You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

Mickeymouse1's avatar
Mickeymouse1
Explorer | Level 4
8 years ago

I'm having an issue opening the videos I've downloaded from Dropbox on my phone & desktop.

I have dropbox on my phone and computer. I am not able to open any old videos or current videos.  I am getting a message " can't play, choose something else, this item is in a format we don't suport"...
Desktop
Download
Error Messages
Mobile
sort
  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    8 years ago
    You need to make sure you have a program on your computer that can open them. Thats nothing to do with Dropbox I'm afraid.

    I suggest trying VLC player.
  • Vernon's avatar
    Vernon
    8 years ago
     
    To follow up on this, keep in mind that the Dropbox folder in your computer, acts in many ways like a normal folder, so the files you want to open - the videos in this case - will use the program you have installed for video previewing. Same goes with your mobile phone app.
     
    The website is another thing, as it has certain filetypes that can be previewed. You can find a complete list here:https://www.dropbox.com/help/files-folders/file-types-that-preview
     
    Hope this helps!
njdjninja's avatar
njdjninja
New member | Level 2

all the videos in my dropbox will open and they all use the same player but this one won't open with that same player. It was made with the same program as the others. Why won't it open?

Walter's avatar
Walter
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
7 years ago

Hey there njdjninja - Welcome to our Community and thanks for posting your question here.

Can you make sure you have not tampered with the file's extension?

If for example you upload a .mov file, the name of the file has to end in .mov for other applications/programs to recognize and be able to open it normally.  Is it possible that you renamed this file and removed its extension somehow?

If this is not the case, please provide as much info as possible in order to have a better look into it. Few things to check here would be the file's size, type and if you are able to open it on another device or even preview it on the web. 

I hope this information helps and please let me know what you find.

 

[This thread is now closed by moderators due to inactivity. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to Ask help from the Community here.]

About View, download, and export

Need support with viewing, downloading, and exporting files and folders from your Dropbox account? Find help from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!