Apple TV app not playing ripped MP4s from external drive

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Apple TV app not playing ripped MP4s from external drive

I have several DVDs which I purchased that I ripped to an MP4 so I could play them through iTunes (old) or now Apple TV app on my Mac and my Apple TV 4K. This all worked last Christmas which is when I use this most for Christmas movies. Now with a new MacBook Pro M4 connected to my external drive with my media library, the movies do not play. I have verified: 1) Media Sharing is turned on in MacOS settings; 2) Apple TV Settings/Files points to the iTunes folder on my external drive. I can see the movies but none play. If I click on the 3 dots and Get Info, the File tab says under location: "Kent McPherson's Library". I remember this used to point to the specific MP4 file itself. What am I missing?

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 26.1

Posted on Dec 4, 2025 9:34 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Phil0124

Level 10

216,686 points

Dec 4, 2025 10:34 AM in response to kentmcpherson

kentmcpherson wrote:

I can see the movies but none play. If I click on the 3 dots and Get Info, the File tab says under location: "Kent McPherson's Library". I remember this used to point to the specific MP4 file itself. What am I missing?

That should point to the actual mp4 file not some library file. The library File is not a video file that can be played by the TV App.

You will need to re-import the video files from wherever they are, and delete the currently non-playing ones from the Home Videos section.

Somehow the file pointer got messed up and points to library rather than an actual file. Did you maybe change the folder location to point to that library?

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Answer 2

Phil0124

Level 10

216,686 points

Dec 4, 2025 12:57 PM in response to kentmcpherson

To move the library to another drive, yo need to move the entire thing, the ;library file and the media folder, then when opening the Apple TV app again, hold down the option key, and then point it to the location of the library file.

The library file and the actual media files are separate things entirely. I doubt you ever had the individual videos pointing directly to the Library file.

Sounds like you made an incorrect change at some point.

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Answer 3

Dec 4, 2025 11:13 AM in response to Phil0124

It has always worked before to point to the iTunes folder and then it was smart enough to add the movies in the Movies subfolder. If I have to add them all back in one at a time so be it but I used to change drives in the past and repoint the Files setting and it worked fine. Not sure why that no longer works. That says if I want to switch drives in the future, I'll need to add them one by one again. Not fun.

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