4k Video works as FileMedia but as Stream Source is unsupported

Development Platform & Builds
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1

I’m trying to stream a 4k Video (3840 x 2160), but the message below appears:

LogWmfMedia: Error: Failed to resolve URL https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1GL0hR71J1SoJ6ILnZxbW6Oq0yZuM6_Bn: The byte stream type of the given URL is unsupported.

The video works locally as a FileMedia Source.

The Google Drive URL using “uc?export=download&id” works as a Stream Source for full HD videos. The url below is an example that works:

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1VYq_EXXHGEDS4_Xbo2DH_kaYqkqupZ1S

I want to know why the stream does not work. If it’s a video format issue or some stream restriction between Unreal and Google Drive?

The 4K video is available at this URL:
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1GL0hR71J1SoJ6ILnZxbW6Oq0yZuM6_Bn

Media Info:

Player: WmfMedia

Play Rates
Thinned: -128.0 to 128.0
Unthinned: 0.0 to 3.0

Capabilities
Scrubbing: Yes
Seeking: Yes

Stream 1
Type: Video
Format 0
Codec: H264
Frame Rate: 25 fps
Frame Rate Range: 25 - 25 fps
Dimensions: 3840 x 2160

Stream 0
Type: Audio
Format 0
Codec: MPEG HEAAC
Channels: 2
Sample Rate: 48000 Hz
Bits Per Sample: 16

2

The error message you’re seeing is coming from Windows Media Foundation, indicating that its streaming layer does not have support for the content that is returned by the server. One common reason is that the URL is actually not returning the media itself, but some other intermediate location, such as a web page or a URL redirect. A web browser may automatically perform additional steps that may make it seem as if you’re accessing the actual file. The Windows Media layer does not support most of this web browser trickery.

If you download the server response from https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1VYq_EXXHGEDS4_Xbo2DH_kaYqkqupZ1S you will notice that it actually returns a HTML page with a bunch of embedded JavaScript, not a media file. So in your particular case, Windows is simply telling you that it tried to parse a web page as a media file, which obviously doesn’t make sense.

In general, if you want to stream media over the internet, you are probably best off running an actual streaming server with a Windows compatible streaming protocol. Streaming over HTTP or HTTPS directly from a file sharing web site may or may not work reliably.

3

Thank you for your information. I’ll read about “actual streaming server.”