How can I play mp4 movie on my ubuntu OS?

Question

I recently downloaded a movie in MP4 format. It is not playing in VLC player. The player shows the message:

You are missing codec pack to play this movie.

I searched for the codec pack but I didn't find any. What should I do to play these type of files on my ubuntu 14.04 LTS?

I have downloaded many packages such as ubuntu-restricted-extras, popcorntime & ffmpeg but none of them works.

Answer 1

This command in a terminal should do:

sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras

(As already explained by David Foerster, but this should be an answer, not a comment.)

Answer 2

Install gstreamer by typing this in terminal:

sudo apt-get install gstreamer1.0-libav

I got success. Hopefully you will. Basically the H.264 plugin is not installed.

Answer 3

VideoLAN VLC is a free video player for Windows and Ubuntu that supports many formats, including MP3s, DVDs, and MP4s.

I'd give that a try and see if it helps you.

Otherwise, you will have to install codecs, as the other answers describe.

Answer 4

I believe your solution lies in manually installing "restricted formats". Ironically this, or something that sounds like it can be found in the software center, but trial and error has taught me that despite the claims it is not the same. You must add this in the terminal exactly as it is describe on THIS LINKED PAGE.

As my other answers and comments attest, I am not a big fan of the Terminal/CLI. I accept there are times it is necessary. This is such an occasion.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

Alternatively you can visit the Apps page of restricted extras in stock Ubuntu (ubuntu-restricted-extras ) and click on the big orange graphic reading "available on the Software Center".

EDIT BY ORIGINAL AUTHOR: The inserted edit directly above is faulty! Its fallacy is reference within my post, proving he failed to read my post before editing it!