(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); December 2007 Video Playback FAQ

** Represents a new feature or change in functionality from the Spring 07 release.

**1. What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for AVI?

Xbox 360 supports the following for AVI:
File Extensions: .avi, .divx
Containers: AVI
Video Profiles: MPEG-4 Part 2, Simple & Advanced Simple Profile
Video Bitrate: 5 Mbps with resolutions of 1280 x 720 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.
Audio Profiles: Dolby® Digital 2 channel and 5.1 channel, MP3
Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.



2. What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for H.264?

Xbox 360 supports the following for H.264:

File Extensions: .mp4, .m4v, mp4v, .mov

Containers: MPEG-4, QuickTime
Video Profiles: Baseline, main, and high (up to Level 4.1) profiles.
Video Bitrate: 10 Mbps with resolutions of 1920 x 1080 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.
Audio Profiles: 2 channel AAC low complexity (LC)
Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.



3. What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for MPEG-4 Part 2?

Xbox 360 supports the following for MPEG-4:

File Extensions: .mp4, .m4v, .mp4v, .mov

Containers: MPEG-4, QuickTime
Video Profiles: Simple & **Advanced Simple Profile
Video Bitrate: 5 Mbps with resolutions of 1280 x 720 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.
Audio Profiles: 2 channel AAC low complexity (LC)
Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.



4. What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for WMV (VC-1)?

Xbox 360 supports the following for WMV:

File Extensions: .wmv
Container: asf
Video Profiles: WMV7 (WMV1), WMV8 (WMV2), WMV9 (WMV3), VC-1 (WVC1 or WMVA) in simple, main, and advanced up to Level 3
Video Bitrate: 15 Mbps with resolutions of 1920 x 1080 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.
Audio Profiles: WMA7/8, WMA 9 Pro (stereo and 5.1), WMA lossless
Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.



5. Can I mix and match the video and audio codecs outside of those defined in questions 1 through 4 above?

No you cannot. We only support each audio and video codec in the explicit containers defined in questions 1 through 4.



6. How can I determine if a video file that I am trying to play conforms to the specifications as laid out in questions 1 through 4?

You can use a 3rd party tool to analyze your video files to determine what audio and video codec is used. A popular 3rd party tool to analyze video files can be found at You must login or register to view this content..



7. How do I create WMV, AVI, H.264 and MPEG-4 content? What encoders does Xbox 360 support?

You can create this content on one of many 3rd-party applications. Xbox 360 supports many popular encoders. Specifically for encoding to WMV you can use Microsoft Expression Encoder or Windows Media Encoder.



**8. What specific features of Mpeg-4 Advanced Simple Profile does the Xbox 360 support?

The Xbox 360 supports Bidirectional Frames (BVOPs), Interlaced Frames, Quarter Pixel Motion Compensation, Global Motion Compensation, and MPEG Quantization.



9. What are the different ways to play video content on Xbox 360?

You can play video from a USB 2.0 FAT32 removable drive, optical media, and by streaming from the Zune software, Windows Media Player 11, or Windows Home Server.



10. What are the different video codecs that are supported in all the different ways to play video content on the Xbox 360?

See table below for more information:




* = Please refer to question 32 on how to configure Windows Media Player to share these file types to the Xbox 360.



11. What is the "real" max bit rate, resolution, and frames per second that you support for all the different formats?

Xbox 360 does not specifically block video from playing based on a maximum bit rate, resolution, or frames per second. The maximums listed above for each codec are what we have tested for various video playback sources. Higher rated content will not be blocked, but playback may be less then optimal. Use higher bitrates at your own risk.



12. What size USB storage device does the Xbox 360 support?

The Xbox 360 will support as big of a storage device as you can format using FAT32. Unfortunately when formatting a device in Windows Vista or Windows XP you will be restricted to a maximum FAT32 size of 32GB. You can work around this limitation by using a 3rd party utility or using an alternative Operating System that does not have this restriction. Please note that the maximum size of any single file on FAT32 is 4GB.



13. What is the maximum video file size that is supported?

The maximum file size for an AVI, MPEG-4 Part 2, and H.264 file that can be played is 4 GB. 4GB is also the maximum size of any single file that you can store on a FAT32 USB hard drive. However, Windows Media Player 11 and the Zune software do support streaming WMV files greater than 4GB.



14. Do you support 5.1 channel AAC?

No. Only 2-channel AAC is supported. If you want to play a 5.1-channel video on your console, you will need to encode it to WMV with WMAPro 5.1 audio or use the AVI container with Dolby® Digital 5.1 audio.



**15. What types of AVI files are supported?

The Xbox 360 supports files encoded using MPEG-4 Part 2, Simple and Advanced Simple Profile. These files are often referred to as Xvid or DivX® video files. Many common PC DVD authoring tools, cameras, and camcorders are capable of encoding files using MPEG-4. Note that some files authored for DivX devices may also contain additional functionality(menus, subtitles, multiple audio tracks, etc). The Xbox 360 will attempt to play these files, but does not support any of the additional functionality and in some cases will be unable to play the file.



16. Why don’t some of my older versions of DivX® files play?

Since we only support Mpeg-4 compatible codec implementations, we will not be able to play video files older than DivX® 5.0.



17. Does the Xbox 360 support video artwork when browsing my collection from Windows Media Player 11 or the Zune PC software?

The Xbox 360 will display whatever video artwork that is displayed in Windows Media Player 11 or the Zune PC software for each video file.



**18. Does the Xbox 360 support video artwork when browsing my collection from a USB 2.0 FAT32 removable drive or optical media?

For all video types we will search for a corresponding .jpg file and use that as the artwork. For example video1.avi would display the artwork in video1.jpg if it existed. In the absence of this file, for the mp4 container, we will search if the video file has embedded album artwork and display that instead. Please note you cannot use this method when streaming from Windows Media Player 11 or the Zune PC software. See question number 21 for more information.



19. What is the maximum album artwork size that the Xbox 360 supports?

You should not exceed 512KB for all scenarios. This includes embedding artwork in the mp4 container, storing artwork alongside the file in a separate .jpg container, or streaming from Windows Media Player 11 or Zune PC software.



**20. How does the “Sort by Type” and “Sort by Title” option work when browsing my own generated video content?

The “Sort by Type” option is the typical Windows Explorer view that a computer would show your files in. It will first alphabetically sort your folders and then alphabetically sort your files. The “Sort by Title” option allows you to sort all folders and files alongside each other. Both of these sort options are persistent and linked to your profile so that you do not need to set them every time. See question number 21 for more information.