Fix: "The file could not be read. It may be corrupt or not licensed"

Videosync
1

I don’t know if this error has been mentioned on the forum before. I did a search and couldn’t find anything.

Anyway, i was trying to get video working in Live on Windows but every time i tried loading an mp4 i got this error:

“The file could not be read. It may be corrupt or not licensed”

Suffice to say the files wouldn’t play in videosync.

The fix can be found on this forum thread on the Live forums: https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?t=251236

You will need to download and install the Haali Media Splitter. See this Live doc for details and links:
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209773125-Using-Video#codecswindows

Once i installed the Splitter i was able to drag/drop video into Live perfectly :grinning:

All this was happening despite having the K-Lite mega Codec pack installed, which is something which gets mentioned elsewhere a lot on the Live forums concerning running video in Ableton.

Just thought i’d post this just encase anyone else ever has this problem.

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Thanks for sharing!

Just to add some additional info: I assume you’re using Ableton Live 11? These instructions are only necessary for Live 11. Ableton Live 12 has a new video backend that makes video files work out-of-the-box, so these codecs are not necessary to use Videosync with Live 12.

For that reason, we also only officially support Live 12 on Windows. While Live 11 might work too - and if it’s working fine for you, there’s no need to worry - it’s known that these codecs don’t work for everyone, which is why we strongly recommend using Live 12.

So thanks again for sharing these tips! And for anyone reading this and still running into issues with Live 11: consider updating to Live 12 as we won’t be able to offer official support for Live 11.

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Thanks for the clarification.

And just to confirm i am using Live 11.

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