What Video Audio File Formats Does the New Apple TV Support for Playing?
The Apple TV is Apple's set-top box that runs tvOS. Users witness every update of Apple TV, from the first-gen Apple TV in 2006 to teh sec-gen Apple TV 4K in 2021. Currently, Apple sells the updated Apple TV HD first introduced in 2015 and the 2021 sec-gen Apple TV 4K. Both models have excellent processors and amazing displays, be it A8 chip with 64-bit architecture Apple TV HD, and A12 Bionic chip with 64-bit architecture for Apple TV 4K. Apple also has the Apple TV app, which is available for iOS and Android users as well as lots of smart TV owners, and Apple TV+. All this ensures an unparalleled viewing experience on big screens.
But if you want to play movies videos or other media files on Apple TV without interruption, there's one thing you need to figure out – what Apple TV supported file formats are. Keep reading and you will get the answers here.
Video Not Playing on Apple TV? Convert Your Video to Apple TV Compatible Formats
Winxvideo AI can solve all kinds of audio and video incompatible issues for Apple TV. It allows you to:
- Convert any video formats, be it MKV, HEVC, WMV, M2TS, FLV etc. to MP4, MOV and any Apple TV supported file formats.
- Tweak video resolution, frame rate, bit rate, aspect ratio to best fit with Apple TV screens, such as 1080p to 4K, 4:3 to 16:9 etc.
- Edit video, like trimming video length, crop video frame size, add external subtitles and more.
Table of Contents
Part 1. Apple TV Supported Video/Audio File Formats/Codecs
Given that only the sec-gen Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD (4) are available, we have listed the supported video, audio and photo formats of these two models. Before playing a video or an audio file on Apple TV, you'd better make sure that its format is included in the following Apple TV compatible file formats list. If not, a video converter that can convert videos to Apple TV playable formats is a necessity.
Related article: How to Convert MKV to Apple TV Playable Format in Best Quality
What Are the Supported File Formats for Apple TV 4K and Apple TV 4?
File Types |
Apple TV 4K |
Apple TV 4 |
Video |
H.264/HEVC SDR video up to 2160p, 60 fps, Main/Main 10 profile |
HEVC SDR up to 1080p, 30 fps, Main/Main 10 profile |
HEVC Dolby Vision (Profile 5)/HDR10 (Main 10 profile)/HLG up to 2160p, 60 fps |
H.264 video up to 1080p, 60 fps, High or Main Profile level 4.2 or lower |
|
H.264 Baseline Profile level 3.0 or lower with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats |
H.264 Baseline Profile level 3.0 or lower with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats |
|
MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 fps, Simple profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats |
MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 fps, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats |
|
Audio |
HE-AAC (V1), AAC (up to 320 Kbps), protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (up to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, FLAC, AIFF, and WAV; AC-3 (Dolby Digital 5.1), E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound), and Dolby Atmos |
HE-AAC (V1), AAC (up to 320 Kbps), protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (up to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Apple Lossless, FLAC, AIFF, and WAV; AC-3 (Dolby Digital 5.1) and E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound) |
Photo |
HEIF, JPEG, GIF, TIFF |
HEIF, JPEG, GIF, TIFF |
Part 2. How to Play Unsupported Video File Formats on Apple TV
As you can see, Apple TV supported video file formats are very limited. If you have some videos in Apple TV incompatible formats, for example, MKV, FLV, M2TS, WebM, how can you play them on Apple TV? Take it easy. All you need to do is to change video format using a video converter like Winxvideo AI.
Winxvideo AI is a professional video converter which comes with 320 video codecs & 50 audio codecs, thus it's able to convert almost all video formats to Apple TV supported video file formats MP4, MOV, M4V. Most importantly, this user-friendly video converter is built with Apple TV preset profiles to help users convert videos to Apple TV without complicated video audio parameter settings. It is also worth noting that this tool can convert 8K, 4K UHD videos for playing on Apple TV.
Thanks to the High Quality Engine, the output file will be in good quality. With the support for multi-core CPU, improved configuring for i5 i7 CPU, optimized AMD 3DNow! and Intel SSE3 SSE2 MMX Instructions, video conversion will be finished in a flash.
How to Convert Videos to Apple TV Supported File Formats
Step 1. Get Winxvideo AI.
Download, install and launch Winxvideo AI.Then, choose "Video Converter".
Step 2. Load the video you want to play on Apple TV.
Click "+Video" button to input target video to Winxvideo AI.
Step 3. Select the output for Apple TV.
Hundreds of output profiles are out there. To convert videos to Apple TV supported file formats, click "Target Format" -> "Apple Device" -> "to Apple TV Video" and then select a desired Apple TV profile.
Step 4. Begin converting for Apple TV.
Click "Browse" button to select a folder to save converted file. When all settings are finished, just hit "RUN" button to start converting video to best file format for Apple TV.
Part 3. FAQs
1. Can Apple TV play MKV files?
No. You can't play MKV files on Apple TV directly. You have two choices: turn to a compatibile media player like VLC, or convert MKV files to Apple TV compatible formats following the steps above.
2. How to airplay from my PC to Apple TV?
- Download the free AirPlay tool - 5KPlayer on your PC, install and open it.
- Connect computer and TV to the same Wi-Fi before you start to AirPlay.
- Tap the AirPlay icon on the top right of 5KPlayer, choose Apple TV name to enable AirPlay.
Note: Please confirm before you use AirPlay from PC to Apple TV, that two devices should connect to the same Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
3. Can Apple TV play video from USB?
No, not directly. You'd have to stream local movies over a network connection.
Still have some trouble about converting videos to Apple TV supported video file formats? Please feel free to Mail Us >>
