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Split Tunnel VPN has no video playback


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Posted
Quote

- As the app can browse on mobile data and it’s only playback that fails my deduction is that the app is routing the media playback differently to the browser version (which again works in all scenarios so the split tunnel is working)

No, but the video url gets handed off to something that will have it's own networking layer that is separate from the UI. In other words, whether it's the native apple player or mpv, either one of those will do it's own networking. That would explain why you can browse around but the video player never even reaches your server.

kingy444
Posted (edited)
15 minutes ago, Luke said:

No, but the video url gets handed off to something that will have its own networking layer that is separate from the UI. In other words, whether it's the native apple player or mpv, either one of those will do it's own networking. That would explain why you can browse around but the video player never even reaches your server.

As you said “never” I just want to again stress that the safari browser is able to playback media over the split-tunnel without issue

The media playback is only an issue within the Emby app

Edited by kingy444
  • 1 month later...
Posted

Hi, can you give this another try? Thanks.

  • 7 months later...
kingy444
Posted
On 22/05/2025 at 14:33, Luke said:

Hi, can you give this another try? Thanks.

Apologies for not getting back to you, I hadn’t seen this notification

Still no good unfortunately though I’ve narrowed down the issue / behaviour further

The issue I am facing appears to be ipv4 on server side of the vpn and ipv6 on the client side

When connected to emby via the browser I am using the internal ipv4 address of the server, which is also what’s setup on the app, but the app wants to keep trying ipv6 only and doesn’t fallback to ipv4

Again, browsing on the vpn over this tunnel works fine, it’s only media playback that is an issue. If I swap to full tunnel, media playback works too.

is there something we could do to say “I only want to use IPv4” or “fallback to ipv4” ?

My ISP doesn’t even offer ipv6, and mobile providers don’t allow you to opt out of ipv6 either.

Not sure what else I can do on the tunnel side to address the issue (especially with it only being media playback is the issue), I think I need the app to handle the fallback to IPv4 or have a way to opt out of IPv6 completely (as mentioned I cannot even use this on my server)

 

Posted
4 hours ago, kingy444 said:

Apologies for not getting back to you, I hadn’t seen this notification

Still no good unfortunately though I’ve narrowed down the issue / behaviour further

The issue I am facing appears to be ipv4 on server side of the vpn and ipv6 on the client side

When connected to emby via the browser I am using the internal ipv4 address of the server, which is also what’s setup on the app, but the app wants to keep trying ipv6 only and doesn’t fallback to ipv4

Again, browsing on the vpn over this tunnel works fine, it’s only media playback that is an issue. If I swap to full tunnel, media playback works too.

is there something we could do to say “I only want to use IPv4” or “fallback to ipv4” ?

My ISP doesn’t even offer ipv6, and mobile providers don’t allow you to opt out of ipv6 either.

Not sure what else I can do on the tunnel side to address the issue (especially with it only being media playback is the issue), I think I need the app to handle the fallback to IPv4 or have a way to opt out of IPv6 completely (as mentioned I cannot even use this on my server)

 

What makes you think the app is trying to connect using ipv6?

kingy444
Posted (edited)
On 03/01/2026 at 15:48, Luke said:

What makes you think the app is trying to connect using ipv6?

Well I thought I had narrowed it down to that, now im going to backtrack my previous post.... Turns out the video i tested was different, so it seems when the split tunnel is most media doesnt work, but some do.

A couple of quick tests below. All work on full tunnel, its only split tunnel affected.

I have noticed that when on split tunnel the dashboard thinks the theme.mp3 is playing when its not aswell. (if i turn full tunnel on i can hear the theme)

Transcoding works fine, I can force transcoding on the full tunnel by changing the video size and this works too, the stream never starts on the split tunnel.

I tried to find similiar files that work on and off the tunnel per below if that helps.

I find it hard to blame the files here, given they playback fine on the full tunnel, and as other files are playing fine now on split tunnel, I am unsure what the issue with these files is (noting its more that dont play than do)

I have some other inconsistencies with some files too

This file plays on split tunnel, If I turn the srt subtitles off... but i tried the same for other files in the right column, and was not so successful
image.png.41a99974e885d8b44fc828a132fa16f6.png

Works on Split Tunnel Doesnt Work on Split Tunnel at all (including no srt)
image.png.c2c9edf579ca5b255116af2f8b690d47.png image.png.ce32709e58bf73d2575e249b1fd81584.png
image.png.0b2136a5ae0f2156731689a72da986a9.png image.png.fad9df4363b6954b567d88e1dff4cb5d.png
image.png.9af3eb65a2c2d65f1bc50beb2338f2e5.png image.png.11804902311cd9588c36593ea33b3133.png
image.png.77705310f308e169296b9f1aa56921fd.png image.png.e5887677d6bcf6eb9d57719c74e1bfcc.png

 

 

 

 

Edited by kingy444
  • 1 month later...
Posted

Can you give this another try?

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