I can't play mp4 video with VLC

Question

I'm running Kubuntu 21.10. I've installed ubuntu-restricted-extras, ffmpeg,and gstreamer1.0-libav, and I still can't play a video from an mp4 file using VLC. When I select the mp4 file, the select just flashes at me as though it's trying to do something. I'm probably missing something obvious -- but what? This is such a common and ordinary activity!

This happens on all my mp4 files. I removed and reinstalled VLC using apt; it made no difference. Everything is on one drive. And I'm able to play videodiscs with VLC.

The flashing suggests to me that there might be some conflicting activity going on, but I tried shutting down everything I could see going on,logging out, and logging back in again. It didn't help. It seems somehow to be competing with itself!

You don't need to install anything additional to play MP4 files in VLC. Does this happen with all MP4 files or just a specific file? — Nmath, Apr 15 '22 at 21:24
Are the videos on another drive, other than the one Ubuntu is installed? Is VLC the snap version? If snap make sure permissions are on/open, or install the deb version if videos on another drive. — crip659, Apr 15 '22 at 21:48
Please see the revised question for my responses to the comments. — Paul A., Apr 15 '22 at 22:12
Have you tried using gstreamer or a different player like totem? — mchid, Apr 16 '22 at 01:33
Also, libavcodec-extra58 might help for extra codecs in the future. — mchid, Apr 16 '22 at 01:40
Because of the flashing, it looks as though VLC is trying to play the video twice simultaneously. It might have something to do with the playlist. I doubt that the problem is a missing module. — Paul A., Apr 17 '22 at 00:03

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 08 '22 at 06:37

4

I faced this same problem on Ubuntu 22.04. What fixed this for me was to remove snap based vlc using command sudo snap remove vlc and reinstalling it using sudo apt install vlc.

answered Jun 08 '22 at 06:37

Sanjay

153

This also fixed my VLC not being able open from an M.2 SSD drive. Seems Snap version of VLC is buggy. – dbdq Mar 30 '23 at 12:35

I can't play mp4 video with VLC

1 Answers1

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