FLAC Audio not playing via Web Client

[RedBaron164 18]

I'm running Version 3.2.70.0 and using the Web client in Chrome Version 64.0.3282.140 (Official Build) (64-bit).  When I try to listen to any FLAC audio files I receive the following error.

 

Playback Error:

No compatible streams are currently available. Please try again later or contact your system administrator for details.

 

Is this a known limitation of the web interface?

 

I tried Chrome on my Android phone and it gives me the same error. While the Google Play store app on my phone plays them fine.

[Luke 37066]

Hi there, please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. thanks.

[RedBaron164 18]

Server log showing flac error is attached.

server-63654044455.txt

[Luke 37066]

That's not an error on the part of the server. That is the browser audio player disconnecting for some reason. Can you try it over http as a test?

[RedBaron164 18]

I generated a fresh log. This time I played normal mp3 audio files first, made sure my audio is working properly and then tried to play some flac audio to generate the error again.  I uploaded the fresh log for comparison.

My Emby server is set to redirect all http traffic to https. I tried turning the option off and restarting the service but for some reason Chrome keeps trying to go to https instead of http. So I tried using Edge instead of Chrome and to my surprise flac works perfectly fine from both http/https while using Edge.

server-63654048431.txt

[Deathsquirrel 741]

I just tested flac playback on the current 64-bit chrome and the same build of Emby server without error.  Sounds like it's probably environmental.

[Happy2Play 8282]

@@RedBaron164

 

What is your folder structure exactly and where is your library pointed to? 

 

@@Luke

 

I was able to reproduce this in Chrome with tracks that are nested a extra folder level, but play in Edge.

 

Library = \\Server\Music

 

Example plays in Edge but not Chrome

\\Server\Music\Frank Sinatra\Frank Sinatra with Billy May and His Orchestra\Come Fly With Me (2014)\Frank Sinatra with Billy May and His Orchestra - 01 - Come Fly With Me.flac

But if not nested they play fine.

\\Server\Music\Blake Shelton\All About Tonight (2010)\Blake Shelton - 01 - All About Tonight.flac

**Edge is transcoding but plays the files.

Edited February 13, 2018 by Happy2Play
My test was on current beta

[Happy2Play 8282]

Also when you get this error, every time you click "Got It" it tries the next track until it finds one that will play.  Does the same at Album level also.

 

Only way around this is clicking "Stop" button instead of "Got It" button.  I guess technically clicking anywhere but "Got It", then "Stop" to close OSD

Edited February 13, 2018 by Happy2Play

[Happy2Play 8282]

Chrome 63 plays all files fine,

 

Chrome 64 I seeing mixed results.  Now none of Frank plays but all others artists do.

Edited February 13, 2018 by Happy2Play

[RedBaron164 18]

I went through my entire library a couple of years ago and re-organized everything to get ride of excessive folder nesting. Currently I have my music Library pointed to the \\Server\Music share and I have a sub-folder for each Artist and then a sub-folder for each album.

 

So for example all paths for music look like this:

\\Server\Share\Artist\Album\Song.mp3

 

In this particular case the full path is as follows:

\\server\music\Nirvana\(1991) Nevermind\Nirvana - Nevermind - 01 - Smells Like Teen Spirit.flac

 

I just recently went through and removed the old music for this particular artist since it was 192kbps mp3's and replaced them all with flac copies and that is when I noticed this issue.

 

The music share is located on a separate server, Emby and I've never had this problem with mp3's. Also, just to clarify, the Emby service has full permissions to the entire directory from top to bottom.

 

I find it odd that it works in Edge but not Chrome. That makes me think there is an issue with the site or with how Chrome is attempting to handle the flac files. If it was an issue with the environment or directory structure I would expect the behavior to be the same on both Chrome and Edge as well as the Android clients.

Edited February 13, 2018 by RedBaron164

[Happy2Play 8282]

For me I am only seeing a issues with one artists flac files.  All others are playing in Chrome 64, but the issue artist flac files play fine in Crhome 63.  As for Edge, it is transcoding the files where CHrome is direct playing.

