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PowerPoint for Mac, embedded MP4 videos freeze or stutter, 2025

Anonymous
2025-04-01T20:36:09+00:00

Hello

I use PowerPoint on new(ish) MacBook Pro (M3 Max chip, latest Sequoia 15.4 macOS) and I've found my embedded MP4 video clips either freeze, stutter, or blur with mosaicism when I play my presentation. The videos are MP4 and H.264 (no audio track); approximately 463 kb in size; and the options selected are play fullscreen, play automatically, and loop until stopped. These video clips play fine when I open them in VLC media player.

I have the latest version of MS PowerPoint (version 16.95.1, 2025) on my M3 Max MacBook Pro, and I've got the 365 subscription. When I check the activity monitor during the presentation when the videos freeze/stutter there is no high load on my CPU or GPU

Interestingly when I run the same presentation on my much older MacBook Pro (2016 Intel i7, Monterey macOS) all the videos play smoothly. I've not had any problems with embedded video playback before on PowerPoint (version 16.89.1, 2024) my old MacBook Pro even though it's an older version which won't update since i'm running Monterey macOS.

Thanks for your help!

Microsoft 365 and Office | PowerPoint | For home | MacOS

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  1. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2025-04-14T16:29:45+00:00

    Yes, that is certainly a strong possibility, but I think we'd be seeing hundreds of questions about it if that were the case. I'm leaning toward something specific to your Mac as the cause for now.

    Let's try another quick test. Make a new user in Mac OS System Settings and switch to that user account. Then test PowerPoint. Is it the same or all better?

    Another test is to try a different version of PowerPoint. Because you have a subscription, you are eligible to try the beta builds. If you install a beta channel build, it will completely reinstall Office and eliminate any chances for installation issues. Plus you might discover some new features being tested. However, I'm just interested in getting you onto a different, newer build for testing. If the problem persists, feedback submitted via Menu Bar > Help > Feedback > Report a Problem in the beta channel build goes directly to the PowerPoint product manger where I know it will be read.

    Welcome to the Office Insider for Mac community!

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-04-13T15:19:16+00:00

    Hello thanks for this suggestion. I've tried it in safe mode and unfortunately it still does the same thing. Perhaps it's a bug with the new PowerPoint in MacOS?

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  3. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2025-04-13T13:03:53+00:00

    Hi Shaun,

    Thanks for providing the information that same presentation plays smoothly on slower hardware than your M4. I don't think there's a memory issue here (but it's possible). I'm leaning toward the idea that some other process is grabbing the processor while the slide show is running.

    There's a pretty easy to perform test to see if my hunch is correct. Start your Mac in Safe Mode and then play the presentation.

    How to Boot in Safe Mode on an Apple Silicon Powered Mac

    If the problem is gone, then we should look into the possibility of a bad or duplicate font, or some other application that's grabbing your processor. If the problem continues to exist, then either PowerPoint of Mac OS may be problematic.

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-04-07T13:40:52+00:00

    Hello could you show me where I can find the option to clear application data on Mac? Also I have a screen recording of how it freezes when playing full screen, but fine when editing. Would this be helpful, and how can I get it to you?

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  5. Anonymous
    2025-04-05T14:11:36+00:00

    Thank you for your message. I'm still getting the same result. You can try selecting "Clear Application Data" in the Help menu to see if it makes a difference.

    Best Regards

    Leo.Z | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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