Big problems with M4A after updating to Windows 11 22H2

Hello Pete please answer, how did it happen that now the problem is already known for sure, but it was never identified in the list of known problems? https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-11-22h2 Just as there is no such problem in 23h2 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-11-23h2 Microsoft probably hasn't noticed the problem in more than 2 years? How can we be sure that Microsoft knows about the problem and is going to solve it if it is not listed, despite the fact that millions of people around the world suffer from it ?

Hmm. Snarky comment? Did you just scan my post so you could reply, and your knee jerk reaction was that it was snarky?

I will add:

d) Nobody searches for "how to report a bug in Windows"". They search for ""windows 11 audio skips"

e) Also, they find replies like yours, and then realise it's going to be not worth the trouble to report things.

The m4a container usually uses only a few codecs, which is the reason this issue was narrowed down to m4a.

I can see you understand this by your listing of AAC and ALAC, so I don't see the point of mentioning m4a is a container format. That is neither here nor there, as it is the container format used for streaming audio in YouTube. My Apple Music works perfectly fine.

If you're going to make a comment about the OS not being finished, I'll read it *along with the rest of the message*. What impression were you intending to leave with that, if not the one I got from it? Maybe I completely misjudged your intent with your closing comment.

As to the rest, you had said "The problem shows up in every YouTube Music or normal YouTube video, as those use mp4 for the audio stream."

That is a broad statement. What is it based on? Is your YouTube video having massive audio changes? If so, please submit a Feedback Hub report and send me a link so we can get traces on what is actually happening. Do you know of others who are seeing this? If so, please point me to them or ask them to submit repros as well. So far, this issue has been limited to the Apple encoding formats specifically in downloaded m4a audio files from Apple Music, and played back in other applications (like DJ software). We haven't seen anything or had anything reported on streamed video from YouTube.

Chromium optionally links in ffmpeg, though, and the various codecs it brings along so we likely wouldn't see problems with or reports from Chrome users. I don't know if Edge (also Chromium based) links it in or forwards to our in-box codec. Firefox also links in ffmpeg as well, so depending on how these various companies build / use ffmpeg, they likely never use any of our built-in codecs on Windows and so wouldn't exhibit the problem at all.

Apple Music playing its own files is also fine, from what I understand. It's likely Apple Music (the app) uses its own in-house codec as well.

"I don't see the point of mentioning m4a is a container format"

I mentioned that m4a is a container because you said it was a codec.

FWIW, when I went searching for feedback hub reports and internal bug reports for this when I first got involved, I searched on m4a, but also the codecs, all of the DJ applications I know of, etc. But also the folks who posted the info here named the thread m4a, and named the videos with AAC/M4A in the titles as well. So it's not as obscure as you might think, given the user population. But I know there are lots of folks who wouldn't know how to describe or report the issue. Luckily, there are so many PC users, that we're able to find some who do.

Agreed on search and what folks normally start with. But, that's not the point. I was replying to this (emphasis mine):

"Maybe Microsoft should make more of an effort to tell Windows 11 users about the feedback and bug reporting process, especially considering that W11 isn't even finished yet."

Like I said, we can/should do more there. But if folks want to know "about the feedback and bug reporting process" the info is there.

I know there are plenty of other issues with Feedback Hub, like how it can seem like a black hole that reports just go into. But the reality is, it's the only reasonable way for the engineering teams to get something actionable they can use to debug a problem. Without that, I can't get them to even look at a problem, as it would be a waste of their time without a demonstration of the issue that includes what was happening under the covers in Windows at the time.

Pete

Hey, mate. Thanks for posting about how to submit feedback and bug reports so that Microsoft can see them.

I just wanted to mention that most people will not know how to report this issue as a problem with the m4a codec.

The problem shows up in every YouTube Music or normal YouTube video, as those use mp4 for the audio stream.

I figured it out because I'm technical, but I bet that:

a) there are a lot of frustrated people who experience this issue, but don't know that it is related to m4a (or what that is), or

b) there are probably any reports all over forums like this one, but describing the problem as audio skipping on YouTube, and

c) people in general don't really report these things, but rather use a search engine to find information, which would lead them to forum threads like this one, and not to the Feedback Hub

Maybe Microsoft should make more of an effort to tell Windows 11 users about the feedback and bug reporting process, especially considering that W11 isn't even finished yet.

There can always be more help, but if you do a web search of "how to report a bug in Windows", the feedback hub instructions are right at the top of the search results. Unfortunately, our in-Windows search doesn't bring up the same.

My comments were about folks assuming that we knew about the bug. For the people in this thread, the first reply from the peer assistance here was also to file a Feedback Hub entry. So for certain, awareness was not the problem, at least for the folks landing on or participating in this thread.

On the format: Pretty sure this issue does not affect YouTube videos. If it does, that's a new twist, and I would want to see some logs of it doing it so we can investigate. MP4 is a container, as is m4a, so it depends on the codec being used for the audio component. From what I understand, this issue has only shown up with Apple Music, which uses AAC or ALAC as the audio format.

As to Windows not being finished: snarky comment aside, software is never finished. :)

Pete