mp4decrypt unexpected argument error

[videre]

Hello

I followed the sticky threads here and finally got to the last step but I have encountered a problem that seems to be very unusual. Only 5 Google search results for 'mp4decrypt "unexpected argument"' and none of them help. Maybe I'm doing something very stupid but I'm out of ideas so any help would be appreciated.

mp4decrypt -–key 912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:7b0542319fac0266be4ef2fc89316c7f videoencrypted.mp4 videodecrypted.mp4
ERROR: unexpected argument (videoencrypted.mp4)

I have the same result on MacOS 14.3 and on Ubuntu 16. I downloaded the binaries from https://www.bento4.com/downloads/ (the appropriate one for each OS) and placed mp4decrypt in /usr/local/bin for each. I get the same version on both systems.

I can provide .mp4 file if needed but it seems like there is something else wrong with my mp4decrypt since it doesn't even accept the input arguments.

mp4decrypt
MP4 Decrypter - Version 1.4
(Bento4 Version 1.6.0.0)

videoencrypted.mp4 is video only. There is also an audio component but if I understand correctly that has to be decrypted separately.

I have also tried these with same result:

I've also tried using KID 0 and 1 and --show-progress option without any difference.

More detail of how I got the files and the key, if needed:
- yt-dlp --allow-unplayable-formats <url_for_mpd> to download the encrypted .mp4 and .m4a files
- "Dumping Your own L3 CDM with Android Studio" thread in this forum to create CDM
- pywidevine create-device to create WVD
- pywidevine with the WVD, PSSH from MPD, license server with custom headers to obtain the key

[Obo]

Is the video really encrypted? And there's definitely no typo in the filename?

You can perform a quick check and run

ffprobe videoencrypted.mp4

to see, if it ffprobe does complain or not. If it doesn't, it is not encrypted. But you might as well simply try to play the video...

[iamghost]

add "

mp4decrypt -–key 912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:7b0542319fac0266be4ef2fc89316c7f "videoencrypted.mp4" "videodecrypted.mp4"

[juan]

Im assuming you already use N_m3u8DL-RE and didn't work .
Maybe you should try this -m XstreamDL_CLI.cli --key yourkey --name xxx https://xxx.mpd

or maybe this : shaka-packager.exe in=video.mp4,stream=video.mp4,output=video2.mp4 --enable_raw_key_decryption --keys key_id=912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:key=7b0542 319fac0266be4ef2fc89316c7f

or this : mp4decrypt -–key 912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:7b0542319fac0266b e4ef2fc89316c7f c:/user/xx/videoencrypted.mp4 c:user/xx/videodecrypted.mp4

Specify the full path of your encrypted video and the output decrypt video.

[pssh]

Hello

I followed the sticky threads here and finally got to the last step but I have encountered a problem that seems to be very unusual. Only 5 Google search results for 'mp4decrypt "unexpected argument"' and none of them help. Maybe I'm doing something very stupid but I'm out of ideas so any help would be appreciated.

mp4decrypt -–key 912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:7b0542319fac0266be4ef2fc89316c7f videoencrypted.mp4 videodecrypted.mp4
ERROR: unexpected argument (videoencrypted.mp4)

I have the same result on MacOS 14.3 and on Ubuntu 16. I downloaded the binaries from https://www.bento4.com/downloads/ (the appropriate one for each OS) and placed mp4decrypt in /usr/local/bin for each. I get the same version on both systems.

I can provide .mp4 file if needed but it seems like there is something else wrong with my mp4decrypt since it doesn't even accept the input arguments.

mp4decrypt
MP4 Decrypter - Version 1.4
(Bento4 Version 1.6.0.0)

videoencrypted.mp4 is video only. There is also an audio component but if I understand correctly that has to be decrypted separately.

I have also tried these with same result:

I've also tried using KID 0 and 1 and --show-progress option without any difference.

More detail of how I got the files and the key, if needed:
- yt-dlp --allow-unplayable-formats <url_for_mpd> to download the encrypted .mp4 and .m4a files
- "Dumping Your own L3 CDM with Android Studio" thread in this forum to create CDM
- pywidevine create-device to create WVD
- pywidevine with the WVD, PSSH from MPD, license server with custom headers to obtain the key

I would try

mp4info --verbose videoencrypted.mp4

to see if the KID:KEY is correct and the video has the same KID

[videre]

Thanks for your replies. I have now tried shaka-packager and that works. You could say the problem is solved but really it's problem avoided. I would still like to know why mp4decrypt doesn't work on two of my computers with different OSes. I could learn something from that.

