Apple TV Movies - Some Download As MOVPKG Filetype

[Blackbird77]

I have had a few movies recently download in the Apple TV app on my iMac (and MBP) as .movpkg files. This is a problem because these movies don't show up in my library on my Apple TV 4K. I have a library of 759 movies I have purchased and downloaded to my iMac for playback to my Apple TV 4K. Most of my downloads, including recent downloads, save as .m4v files, but just a few have saved as .movpkg files.

The most recent movie to download this way is Top Gun: Maverick, downloaded today. I have checked all the settings and preference options I can think of but haven't found anything that will prevent this. I have also searched online for a solution to no avail. A week and a half ago I spent close to 2 hours on the phone with Apple Support, and they had no idea what the problem is. Sadly, they seemed to have no concept of what .m4v or .movpkg file types are.

The movie will not open in Apple TV on my computer. Before downloading, Apple TV shows the file size as 4.66 GB, but my downloaded file is only 2.72 GB. Aditionally, the Kind column in Apple TV is “HLS media”, rather than “Protected MPEG-4 video file” like my other movies.

Does anyone else have this issue or know of a solution?

 

[Beefbowl]

In (TV App) Preferences > Playback > Download Options, do you have it set to Most Compatible HD or High Quality? I vaguely recall one of them will get you an m4v and the other gets the new format.

Edit: Nope. This seems to be yet another new format, not the LAST new format that didn’t work on an Apple TV. Just tested it.

 

[Blackbird77]

In (TV App) Preferences > Playback > Download Options, do you have it set to Most Compatible HD or High Quality? I vaguely recall one of them will get you an m4v and the other gets the new format.

Edit: Nope. This seems to be yet another new format, not the LAST new format that didn’t work on an Apple TV. Just tested it.

Thanks, Beefbowl. I had already tried both of those options, but this is a reasonable question.

 

[Beefbowl]

For what it’s worth, iTunes on Windows seems to download a .m4v still. Older versions of iTunes on Mac might as well? I don’t feel like booting a Mojave system to check and it would be almost as annoying of a workaround.

Also I discovered that I can’t sign into any Apple services on my newish Surface Pro, I just get an unhelpful error message with tons of hits on Google but no answers. Fortunately an older PC I had was still able to log in to iTunes to test.

Edit: I don’t own Maverick (great movie, though!) but I tested with The Bad Guys and got a movpkg file on my Mac but an m4v on the Windows PC. Thought I should test with the newest movie I had.

 

[Blackbird77]

I'm thinking this might have something to do with our internet download speed, but it only occurs on very specific movies and seems to be consistent on those movies. The only internet service available where we live is satellite or wireless (we have both Hughesnet satellite and AT&T Wireless internet), and I get the same result on both of those. Again, this only happens on specific movies. Most movies download just fine for me.

My daughter lives about 25 minutes away and has cable. Since she is in my family sharing, I asked her to try the Top Gun: Maverick download. She was able to download the movie and it is a normal .m4v file. I'll stop by her place tomorrow afternoon and try the download on my MBP. If that works, it will be a good indicator that the issue truly is related to our internet service.

I'll report the results tomorrow evening.

Thanks, again for the help Beefbowl.

 

[Nermal]

Is a .movpkg actually a package? In other words, can you right-click it in Finder and go to Show Package Contents, and is there a standard .mov or .m4v in there?

This is just a guess, as I've never seen one before.

 

[Blackbird77]

Is a .movpkg actually a package? In other words, can you right-click it in Finder and go to Show Package Contents, and is there a standard .mov or .m4v in there?

This is just a guess, as I've never seen one before.

Hi, Nermal.

Yes, it is actually a package, and no, there is not a .mov or .m4v file in there. Since no one at Apple Support could tell me anything about it, I may just resort to emailing Tim Cook and respectfully ask if he can point me to someone who can help resolve this.

 

[Audit13]

Question: do the downloaded movies play in 4k? I always thought it's best to stream purchased 4k movies such as Top Gun to get Dolby Vision and Atmos.

 

[arw]

For what it’s worth, iTunes on Windows seems to download a .m4v still. Older versions of iTunes on Mac might as well? I don’t feel like booting a Mojave system to check and it would be almost as annoying of a workaround.

IF using an old version of iTunes would indeed be a working solution, then Retroactive is worth a try as it installs iTunes 12.9.5 (last Mojave version) on Big Sur and Monterey.
Especially as Apple support doesn‘t even seem to comprehend the issue…

Aditionally, the Kind column in Apple TV is “HLS media”, rather than “Protected MPEG-4 video file” like my other movies.

