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| VFW_E_PROCESSOR_NOT_SUITABLE | VFW_E_UNSUPPORTED_VIDEO |
VFW_E_UNSUPPORTED_AUDIO
Meaning
Windows documents VFW_E_UNSUPPORTED_AUDIO as “Cannot play back the audio stream: the audio format is not supported”. Here, the graph cannot produce playable audio from the stream format even though an audio track was identified.
Relevant contract
This result describes a capability or format boundary in a component graph. Container recognition, elementary-stream parsing, decoder selection, property metadata and renderer acceptance are different stages and need separate evidence.
Start with the source filter, decoder or codec property provider and downstream connection.
Evidence worth preserving
- Evidence 1: audio subtype, format tag, sample rate, channels and bit depth.
- Evidence 2: decoder candidates and connection failures.
- Evidence 3: whether another audio track in the same file can render.
Conditions that can produce it
- Cause 1: the codec or profile is unsupported.
- Cause 2: the decoder accepts the subtype but rejects channel layout or sample parameters.
- Cause 3: policy blocks the only third-party audio transform.
Retry and recovery
Retry rule: Retry after changing the selected track, decoder inventory or media asset.
Correction strategy
- Action 1: choose a supported audio track or decoder.
- Action 2: transcode the audio while preserving the video stream when appropriate.
- Action 3: surface the exact format parameters in diagnostics.
Example incident
A file contains supported video and an unusual multichannel audio profile; selecting its stereo track allows playback and isolates it to the original track.
How it differs from nearby results
VFW_E_NO_AUDIO_HARDWARE concerns output-device availability; it concerns decoding or connecting the audio format.
Official Microsoft references
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