So I used the same encrypted video file and same KID:KEY and these are the results:

shaka-packager in='videoencrypted.mp4',stream=video,output='videodecrypted.mp4' --enable_raw_key_decryption --keys key_id=912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:key=7b0542319fac0266be4ef2fc89316c7f
I0531 09:10:46.167791 21128436 demuxer.cc:94] Demuxer::Run() on file 'videoencrypted.mp4'.
I0531 09:10:46.168031 21128436 demuxer.cc:160] Initialize Demuxer for file 'videoencrypted.mp4'.
I0531 09:10:46.383213 21128436 single_segment_segmenter.cc:111] Update media header (moov) and rewrite the file to 'videodecrypted.mp4'.
I0531 09:10:46.428998 21128436 mp4_muxer.cc:193] MP4 file 'videodecrypted.mp4' finalized.
Packaging completed successfully.

mp4decrypt -–key 912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:7b0542319fac0266be4ef2fc89316c7f --show-progress --verbose videoencrypted.mp4 videodecrypted.mp4                                                             
ERROR: unexpected argument (--verbose)

Note that the unexpected argument is now "--verbose" rather than "videoencrypted.mp4". I'm not sure that --verbose is an option for mp4decrypt. But --show-progress is an option because the unexpected argument is "videoencrypted.mp4" again when --verbose is omitted:

mp4decrypt -–key 912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:7b0542319fac0266be4ef2fc89316c7f --show-progress videoencrypted.mp4 videodecrypted.mp4
ERROR: unexpected argument (videoencrypted.mp4)

It seems like a problem with parsing arguments rather than anything to do with decryption. Since the same error appears in MacOS and Ubuntu, and I "installed" mp4decrypt in the same way for both, maybe that's the cause of the problem. In both cases I copied the file mp4decrypt into /usr/local/bin and gave it executable permission. (In MacOS I used the Settings > Security > Open Anyway method. In Ubuntu I used chmod +x method.) The file is obviously executable on both systems. But maybe there is a dependency issue. Am I supposed to install any other files from the bento4 package? I can't find any information about the installation of the bento4 files (if you don't use a package manager like Homebrew).

So I also installed bento4 with Homebrew on MacOS. It reports as having exactly the same version as the other mp4decrypt (Version 1.4 (Bento4 Version 1.6.0.0)) and has exactly the same output:

/usr/local/Cellar/bento4/1.6.0-641/bin/mp4decrypt -–key 912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:7b0542319fac0266be4ef2fc89316c7f --show-progress videoencrypted.mp4 videodecrypted.mp4
ERROR: unexpected argument (videoencrypted.mp4)

If there was a dependency, Homebrew should have dealt with that. So maybe it's not a dependency problem. I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions?

[videre]

Is the file really encrypted file? Yes it is. This is ffprobe output. Opening videoencrypted.mp4 with VLC shows no video but "plays" for the same duration as the decrypted video. All the other facts about how the file was obtained also show that it is definitely encrypted.

ffprobe videoencrypted.mp4
ffprobe version 6.1.1 Copyright (c) 2007-2023 the FFmpeg developers
  built with Apple clang version 15.0.0 (clang-1500.1.0.2.5)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/ffmpeg/6.1.1_4 --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-version3 --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags='-Wl,-ld_classic' --enable-ffplay --enable-gnutls --enable-gpl --enable-libaom --enable-libaribb24 --enable-libbluray --enable-libdav1d --enable-libharfbuzz --enable-libjxl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-librav1e --enable-librist --enable-librubberband --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libtesseract --enable-libtheora --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-lzma --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-frei0r --enable-libass --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenvino --enable-libspeex --enable-libsoxr --enable-libzmq --enable-libzimg --disable-libjack --disable-indev=jack --enable-videotoolbox --enable-audiotoolbox
  libavutil      58. 29.100 / 58. 29.100
  libavcodec     60. 31.102 / 60. 31.102
  libavformat    60. 16.100 / 60. 16.100
  libavdevice    60.  3.100 / 60.  3.100
  libavfilter     9. 12.100 /  9. 12.100
  libswscale      7.  5.100 /  7.  5.100
  libswresample   4. 12.100 /  4. 12.100
  libpostproc    57.  3.100 / 57.  3.100
[h264 @ 0x7ff1e6b04940] top block unavailable for requested intra mode -1
[h264 @ 0x7ff1e6b04940] error while decoding MB 4 0, bytestream 57549
[h264 @ 0x7ff1e6b04940] concealing 3600 DC, 3600 AC, 3600 MV errors in I frame
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'videoencrypted.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41iso5iso6
  Duration: 00:02:19.27, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2029 kb/s
  Stream #0:0[0x1](und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709, progressive), 720x1280, 2020 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 15360 tbn (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : Bento4 Video Handler
      vendor_id       : [0][0][0][0]
      encoder         : Lavc60.31.102 libx264
    Side data:
      unknown side data type 24 (115 bytes)