HLS is a live streaming protocol used a.e. by streaming VOD services. It’s strange the downloaded file references to that instead of the media container. For saving such streams, the individual segments of video and audio have to be joined in a container like m4v. Maybe the .movpkg is a preliminary stage to the final video file…
If you download the same movie twice, does the .movpkg have the exact same size or is the download/extract maybe interrupted?

edit: .movpkg itself seems to be a (new) valid file type for TV.app

 

[Mr. Awesome]

If you download the same movie twice, does the .movpkg have the exact same size or is the download/extract maybe interrupted?

This is my thought as well. I’d imagine that the movpkg is kind of like a .download, in that it converts to the proper file type once the whole thing completes downloading.

 

[0128672]

I don't know if this will help shed light on the question, but I tested this today by downloading a movie from my library (The Phantom Menace; not my favorite, just picked something quickly). I tested with the TV app (version 1.2.5.7) download settings as High Quality up to 1080p. I'm on Monterey 12.5.1.

While the download was in progress, in [user] > Movies > TV > Media > Downloads-TV, a folder named [movie title].tmp was created. Inside it was the [movie title].download.movpkg (HLS Media type) file and an info.plist file.

When the download completed, the file moved into [user] > Movies > TV > Media > Movies, inside a movie title folder and a single file named [movie title].movpkg. The file is 2.33 GB and the file type is still HLS Media.

Double clicking on that file (or playing from my library) plays the movie in the TV app. To ensure it was this file and not streaming, I turned off wi-fi.

It seems something in the download process is broken for the OP, but I can at least confirm the process itself works with the movpkg files.

During download:

After download completed:

 

[kroyal]

I’m having the same problems here with newly downloaded movies in my shared library on my Apple TVs and any iPads on my home network. When I followed the advice posted at this link below, I was able to download an .m4v file (Real Genius - didn’t want to mess around with my copy of Maverick) that seems to work and show up on my Apple TV and when using an iPad. Not an ideal solution, but I hope this helps?

I also hope this is a temporary issue and that an updated version of the OS and Apple TV app on my Mac mini home movie server will fix this problem in October.

tv app and hls (.movpkg) files - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

 

[blujein]

I'm actually experiencing the same issue as the OP (even the same movie). The file-format itself isn't my biggest issue but strangely when I attempt to move the .movpkg file from its original download location within the "TV" folder to an external HDD where I keep all my media and then attempt to re-add the moved file back to my TV app it simply won't add it to the library. It appears and is selectable in the "Finder" window and doesn't report an error but it just won't add it.

 

[jimwraith]

Glad to finally find this thread. I'm having the same problem. I have an M2 MacBook Air, M1 Max MacBook Pro, and M1 iMac, and all three are doing the same thing: I keep getting HLS format files instead of M4V files when I download.

The HLS files are smaller, cannot stream from Mac computer to Apple TV, and cannot be transferred to iPhone/iPad. This is my biggest problem: I transfer movies from my computer to my iPads and iPhone since my ISP (Xfinity) has a data cap, and downloading a ton of movies blows past the data cap pretty quick.

Eager to see if this gets resolved. I've tried it with old and new movies: The Hobbit trilogy, Doctor Strange 2, Top Gun: Maverick all have the same problem: keep downloading HLS instead of M4V.

The entire situation is very frustrating...

 

[arw]

Glad to finally find this thread. I'm having the same problem. I have an M2 MacBook Air, M1 Max MacBook Pro, and M1 iMac, and all three are doing the same thing: I keep getting HLS format files instead of M4V files when I download.

The HLS files are smaller, cannot stream from Mac computer to Apple TV, and cannot be transferred to iPhone/iPad. This is my biggest problem: I transfer movies from my computer to my iPads and iPhone since my ISP (Xfinity) has a data cap, and downloading a ton of movies blows past the data cap pretty quick.

Eager to see if this gets resolved. I've tried it with old and new movies: The Hobbit trilogy, Doctor Strange 2, Top Gun: Maverick all have the same problem: keep downloading HLS instead of M4V.

The entire situation is very frustrating...

Have you tried the suggested workaround? If it works, it‘s at least better than nothing.

I went to TV app > Preferences > Playback and made sure both "Download Multichannel Audio" and "Download HDR when available" were unchecked. When I restarted the movie download it came down as an m4v file."

 

[jimwraith]

Have you tried the suggested workaround? If it works, it‘s at least better than nothing.

I did try. The current version of the TV App in MacOS has the "Download Multichannel Audio", but does not have the "Download HDR when available" option. I've wondered if the removal of this option in the interface was not accompanied by its functional removal on the backend of the program.

In any case, I've tried every variation of settings, and they all result in HLS format downloads...very frustrating...

Thanks for the suggestions, though. It's helpful to get confirmation that some of the things I have tried are solutions others have thought of as well.

 

[JimmerJabber]

Hi All

I've tested the OPs issue, and unfortunately experienced the same issue with being unable to download in .m4v (which previously I've been able to do). Running MacOS 12.6 and testing a couple different movies, from a small selection.

Options tested:
- Download Options: High Quality (Up to 1080p) vs Most Compatible HD (1080p)
- Download Multichannel Audio: Selected vs not selected

The option to "Download HDR when available" does not appear to be available in MacOS 12.6 (see screenshot below).

Oh well, I guess just another example of Apple breaking existing functionality / restricting user flexibility!

 

[JimmerJabber]

Okay, spoke too soon (at least partly)!

Just tested "The Deer Hunter" and "The Drop" with:
- "Most Compatible HD (1080p), and
- "Download Multichannel Audio" enabled. This is contrary to the recommended work-around to receive a .m4v file, but for whatever reason the movies downloaded in .m4v.

Didn't work for "Dunkirk" though or "War for the Planet of the Apes" (tried all 4 combinations but only received in HLS).

 

[allan]

Same here. Even movies I purchased many years ago are downloading as .movpkg files (Kind: HLS Media). It doesn't matter what I configure in the preferences.

I'm still on Monterey, however. Is this still happening on Ventura?

 

[jimwraith]

Still happening with Ventura. My current workaround is to download with a Windows PC using iTunes. It sucks, but it gets me the M4V files...

 

[hinrgmike]

Ugh! My Mac TV app started downloading HLS formatted media files last Fall. At first it was just a few titles and eventually everything. Nothing worked to change back. Used the work around to download with iTunes on one of my Windows PC.

Well, today, ran into my first new movie that is doing what happened when they started phasing out iTunes on Mac: when I go to buy on Windows it tells me that I can only download in 720 format but can watch at higher resolution on other devices. Bought on my Mac and went back to Windows iTunes and it downloaded and when I checked file it was 720p.

So this is going to go like it did when they phased out Mac iTunes; over weeks to come, all movies will be capped at 720p to download. For me, this will be the end of buying from Apple. I do not want everything in the cloud and I like to stream locally from my Mac server to my Apple TV devices. HLS media will not show up there. So back to buying blu-rays and ripping them and putting into Apple TV AND Plex (run that as well to stream when I travel).

Amazes me that hardly anyone on here is talking about the HLS issue and just embraces or accepts this. Ah, well, Apple doesn't need my money anyways

 

[Beefbowl]

That’s frustrating. I just redownloaded a number of movies on my Windows system that all came down as 1080p, but I haven’t bought any new releases for a while, all catalog titles. What movie was it?

 

[hinrgmike]

That’s frustrating. I just redownloaded a number of movies on my Windows system that all came down as 1080p, but I haven’t bought any new releases for a while, all catalog titles. What movie was it?

There's Something Wrong with the Children. New Blumhouse movie just released. Surprised it would start with a BlumHouse and not a major studio release like Disney. It's available in 1080p (and streams 4k). Back to back bought that and "The Offering", another new release. That movie downloaded in 1080p fine on Windows 10. No matter what I did with the BlumHouse movie, it downloaded in 720p. And of course, it will download in HLS media on my iMac or MacBook Pro.

This is how it started a few years ago when they wanted to nudge people off of the older iTunes apps. At first it was just a few movies and it gradually spread until all the movies were capped at 720p downloads.

Next time this happens, that will be the end of me buying any movies thru iTunes and will just wait from Blu-Ray releases and rip those. Hate going back to physical media but whatever. In that case will generally buy 4K and then just rip 4K and 1080p versions so I suppose that is upside.

 

[Beefbowl]

That’s a very disturbing trend. I’m not sure I’m ready to go back to physical media myself but I’m not sure the good options otherwise.

 

[hinrgmike]

M3GAN movie (another new Blumhouse) running into same issue: only downloads in 720p on Windows iTunes and of course like ALL movies now, only HLS media on any Mac product. So with that, I'm tapping out of any further Apple movie purchases. For now on, will watch early releases often on Disney or HBO Max and otherwise wait for Blu-ray or 4K depending on movie and pick that up and rip it to run on Apple TV app server and now will also put more focus into Plex going forwards as well.