[Luke 37066]

Thanks for the investigation.

[RedBaron164 18]

I've been trying different songs that I've recently changed over to flac and found so far at least two separate artists where the flac files won't play but I've found several that do. For example all the flac files I have for Nirvana and Hole won't play in Chrome. But songs by Lit and Click Five will. So something must be off with these files that is preventing them from being played in Chrome. I'll have to dig into what codecs were used to see if I can find a common trait that is breaking it.

 

*Update:

 

I found zero differences between flac files that worked vs the ones that didn't. I took one of the albums that did not work in Chrome and ran the entire album through the encoder again. Essentially I just converted flac to flac and now that album works in Chrome. *Shrugs* I have no idea why these particular files don't work only in Chrome but at least I have a fix.

Edited February 13, 2018 by RedBaron164

[ryandavidg 30]

Bit of a long shot, but is there any difference between the tags on the files? In the past I remember having issues (on a different player, not Emby) with FLAC files which had ID3v2 tags as well as the 'usual' vorbis ones, which is an option on some ripping software like EAC. The fix was to get rid of the ID3v2 ones by cutting and pasting the tags in MP3tag... or just running the files through the encoder again which is what made wonder if there was a similarity in this case.

 

As I say, it's probably nothing to do with it, but at the time it made me realise how the flexibility of FLAC files and what they can contain can work against them in rare instances. 

[RedBaron164 18]

I do all my tagging with MediaMonkey and it uses ID3v1 and v2 tags only, it doesn't tag using vorbis at all to my knowledge.

[jxb1234 9]

I have this same issue, but I can't see any way to make the flac files play. Any ideas?

[chowbok 77]

I do all my tagging with MediaMonkey and it uses ID3v1 and v2 tags only, it doesn't tag using vorbis at all to my knowledge.

AFAIK, FLACs aren't supposed to have ID3 tags. It's a violation of the spec and will have unpredictable results. I recommend using MP3tag (despite the name, it tags FLACs and other file types as well) to convert all the ID3 tags to FLAC/vorbis tags, and then delete the ID3 tags.

[Luke 37066]

What software is creating them?

[jxb1234 9]

What software is creating them?

 

I'm using Exact Audio Copy, v1.3 - http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ (site is english)

[chowbok 77]

I'm using Exact Audio Copy, v1.3 - http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ (site is english)

Okay, so under the "EAC" menu, go to "Compression Options", then click the "External Compression" tab. Make sure the "Add ID3" tag box is unchecked.

[jxb1234 9]

Okay, so under the "EAC" menu, go to "Compression Options", then click the "External Compression" tab. Make sure the "Add ID3" tag box is unchecked.

 

Arse, I've done this now. I'll rip another CD later and see if it plays. ID3 tags shouldn't be in flac files, why on earth is this setting checked by default, gerrr...

 

If I need to remove all the ID3 tags, does anyone know a bulk way to do this?

[ebr 14913]

If I need to remove all the ID3 tags, does anyone know a bulk way to do this?

 

Try this: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/59753-cant-play-some-flacs/?p=586755

[jxb1234 9]

Does Emby require the FLAC tags to identify media?

 

My music is as follows:

 

/ artist / album / 01 song name.flac

/ artist / album / 02 song name.flac

/ artist / album / 03 song name.flac

 

/ linkin park / hybrid theory / 01 papercut.flac

 

etc

[Happy2Play 8282]

Does Emby require the FLAC tags to identify media?

 

My music is as follows:

 

/ artist / album / 01 song name.flac

/ artist / album / 02 song name.flac

/ artist / album / 03 song name.flac

 

/ linkin park / hybrid theory / 01 papercut.flac

 

etc

 

From my tests yes unless you are going to manually identify the media.

[chowbok 77]

Seriously, give MP3tag a try. You can configure it to copy all the data from the ID3 tags to FLAC tags, then remove the ID3 tags. It will do it in bulk. It's free. It's a Windows program but it works perfectly in Linux under Wine. I've been using it for years, I can't recommend it enough.