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Where do I get the MPEG-4 AAC decoder, and the H.264 decoder.

How to install them and play the multimedia?

Kulfy
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Balram Jamale
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7 Answers7

168

ubuntu-restricted-extras package allows users to install ability to play popular non-free media formats, including DVD, MP3, Quicktime, and Windows Media formats.

To install ubuntu-restricted-extras package:

  1. Open a terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T.

  2. Run this command:

     sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

  3. Alternatively, you can install the package via Software Center by launching it via Dash and searching the package and clicking on Install.

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Also, try installing libavcodec54 libav-tools and ffmpeg with this command:

sudo apt-get install libavcodec54 libav-tools ffmpeg

EDIT: Ubuntu 20.04+

In Ubuntu 20.04 onwards, you want libavcodecXX instead of 54:

For example:

sudo apt-get install libavcodec58 ffmpeg # Ubuntu 20.04
sudo apt-get install libavcodec59 ffmpeg # Ubuntu 22.04
sudo apt-get install libavcodec60 ffmpeg # Ubuntu 23.10

You can use apt search libavcodec to find the current version for your particular installation.

Community
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Peachy
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38

Support to decode MPEG-4 AAC is provided by gstreamer1.0-libav and to decode H.264 there is ffmpeg:

$ sudo apt-get install gstreamer1.0-libav ffmpeg

For more information have a look at the Ubuntu Documentation.

Oleg Abrazhaev
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webwurst
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26

The other answers seems to work on older versions but today when I was installing the same on clean install of Ubuntu 18.04 using Peachy's answer I got lot of errors. Using these commands I installed that in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS successfully.

sudo apt install libdvdnav4 libdvdread4 gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly libdvd-pkg
sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Note: In 20.04, libdvdread4 has been updated to libdvdread7, and in 20.10, it's now libdvdread8 (see Ubuntu packages for the current version).

Alex
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Kulfy
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9

Unfortunately none of these options seem to work on Ubuntu 16.04. I get a python 3.5 message for searching MPEG-4 AAC in one of the videos I try to play. None of the above fixing the missing codec.

A fine workaround is to install VLC:

sudo apt-get install vlc

(or from software center)

Update: found a fix:

sudo apt-get install gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad

This made sound work for Totem (Video)

Update: Try going to 'Software & Updates' and enabling the checkbox for 'Software restricted by by copyright or legal issues'. Then allow Ubuntu to update after clicking the close button. You should now be able to run:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

You'll also have to accept the EULA's terms and conditions before continuing.

Alex Moreno
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Vincent Gerris
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7

Beware of the audio-only gstreamer bug

Hearing only audio on H.264 playback with an otherwise black video screen was reported as gstreamer1.0 bug #1562875.

Luckily, this bug can easily be resolved by issuing the following command once:

$ rm -R ~/.cache/gstreamer-1.0

This will take effect after restarting the application.

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Serge Stroobandt
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1

In my case I also needed intel-media-va-driver-non-free on top of the above answers
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

neo post modern
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1

In the last Ubuntu ver 14.04 , 14.10 the best way for setup them is :

To install ubuntu-restricted-extras package:

Open a terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/trusty-media
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg libavcodec-extra-53 libavcodec53

and N-joy

A1Gard
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