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"Error loading media: File could not be played" in IE11

We have been receiving reports of the above error message but only in IE11 and only when accessing our website off campus (we're a university). The problem affects video (mp4) and audio (mp3) All other other web browsers work fine, on and off campus, and even IE11 works when viewing on campus. We encode our video to iOS compatible h264 mp4 using Handbrake and always with the 'web optimized' option checked. Xenu reports mp4 mime type as video/mp4 and mp3 as audio/mpeg.

We use HTML5 as the primary rendering mode. When I switch primary rendering mode from HTML5 to Flash the videos sometimes work in IE11 off campus but even when they do work I get the spinning wheel icon in centre of the player for a long time - a couple of minutes or more - before the video begins playing.

I can understand why there might be a problem with IE11 but not the cause of the problem. What I cannot get my head around is why it is only affecting users off campus.

Example URLs

http://www.lse.ac.uk/statistics/events/SpecialEventsandConferences/Risk-and-Stochastics-Conference-2016/Conference-Videos.aspx

http://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/publicLecturesAndEvents/player.aspx?id=3495

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Tom

6 Community Answers

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Todd

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

For the first video on the Conference Videos page, the video URL you are using in your jwplayer().setup() is redirecting to a different domain. Do you see an improvement in load time if you link directly to the actual video?

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t.s.williams Williams

User  
0 rated :

Hi Todd,

The URL redirect is a podcast/video analytics service. It shouldn't affect load time or the availability of the media file as the system is set up specifically to play nice with embedded media players such as JW Player. I will give it try though, it's certainly worth testing the theory. Annoyingly I can't test while I'm in the office as it's only affecting users off campus so I will have to wait until I'm back at home this evening.

Thanks
Tom

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Todd

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

The fact that it is only slow off campus makes me think there might be something related to the network requests. Have you asked around if other web developers on campus have seen something similar before?

This reminds me of an issue where a department on campus could only send e-mails 500 miles or less: http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html

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t.s.williams Williams

User  
0 rated :

If it were affecting all web browsers off campus I couldn't understand it but it's only affecting IE11. I was thinking along the lines of some kind of HTML5 or Flash crossdomain issue but again I can't understand why that would only affect IE11 users.

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Todd

JW Player Support Agent  
0 rated :

It can’t be a cross domain issue if the content loads eventually. Is it somehow related to a web proxy that exists on the campus network but does not apply when off campus? Perhaps IE11 still thinks it is on campus for a few seconds?

What happens when you load the video URL directly in the IE11 address bar?

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t.s.williams Williams

User  
0 rated :

On campus when I load the video URL directly in IE11 it open automatically in Windows Media Player. I will test off campus this evening and see what result I get.

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