• Login
    • Search
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Users
    • Groups
    • Rules
    • Help

    Do more on the web, with a fast and secure browser!

    Download Opera browser with:

    • built-in ad blocker
    • battery saver
    • free VPN
    Download Opera

    Opera sometimes does not play WebRTC video encoded in H.264

    Opera for Windows
    2
    2
    814
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • techmsgs
      techmsgs last edited by

      I have a media server which translates some videos encoded in H.264 to browsers via WebRTC. I tested various browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Edge) in various operating systems (Windows, Linux) and everything works fine in most cases, except for the case when Opera is run on a Windows 7/10 virtual machine in VMware. Opera receives the video stream but can't decode it for some reason.

      I turned on WebRTC debug logs in Opera and got the following:

      [2184:2312:1211/141911.062:INFO:decoder_database.cc(144)] Initializing decoder with payload type '102'.
      [2184:2312:1211/141911.062:ERROR:h264_decoder_impl.cc(210)] FFmpeg H.264 decoder not found.
      [2184:2312:1211/141911.062:INFO:generic_decoder.cc(216)] Decoder implementation: FFmpeg
      [2184:2312:1211/141911.062:ERROR:decoder_database.cc(178)] Failed to initialize decoder. Error code: -1
      

      When I run Opera on Windows 10 outside of any virtual machines, video plays successfully and I see in logs:

      [6132:16856:1211/151144.100:INFO:decoder_database.cc(144)] Initializing decoder with payload type '102'.
      [6132:16856:1211/151144.100:INFO:generic_decoder.cc(216)] Decoder implementation: ExternalDecoder
      

      So I have two questions:

      1. How is that possible that FFmpeg is unable to initialize H.264 decoder?
      2. Why does Opera use different decoder implementations in different cases - FFmpeg decoder in the first case and some ExternalDecoder in the second case? What does this choise depend on? What does "ExternalDecoder" exactly mean?

      I tried to solve this issue with no luck so far. I tried to do the following:

      • Uninstalled Opera and installed it again from scratch.
      • Tweaked various command line options containing "webrtc" in their names.
      • Disabled hardware acceleration in Opera settings.
      • Compared the list of video codecs installed in the non-working system with the codec list in a working system: they are the same!
      • Installed K-Lite codec pack.
      • Tried to play the same WebRTC video stream in different browsers using the same web client in the same system. Chrome and Firefox play video fine! Only Opera doesn't.
      • Tried to use a third party software for testing purposes: Unreal Media Server and its WebRTC player for browsers. I got the same results. WebRTC player works fine in Chrome and Firefox but doesn't play video in Opera.

      Is there anything else I could try? Is there a bug in Opera? Or maybe VMware is to blame?

      Opera 73.0.3856.260 (x64 for Windows)
      Windows x64 Pro (Install date 16.10.2020)

      Reply Quote 0
        1 Reply Last reply
      • sgunhouse
        sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by

        Real Windows has its own decoder (usually) and Opera uses that when available. I say "usually" because early versions of 7 and Windows 10 N do not.

        Reply Quote 0
          1 Reply Last reply
        • Locked by  leocg leocg 
        • First post
          Last post

        Computer browsers

        • Opera for Windows
        • Opera for Mac
        • Opera for Linux
        • Opera beta version
        • Opera USB

        Mobile browsers

        • Opera for Android
        • Opera Mini
        • Opera Touch
        • Opera for basic phones

        • Add-ons
        • Opera account
        • Wallpapers
        • Opera Ads

        • Help & support
        • Opera blogs
        • Opera forums
        • Dev.Opera

        • Security
        • Privacy
        • Cookies Policy
        • EULA
        • Terms of Service

        • About Opera
        • Press info
        • Jobs
        • Investors
        • Become a partner
        • Contact us

        Follow Opera

        • Opera - Facebook
        • Opera - Twitter
        • Opera - YouTube
        • Opera - LinkedIn
        • Opera - Instagram

        © Opera Software 1995-