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Trying to watch videos stored in OneDrive only to find that they won’t play can be frustrating. No matter that the video buffers, displays a black screen, flickers, shows error messages, or refuses to load altogether, this can interrupt your smooth video playback experience.
To fix ‘video is not playing on OneDrive’, this article has some genuine methods. Also, you will get the prime reason for this along with other necessary info. Let’s check it out!
Causes of the ‘Video is Not Playing on OneDrive’ Issue
When you’ve uploaded a video on OneDrive, what can be the underlying cause of the error? Here are the culprits behind the OneDrive videos not playing issue.
- Problem with the Internet connection.
- Damaged cookies and cache.
- Incompatible format of the video.
- Outdated systems’ audio and video drivers.
- OneDrive or outdated browsers.
- PC lacks the graphics cards and processors necessary to play 4K UHD content.
- OneDrive does not allow videos to be played due to DRM protection.
- Your computer or network can’t play it due to the high-quality video.
Read Also: Fix video not playing issue
Proven Methods to Fix Video is Not Playing on OneDrive
After you are well thorough with the reasons for OneDrive videos not playing issue: use the below methods for resolution and play your videos with no interruption:
Method 1: Check the Internet Connection
To fix the video is not playing on OneDrive, you need to check your internet connection. Follow the steps below to troubleshoot your internet connection:
For Windows:
- In the Search field, type Settings and tap on it.
- Click on Network & Internet and open the Status tab to check your network status.
- In case the problem exists with your network, click on the tab Network Troubleshooter to fix the issue.

For Mac:
- Navigate to System Preferences.
- Tap on the Network and then network adapter to check your network status.
- A window displays three options, namely Connected, Not Configured & Not Connected. With these options, you can look out for internet issues on your Mac.
Note: To check the internet speed, run a speed test.
Method 2: Update Your Browser & OneDrive
Video won’t play on OneDrive if they are or the browser is outdated. You must use an updated browser and app. Here are the steps to check and update Chrome:
- Launch Google Chrome and tap on the three dots, then tap on the Help menu.
- Click on the option About Google Chrome.
- Chrome will now check and update the version to the latest.
- Install the latest version and Relaunch the Chrome browser.

Similarly, each browser has a separate option to update. If your browser, be it Mozilla, Safari, Edge, etc., is outdated, update it accordingly.
Method 3: Change the Video to Compatible Format
OneDrive does not support every video format for playback. It supports many common formats, including MP4, WMV, M4V, AVI, MOV, ASF, and 3GP, as well as audio formats such as AAC and MP3. MP4 is one of the most widely used and compatible formats. Thus, you should check the format of your video and convert it to any supported file format to play it on OneDrive.
Method 4: Check DRM (Digital Rights Management)
OneDrive doesn’t play videos protected with DRM (Digital Rights Management) keys. So, check & change the DRM protection to fix OneDrive videos not playing issue via the steps below:
- Locate and right-click on the video, then select Properties.
- Click the Details tab, scroll down to the protected category. If the video is protected with any keys, then its status will be Yes.

Note: To remove the DRM protection, you can use third-party software, and then play your video within OneDrive or download the video without the DRM key.
Method 5: Clear Browser Cache & Cookies
Cookies and cache make it easier to access websites and load applications, but they may also cause video not to play on OneDrive issues. So delete them by following the steps below:
- Launch Google Chrome and tap on the three dots.
- Now choose More Tools and tap on Clear browsing data.
- From the Basic tab, choose the Time range as All Time.
- Checkmark the options Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
- Lastly, click on Clear Data.

Note: Furthermore, you can play videos in incognito mode or private mode so that your browser does not save any browsing information, cookies, or website data.
Method 6: Use a Different Media Player
It’s possible that the media player you’re using doesn’t have the needed codec, or there may be some unsupported codec error. If the video is not playing on OneDrive, try playing it with another best free video player or installing a codec pack. The codec pack provides codecs for a number of video formats so that they can be played by all popular media players.
Method 7: Repair Corrupt Videos using Video Repair tool
Manual methods described above are very efficient to fix video won’t play on OneDrive issue. However, if the video is corrupted, these methods won’t help you. In that case, repair the video file using Kernel Video Repair. It fixes all video file damage and corruption issues easily, so that you can play videos on any device or media player.
Conclusion
Since OneDrive stores your data securely in the cloud, users sometimes face video is not playing on OneDrive. We’ve shared the most possible proven methods to fix OneDrive videos not playing issues. However, they become useless if the video file has an issue and is corrupted. Check for video file issues and repair them instantly with the recommended video repair tool to make them playable again in OneDrive.
