macOS screen recordings are HEVC inside a .mov container, which Chromium,
Firefox and stock Electron can't decode. The file uploaded fine and a
server-side ffmpeg poster was generated, but inline <video> playback failed
silently — stuck at 0:00 with no error, since AttachmentRenderer had no error
handling. Root cause: the system had no concept of web-playability.
Server detects, client degrades:
- mediaPlayable.ts: classifyVideoPlayable(mimetype, codec) — tri-state
(false = known-undecodable e.g. HEVC/ProRes, true = web codec in web
container, null = unknown/optimistic). Never widens `false` beyond codecs
that fail everywhere, so ffmpeg-less instances keep prior behaviour.
- probeMediaMeta now captures the video codec_name; the upload finish hook
stores the verdict in the new attachments.playable column (migration 0007).
- Flag propagated through every serializer: space messages, DMs, WS, and
federation relay (outbound + inbound) — federation-compatible.
- VideoAttachment component: playable===false renders a download card (poster
+ "Can't play here — download" + name/duration/size) with no dead-player
flash; otherwise plays inline with an onError fallback to the same card.
Specs updated: uploads.md, database.md, federation.md.
Jannis Braun
209aef7e9d