[videre]

Here is mp4info output:

mp4info --verbose videoencrypted.mp4
File:
  major brand:      isom
  minor version:    200
  compatible brand: isom
  compatible brand: iso2
  compatible brand: avc1
  compatible brand: mp41
  compatible brand: iso5
  compatible brand: iso6
  fast start:       yes

Movie:
  duration:   139272 (movie timescale units)
  duration:   139272 (ms)
  time scale: 1000
  fragments:  yes

Found 1 Tracks
Track 1:
  flags:        7 ENABLED IN-MOVIE IN-PREVIEW
  id:           1
  type:         Video
  duration: 139267 ms
  language: und
  media:
    sample count: 0
    timescale:    15360
    duration:     0 (media timescale units)
    duration:     0 (ms)
    bitrate (computed): 2020.454 Kbps
    sample count with fragments: 4178
    duration with fragments:     2139136
    duration with fragments:     139267 (ms)
  display width:  720.000000
  display height: 1280.000000
  Sample Description 0
    [ENCRYPTED]
      Coding:         encv
      Scheme Type:    cenc
      Scheme Version: 65536
      Scheme URI:     
    Protection System Details:
[schi] size=8+32
  [tenc] size=12+20
    default_isProtected = 1
    default_Per_Sample_IV_Size = 16
    default_KID = [91 2d 29 a0 3a 0c 40 6d aa 51 90 41 2b 58 3a 85]
    Bytes: 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
    Coding:       avc1 (H.264)
    Codec String: avc1.64001F
    AVC Profile:          100 (High)
    AVC Profile Compat:   0
    AVC Level:            31
    AVC NALU Length Size: 4
    AVC SPS: [6764001facd940b40a1a6a02020280000003008000001e078c18cb]
    AVC PPS: [68ebecb22c]
    Width:       720
    Height:      1280
    Depth:       24

[videre]

I have also tried using the full path for the input and output files. Also with single and double quotation marks. Same result.

And if the input and output file arguments are omitted, this is the result:

mp4decrypt -–key 912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:7b0542319fac0266be4ef2fc89316c7f --show-progress                                                                                                    
ERROR: cannot open input file (-–key) -4

And if I rearrange the arguments:

mp4decrypt videoencrypted.mp4 videodecrypted.mp4 -–key 912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:7b0542319fac0266be4ef2fc89316c7f --show-progress 
ERROR: unexpected argument (-–key)

Again, seems like a problem with parsing the arguments.

[cedric8528]

delete

[LZAA]

mp4decrypt -key 912d29a03a0c406daa5190412b583a85:7b0542319fac0266b e4ef2fc89316c7f videoencrypted.mp4 videodecrypted.mp4
ERROR: unexpected argument (videoencrypted.mp4)

[white_snake]

You typed:

-–key

instead of

--key

In other words, it needs to be two minus signs (-) and you typed a minus sign followed by an en dash (–).

[videre]

That solved it! Well spotted. Thank you.

I figured out why I had an en dash there at all. The first mention of mp4decrypt in the "Decryption and the Temple of Doom" thread (https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/404994-Decryption-and-the-Temple-of-Doom) uses an en dash. I copy/pasted it from there, without realising it was an en dash. When that didn't work I thought it needed two hypens, as I saw in other examples, so I added a hyphen. That's how I ended up with a hyphen and an en dash.

I'll comment on that tread about this so maybe it can be edited and other people don't waste their time.

What I learned is that copy/paste is sometimes a mistake, and check the hyphens.