Samba OelekFormats and codecs
Exactly which containers, video codecs and SMB versions have been tested with Samba Oelek, and what has not.
Samba Oelek decodes on the Apple TV. Formats the system decodes natively play through Apple’s player. Everything else goes through the bundled VLC decoder. The list below is what was actually tested, not a promise for every file.
Tested and passing
| Container | Video / audio | Decoder | Where tested |
|---|---|---|---|
| MOV, MP4 | H.264 | Apple | Simulator |
| MOV, MP4 | HEVC (H.265) | Apple | Apple TV 4K, simulator |
| MOV | ProRes | VLC | Apple TV 4K, simulator, real recordings from a Raspberry Pi share |
| MKV | H.264 / AAC | VLC | Apple TV 4K, simulator |
| MKV | HEVC / AAC | VLC | Apple TV 4K, simulator |
| AVI | MPEG-4 Part 2 (XVID) / MP3 | VLC | Apple TV 4K, simulator |
| AVI | Motion JPEG / PCM 16-bit | Apple | Apple TV 4K, simulator |
Each MKV and AVI check covered thumbnail, playback, pause and resume, seeking to 60 percent, playback after the seek, and stop. The MKV and AVI clips were generated 20-second test files, not full-length movies. ProRes and HEVC were checked with real recordings, HEVC as 10-bit HLG files from an iPhone.
Also tested
- SMB dialects 2.0.2, 2.1, 3.0, 3.0.2 and 3.1.1, guest and password sessions, servers that require signing or encryption.
- Seeking in files larger than 4 GiB, verified against an independent read of the same bytes.
- Server addresses as IPv4, IPv6,
.localhostnames and explicit ports.
Not tested or not a feature
- Subtitles. There is no subtitle feature. Embedded or sidecar subtitles are not shown.
- Multiple audio tracks, Dolby Atmos, audio passthrough. Not confirmed. A file plays its default track.
- HDR and Dolby Vision on a real TV. HDR handling exists in the playback path, but output on a physical HDR television has not been verified. Dolby Vision profiles are not confirmed.
- Other codecs and containers such as VC-1, WMV, AV1, DTS audio or damaged files. They may or may not play. There is no transcoding fallback.
- Music, photos, playlists. Video files only.
If a file from your own collection fails, the support address on the press and contact page is the right place to report it, ideally with the codec details from a tool like MediaInfo.
Checked against: Samba Oelek README, docs/format-tests.md (22 September 2026) and Raspberry Pi test matrix, 1.0.1. Last checked 2026-09-26.