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VFW_E_INVALID_FILE_VERSION
Meaning
Windows documents VFW_E_INVALID_FILE_VERSION as “The version number of the file is invalid”. Here, a DirectShow component reads a persisted graph or media-related file whose version field is outside the format revision it understands.
Relevant contract
Start with the filter graph, device or persisted configuration that first returned the result.
Conditions that can produce it
- Cause 1: a newer tool saved a graph for an older runtime.
- Cause 2: the version bytes were overwritten or decoded with the wrong endianness.
- Cause 3: an application-specific wrapper passed a different file type into a GraphEdit loader.
Evidence worth preserving
- Evidence 1: file producer and product version.
- Evidence 2: raw version field and surrounding bytes.
- Evidence 3: loader path, stream position and persisted class sequence.
Correction strategy
- Action 1: open the file with a compatible runtime or resave it in the expected format.
- Action 2: validate the signature before interpreting the version field.
- Action 3: reject unsupported revisions before creating any filters.
Retry and recovery
Retry rule: Retry only with a file written in a supported revision; rereading identical bytes cannot change the version contract.
Example incident
A service receives a.grf file created by a later SDK and fails before any filter is instantiated; exporting the graph with the deployment-era tool removes it.
How it differs from nearby results
VFW_E_CORRUPT_GRAPH_FILE denotes damaged graph persistence more generally, whereas it specifically rejects the declared format revision.
Official Microsoft references
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