Microsoft Device" > "Xbox One (AVI)" or "Xbox One (H264)".

Step 4: Convert video to Xbox One.

Set your preferred destination folder so that you can find it quickly after the conversion. Press button RUN to start converting video to Xbox One/MP4.

Now, you can import the MP4 video into USB, connect USB with Xbox One, and you should be able to play MP4 on Xbox One.

Part 3. How to Play MP4 on Xbox One from USB/PC

Here we provide two solutions respectively for playing both supported MP4 and unsupported MP4 videos on Xbox One.

1. How to Play (Supported) MP4 File on Xbox One from USB?

Step 1: Put your mp4 movie onto the USB to get ready, and plug USB into one of Xbox One USB ports.

Step 2: To play media files on Xbox one, you should firstly install the Xbox Media Player app from Xbox store: Find "My Games & Apps" > click "Apps" > then "Find more in the Xbox Store" > search for "media player" > click Install.

Step 3: Open the media player app. Choose the FLASH DRIVE option, find your mp4 file, and click to play it.

2. How to Play (Unsupported) MP4 Movies Videos on Xbox One?

If the MP4 video won't play on Xbox One, you should use the above method to convert it first, and then play the converted MP4 video with Xbox Media Player.

Alternatively, you can choose to play with other players to have a try, if you have one, such as Windows Media Player that you can use the built-in DLNA feature. How to realize that? Simply play the MP4 video on PC and then DLNA stream the MP4 video from PC to Xbox One as Xbox One supports DLNA streaming.