Big problems with M4A after updating to Windows 11 22H2

Anonymous
2023-05-16T09:52:13+00:00

Dear colleagues, after updating Windows 11 to 22H2, there were significant problems with playing files purchased from iTunes in .m4a (AAC, ALAC) format. This problem has been fixed by a lot of people all over the world and is especially evident on the DJ forums. Problems are observed with the quality of playback, and with the volume and with a number of other parameters. This problem is detected on software that uses the built-in Windows 11 22H2 codecs (on earlier versions, the problem is not observed), Windows Media Player, RekordBox, Serato DJ Pro, etc. On players that use their own codecs (VLC, iTunes, JetAudio HD, etc.) there is no problem. When converting m4a to mp3, there are no problems. What it looks like: https://youtu.be/WqAA12pfWjg and https://youtu.be/um3QSTuLg6s Software vendors fix this issue after the 22H2 update as well, label it as a Microsoft issue and offer a workaround, such as converting the entire m4a database to other formats, which of course is completely unacceptable advice with a database of several thousand files. https://forums.pioneerdj.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/12212808237337-RekordBox-5-8-7-m4a-problems Does Microsoft acknowledge the existence of this problem and when is it planned to release an urgent fix, since. the problem has been observed for a very long time and prevents normal operation?

Thanks in advance!

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2024-03-27T00:42:35+00:00

I installed KB5035942 and unless I'm severely mistaken, the issue seems to be resolved.

Can anyone else confirm?

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-03-30T20:44:24+00:00

    I installed KB5035942 and unless I'm severely mistaken, the issue seems to be resolved.

    Can anyone else confirm?

    The volume and waveform fluctuations seem to have been fixed! I did notice a small thing (on Rekordbox at least) where the volume of purchased AAC/M4A tracks are noticably louder than the MP3 and manually encoded AAC/M4A versions. This should hopefully be a non-issue since we can manually dial down the gain very easily on our controllers, but I just thought that I'd point that out.

    Big thanks to everyone here who reported the bug and to Pete Brown and his team for working on it!

    https://youtu.be/vguBRLHJWiE

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-03-27T09:49:40+00:00

    I confirm that KB5035942 solves the problem. At least a few tracks with which there were problems are now displayed and played normally. I hope that it will be the same with the others, although there is no more trust in Microsoft, but I hope that the two-year saga is successfully completed. True, as usual, Microsoft “completely accidentally forgot” to indicate in the list of fixable problems KB5035942 that our problem was also fixed, as if it had not been observed for two years. Honest guys.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-03-22T10:59:17+00:00

    In fact, do you think that Microsoft owes nothing? Seriously? But I don’t think so, Microsoft directly declares support for these formats: https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/topic/file-types-supported-by-windows-media-player-32d9998e-dc8f-af54-7ba1-e996f74375d9 But already from NOVEMBER 2022 they destroyed full-fledged reproduction and this continues to this day. There can be no requirements for RekordBox or other software, because it uses Microsoft codecs. Like Windows Media Player, which has exactly the same problems with these formats. If you like the fact that you cannot work fully for two years and are forced to find workarounds, then I don’t like this state of affairs. And yes, Microsoft owes it, and not just to me.

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