RestrictedFormats

Revision 340 as of 2006-06-09 03:11:38

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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 for your Release. See AddingSoftware for instructions about how to install packages.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake)

  • Install the package gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly.

Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger)

  • 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 and 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.

    The Kubuntu file manager Konqueror can preview sound files if you hover your mouse pointer over the file (this can be enabled in Konqueror's menu under View->Preview->Sound files). If you would like this functionality to work with mp3 files also, install libarts1-xine.

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 while 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

}}}

Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) Install the packages

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

}}}

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. Playing WMV or RealVideo files requires a package that Ubuntu is unable to distribute (See [#w32codecs Windows Codecs] below for installation instructions).

Ubuntu

Totem-xine or gxine are 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)

  • {{{totem-xine gxine libxine-extracodecs mplayer

}}}

Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) and earlier

  • {{{totem-xine gxine

}}}

Using MPlayer will require you to choose the proper package for your computer. MplayerInstallHowto explains how to chose the package, and has a sample configuration that you can use.

Kubuntu

In addition to the default kaffeine player, you could try KMplayer and Codeine. Install the packages

Kubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake)

  • {{{kmplayer codeine mplayer xine-ui libxine-extracodecs

}}}

Anchor(w32codecs)

Windows Codecs

i386 distribution

Support for WMV, RealMedia and other formats has been bundled into the w32codecs package. Since this package is not supported by Ubuntu, you will need to install it from an unoffical repository. Simply type in a terminal:

sudo dpkg -i w32codecs_20050412-0.4_i386.deb }}}

AMD64 distribution

  • The [#w32codecs Windows Codecs] cannot be used directly by the AMD64 distribution. Some people solve this problem by installing the i386 Ubuntu distribution inside a chroot (for example, [:VServer:Linux Vserver] or [http://packages.ubuntu.com/breezy/admin/dchroot dchroot]), and this works very well.

PowerPC distribution

  • The PowerPC distribution cannot use the [#w32codecs Windows Codecs].

Playing Streaming Video from the Internet

  • attachment:IconsPage/IconNote.png This is not needed for Konqueror; Kubuntu comes with a plugin by default.

There are a variety of plugins that allow you to play streaming video in your browser. The recommended plugin is totem-xine-firefox-plugin. You should install the [#w32codecs Windows Codecs], [:AddingRepositoriesHowto: enable the universe repository] and, install the totem-xine-firefox-plugin package.

Playing DVDs

Most commercial DVDs are encrypted with CSS (the Content Scrambling System). The movie players provided in Ubuntu are capable of reading DVDs that are not encrypted. You can enable reading encrypted DVDs in MPlayer, xine and Totem-xine by installing libdvdcss2.

  • attachment:IconsPage/IconDialog-Warning1.png Ubuntu 6.06's GNOME default version of Totem does not support playing DVDs. You must install Totem-xine in order to play DVDs using Totem. See [#alternateplayers Alternative Media Players] for instructions.

Installing ''libdvdcss2''

  • Use your favorite package manager to install the libdvdread3 package, then download the libdvdcss2 library by typing in a terminal: {{{sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/examples/install-css.sh

}}}

  • (i) Note for the AMD64 distribution: The install-css.sh script as called above will compile libdvdcss2 for you, rather than downloading a prebuilt binary. You will need to install debhelper, build-essential and fakeroot first.

What to do if your DVD player locks up

If your DVD player locks up on nearly every DVD movie you try to play, you probably have a DVD player that does not match your Region Code. A Region Code indicates the geographical region where the DVD was published. For example, you cannot play a DVD published in Japan on a DVD player in the United States without changing the Region Code of the DVD player.

  • attachment:IconsPage/IconDialog-Warning1.png The author of regionset states that you can only change regions 4 times. He also states that this procedure is irreversible, and may render your drive permanently unable to read DVDs encoded for your region.

To change the Region Code of your DVD player, insert a DVD from your region in the DVD player, and do the following:

Use your favourite package manager to install the regionset package, then type in a terminal: