Disclaimer and Legal Notice

attachment:IconsPage/IconDialog-Warning1.png Patent and licensing restrictions on media formats can complicate a free operating system's ability to distribute software that will support those formats. Ubuntu actively supports the FreeFormats. This page will walk you through getting support for the most popular non-free media formats.

If all of this seems like a lot of work to get non-free media playback up and running, please remember that Ubuntu's hands are tied by the owners of the licenses and patents. Look to the future and make sure that DRM and similar restrictions are carefully monitored by you -- the open source community and free software users.

Some of the packages listed here may be illegal in your country. This page is not legal advice.

Before You Start

• You must have administrative privileges to install packages. RootSudo explains how Ubuntu provides the necessary privileges.

• Nearly all the applications and packages mentioned on this page are found in the Universe and Multiverse repositories. See AddingRepositoriesHowto for instructions on enabling the Universe and Multiverse repositories.

• Some of the packages mentioned on this page are found in repositories not controlled by Ubuntu. Please do not file bugs about these packages:
  • realplayer
  • w32codecs

Playing Non Free Media

The Ubuntu Media Players

• Ubuntu comes with Totem (a movie player) and Rhythmbox (a music player)

• Kubuntu includes Kaffeine (a multimedia player) and Amarok (a music player)

These applications play free formats (Ogg Vorbis, Ogg Theora, and the like) 'out of the box'. However, they can also play most non-free media formats if you install some additional packages.

MP3s

• [:AddingRepositoriesHowto: Enable the multiverse and universe repositories] and install the proper package. Use your favorite package manager or type in a terminal:

Ubuntu

Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake)

• Use your favorite package manager to install the package {{{gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly

}}}

Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger)

• Use your favorite package manager to install the package {{{gstreamer0.8-mad

}}}

All Ubuntu Releases

• The Ubuntu File Manager can preview music files if you hover your mouse pointer over the file. If you would like this functionality, use your favorite package manager to install {{{mpg321 vorbis-tools

}}}

• If you experience jittery playback of MP3 previews, try installing 'mpg123-esd' instead of mpg321 mpg123-esd is not free, and is found in the multiverse repository.

Kubuntu

Kubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake)

• Use your favorite package manager to install {{{libxine-extracodecs

}}}

• To have mp3 support using K3b install {{{libk3b2-mp3

}}}

Kubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger)

• Kubuntu uses two different methods for playing mp3s. If you are using the version of amarok that comes by default with Kubuntu 5.10, use your favorite package manager to install {{{gstreamer0.8-mad

}}}

• If you are using the akode library for sound, install {{{akode-mpeg

}}}

• To have mp3 support using K3b install {{{k3b-mad

}}}

Ripping CDs

• If your portable music player does not support FreeFormats, the page [:CDRipping] explains how to convert your CDs to MP3 and AAC.

Other Non-Free Formats

• attachment:IconsPage/IconNote.png This is not needed for Kubuntu users, as libxine-extracodecs includes them all.

[:AddingRepositoriesHowto: Enable the universe and multiverse repositories] and install the necessary packages with your favorite package manager.

Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake)

• Install the packages {{{gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-gl gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse gstreamer0.10-pitfdll libxine-main1 libxine-extracodecs

}}}

Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) Install the packages

• {{{gstreamer0.8-plugins gstreamer0.8-plugins-multiverse gstreamer0.8-ffmpeg gstreamer0.8-pitfdll

}}}

Anchor(alternateplayers)

Alternative Media Players

Currently, the best support for MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (for example, encoded with DivX, XviD or FFmpeg MPEG-4), QuickTime and other non-free media formats is provided by Totem-xine, Kaffeine, gxine, and MPlayer.BR attachment:IconsPage/IconNote.png Playing WMV or RealVideo files requires a package that Ubuntu is unable to distribute (See [#w32codecs Windows Codecs] below for installation instructions).

Ubuntu

gxine is recommended for most users since MPlayer can be complicated to configure and use. If you would like to try these media players, [:AddingRepositoriesHowto: enable the universe and multiverse repositories] and install the following packages

Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake)

• {{{gxine mplayer

}}}

Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) and earlier