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Multimedia (MP3, MPEG-4, AVI, DiVX, etc.) support in Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot)

Why doesn’t Ubuntu support MP3 ‘out of the box’?

Ubuntu cannot include support for MP3 or DVD video playback or recording. MP3 formats are patented, and the patent holders have not provided the necessary licenses. Ubuntu also excludes other multimedia software due to patent, copyright, or license restrictions, such as Adobe Flash Player and RealNetworks RealPlayer.

That doesn’t mean you can’t play .mp3 files in Ubuntu , it just takes a bit of work (not much).

Follow these instructions to get mp3 and other multimedia support on your Ubuntu 11.10.

Medibuntu (Multimedia, Entertainment & Distractions In Ubuntu) is a repository of packages that cannot be included into the Ubuntu distribution for legal reasons (copyright, license, patent, etc) as explained above.

Open the terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and type following command to adds Medibuntu's repository to Ubuntu. It also adds Medibuntu's GPG key to your keyring, which is needed to authenticate the Medibuntu packages:
sudo wget --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_release -cs).list
sudo apt-get --yes --quiet --allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring
sudo apt-get --quiet update
For i386 Users install Codecs using the following command
sudo apt-get install w32codecs libdvdcss2
For amd64 Users install Codecs using the following command
sudo apt-get install w64codecs libdvdcss2
Install mplayer using the following command
sudo apt-get install mplayer smplayer

Mplayer Plugin for Firefox
sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer
VLC Media player and plugins:
sudo apt-get install vlc vlc-plugin-pulse mozilla-plugin-vlc
DVD::Rip
DVD::Rip is a DVD backup/copy program, written in GTK-based perl, that uses the transcode video/audio processing and conversion tools. To install it type:
sudo apt-get install dvdrip


8 comments:

Carl Draper said...

you can easily get mp3 playback (but only unencrypted dvd playback) without medibuntu using

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Alan said...

"Ubuntu cannot include support for MP3 or DVD video playback or recording. "

Then how does Linux Mint, derived from Ubuntu, get away with it?

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Mint... or PCLinuxOS, which is based on the US, home to the bloodthirsty RIAA. That excuse doesn't hold anymore.

Anonymous said...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Ubuntu ask you up front whether you want to install third-party drivers/codecs (incl. those for mp3 playback) when you first boot it up? Although people may need this article if they're the type who chase away all dialogs without reading them... and then later wonder why things don't work and why "nobody told them"...

Anonymous said...

The last comment was correct. Ubuntu 11.10 prompts you in the initial setup if you want to install "third-party" software to allow mp3 and DVD playback. It is not supported by Canonical/Ubuntu, but it definitely works. Leave it to some Mac or PC wannabe guru to write something so inaccurate and false...my guess is...Mac. Author is probably upset that Linux does more for less.

Nikesh Jauhari said...

ok, There are lot's of place on this earth where people still uses modem (yes, still 32kbs not 20 MBPs) to get into internet.

And, for modem configuration cannot be done at the time of installation.

does that make sense????

flash to html5 converter said...

Thanks for sharing your info. I really appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for your further write ups thanks once again.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your help!!
From Taiwan.

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