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.

"MP4" is not a media codec. It's a standard for a media container format. What does ffprobe -i /path/to/file say about that file? Please post the (relevant) output as an [edit] to your question. — David Foerster, Jan 07 '15 at 19:56
open a terminal (control-alt-T) and write this command. Afterwards, copy-paste the output as described by David. — orestis, Jan 07 '15 at 20:07
Sorry that I didn't clarify that earlier. Of course you need to replace /path/to/file with the path to the problematic file. — David Foerster, Jan 07 '15 at 20:26
Possible duplicate of How to install the MPEG-4 AAC decoder and the H.264 decoder? — LiveWireBT, Dec 20 '15 at 14:18
run 'file /path/to/your/file.mp4' to check what it actually is and post output — Amias, Oct 22 '16 at 11:17

score 11 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 22 '16 at 10:52

11

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.)

answered Oct 22 '16 at 10:52

knocte

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This one worked for me. – ozgrozer Dec 17 '20 at 11:17
Yes, likely will solve the issue -- but its like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut -- if your goal is less cruft and only the minimal software required to play MP4 files, then the answer on how to install gstreamer1.0-libav is better. – mike stewart Sep 14 '23 at 18:24

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited May 30 '16 at 03:31

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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.

edited May 30 '16 at 03:31

wjandrea

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answered Dec 20 '15 at 10:31

user484358

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libav is a library to access hardware video acceleration on Intel graphic chipsets. You don't need it to view H.264-encoded videos but it may lower the CPU usage and energy consumption. – David Foerster May 30 '16 at 06:41
This is the minimal install required to make mp4 files playable on default ubuntu (22.04) -- which uses totem. My issue with ubuntu-restricted-extras is it includes code for playing flash, etc. uneeded and potentially unsafe. Just added this comment for my future self and of course others. ;-) – mike stewart Sep 14 '23 at 18:16

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 17 '17 at 22:03

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.

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 11 '17 at 19:03

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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!

edited Mar 11 '17 at 19:03

Community

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answered Jan 07 '15 at 20:16

gyropyge

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Either I don't understand your comment, or there's something not right. Are you attempting this from a standard or administrator account? – gyropyge Jan 07 '15 at 20:22
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To my understanding there's no difference between your approach and mine. Using my browser link will open the Software Center on the right page. Installing the package in Software Center will ultimately execute apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras (as a super-user after asking for an administrator password). – David Foerster May 30 '16 at 06:39
Better yet, your link includes an apt:ubuntu-restricted-extras link as does mine. – David Foerster May 30 '16 at 06:44

How can I play mp4 movie on my ubuntu OS?

4 Answers4