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VFW_S_RPZA
DirectShow encountered unsupported RPZA video
VFW_S_RPZA is HRESULT 262746 (0x0004025A) from Video for Windows. AllStat describes this result as “Cannot play back the video stream: format 'RPZA' is not supported.” The high-order severity bit is clear, so this is a success result, but it carries more information than plain S_OK.
The media graph could not render a video stream encoded with the legacy RPZA format, while the surrounding operation returned a success-with-information code.
State boundary that must be proved
The central question for this HRESULT is whether the exact stream subtype is RPZA and any other streams or metadata were handled as reported separately. The HRESULT alone confirms neither unrelated work nor the quality of optional outputs.
A reliable interpretation of this result names the exact method contract, the object generation, and the outputs that remain valid. This prevents a success-with-information result from being promoted to full success or demoted to a generic error.
Where the result is encountered
- This result can appear in opening old QuickTime-originated assets; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.
- It can appear in archival media migration; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.
- It can appear in graph building on systems without an RPZA decoder; record the producing interface and method rather than inferring behavior from the symbolic name alone.
The same numeric success value can be mishandled when a wrapper exposes only a Boolean. Keep the original HRESULT until the code-specific outputs and state transition have been evaluated.
Evidence and telemetry to preserve
- preserve container and stream metadata.
- preserve FourCC or subtype GUID.
- preserve source-file hash.
- preserve available decoder filters.
- preserve transcode attempt and output validation.
Also record vfw_s_rpza_operation, vfw_s_rpza_object, vfw_s_rpza_state_before, vfw_s_rpza_state_after, UTC time, process and thread identifiers, and a correlation ID. Keep secrets out of logs while retaining GUIDs, CLSIDs, media subtypes, property IDs, row identities, and hashes needed to distinguish objects.
Diagnostic sequence
- capture the raw HRESULT
0x0004025Aimmediately after the returning method and record whether the caller usedSUCCEEDED,FAILED, equality testing, or exception translation. - Identify the exact owner of it: interface, method, object instance, provider or filter version, thread or apartment, and operation phase.
- Validate the decisive contract boundary for this HRESULT: the exact stream subtype is RPZA and any other streams or metadata were handled as reported separately.
- inspect every output parameter, count, status array, returned interface, or side effect that the method documentation associates with this success-with-information result.
- Compare the observed state before and after it; do not assume that a success severity bit means every optional sub-operation completed.
- reproduce the smallest request with the same object state and then change only the condition identified by the evidence before repeating the operation.
Correct handling, retry, and recovery
Use a trusted conversion tool or supported decoder in an isolated migration workflow. Do not install arbitrary legacy codec packages on production systems merely to suppress the status.
Retry it only when the recorded state can change the documented outcome. Repeating the same call is inappropriate for a stable end marker, cancellation, unsupported format, adjusted property, or partial result whose completed side effects have not been reconciled.
Practical validation scenario
An archive ingests a 1990s clip with RPZA video and PCM audio. The tool preserves the source, extracts metadata, transcodes video with an approved converter, and compares frame count and duration.
The negative test should preserve the condition that produces it; the recovery test should alter only that condition and verify the final state as well as the HRESULT.
Difference from nearby HRESULT values
VFW_S_VIDEO_NOT_RENDERED is format-agnostic; it identifies this legacy codec explicitly.
This distinction determines whether the caller should consume partial outputs, stop iteration, wait, reconfigure, notify the user, or perform no error recovery at all.
References
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