Videos Without Audio
A setting decides whether uploaded video is checked for an audio track before conversion.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Configuration:
- Site Settings — the File Uploads and Audio/Video Conversion groups
Why it matters
Some conversion configurations expect an audio track and fail outright on a video that has none. The failure is at conversion, after the upload succeeded, so the user sees nothing wrong and the file never becomes playable.
Checking first means the situation is handled rather than discovered.
Silent video is common
More common than people expect:
- Screen recordings made without microphone permission.
- Security and dashboard camera footage.
- Drone and inspection video.
- Clips edited to remove audio.
- Animations and screen captures.
If your users upload any of those, this is not an edge case.
Leave the check on
It costs a moment before conversion and removes a failure mode that is otherwise invisible. There is no good reason to turn it off other than a conversion configuration that genuinely handles silence.
The alternative failure is silent
Which is the point. Without the check, the record has a video attachment, the user believes it worked, and it does not play. Nobody finds out until somebody tries to watch it — often much later, when it mattered.
Test it deliberately
Upload a video with no audio track. Confirm it converts and plays, or that it fails with a message somebody sees. Either outcome is acceptable; silence is not.
Tell users what is supported
Next to the upload field. A sentence on accepted formats, duration and whether silent video is fine prevents most of the failures rather than handling them.
Watch the conversion failures
A pattern of them is usually one source — a particular camera, a particular team, a particular recording method. That is fixable at the source rather than in the configuration.
Consider whether you need video at all
Video is expensive to store, convert and serve, and much of what people upload as video would be better as photographs. Worth asking before enabling it broadly.
Worked example
An organisation collecting inspection footage found conversions failing for one team, who were recording on a device that captures no audio. The check was already on, so the failures were visible and were resolved by adjusting the conversion configuration rather than being found months later.
Recommendations
- Leave the check on.
- Test with a silent video deliberately.
- Say what is supported next to the upload field.
- Look for a common source behind repeated failures.