Note, this page is intended for Ubuntu Hoary users. Warty users may be able to follow these instructions, but some packages may not work (in particular the ones from hoary-extras won't work).

Disclaimer

Packages distributed in unofficial repositories are not supported by Ubuntu or Debian. Please don't file bugs caused by the use of third party packages. Thanks.

Purpose

This article describes how to add support to a Ubuntu system for (1) non-Free multimedia formats and (2) Java programs. It includes information on installing required packages for the following media formats: Macromedia Flash, MP3, AAC, WMA, DVD, Divx/Xvid, MPEG-4, and RealMedia (RealPlayer). Information on Windows codecs for additional proprietary formats is also included.

Please read sections [#overview Overview], [#howtoadd How to add repositories], and [#sound Sound and third party software] regardless of what you are looking for.

[#overview Overview] describes why non-Free formats are not included in the Ubuntu installation, [#howtoadd How to add repositories] describes which software repositories need to be added to the Synaptic Package Manager so that you can install the formats yourself, and [#sound Sound and third party software] explains how to change sound settings to fix a common issue with third party plugins on Ubuntu.

Contents

TableOfContents(1)

Anchor(overview)

Overview

As noted in the [http://www.ubuntulinux.org/support/documentation/faq/helpcenterfaq.2004-09-15.6357540221 Ubuntu FAQ], support for some popular formats is not included in the Ubuntu distribution because there are legal restrictions on their distribution or usage. While we make no effort to restrict the choice of users to use such formats, we prefer to support Free software and Free formats. This page is intended as a central resource for information about dealing with non-Free formats and tools - including reasons for non-inclusion, alternative formats or implementations, and, as a last resort, information on using non-Free formats and tools.

Anchor(howtoadd)

How to add repositories

Some of the following fixes involve adding repositories. For this reason instructions for adding repositories are here. Instructions on how to add these repositories can be found in the AddingRepositoriesHowto: http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/AddingRepositoriesHowto/

Universe/Multiverse

To add these sources using Synaptic, click the Settings-Repositories menu item. You should then see a list of package sources in use on your system. If you see a source called Ubuntu 5.04 "Hoary Hedgehog", select that one and click the Edit button. Then, on the "Sections" line, there will be a list of repositories. Finally, add the names of the sources (universe and/or multiverse - but possibly including main/restricted if you haven't added these yet) you want to the end of this line and press OK.

If you don't see a source called Ubuntu 5.04 "Hoary Hedgehog", click the Add button. Select Ubuntu 5.04 "Hoary Hedgehog" from the drop-down list, check the repositories you want (universe and/or multiverse - but possibly including main/restricted if you haven't added these yet), and press OK. You should now be set to use Universe and/or Multiverse - just update your package lists by clicking "Reload" in Synaptic and the packages from the sources you selected will be available to install.

Hoary-extras

To use some multimedia codecs/plugins, you will need to use the Hoary-extras repository. To use this, in the Synaptic repositories dialog box, click Add and then Custom. In the dialog box, type in the following APT line:

deb http://ubuntu-backports.mirrormax.net/ hoary-extras main universe multiverse restricted

Click OK and you should be good to go - just reload the package list.

Please note that whenever you install packages from this source, an authentication warning may appear. This just means that the packages are not signed, and can be safely disregarded if you are installing packages from this particular source.

The hoary-extras repository is an unoffical community project. The packages in this repository are not supported by Canonical Ltd. or Ubuntu!!!

Anchor(sound)

Sound and third party software

Ubuntu uses a program called esd to allow multiple applications to access the sound card at one time. However, many third party applications not in Ubuntu main aren't designed to use esd to access the card. On some sound cards, this causes these applications to not produce sound. To work around this problem, esd must be configured to release the sound card when it is not using it. To do this, edit /etc/esound/esd.conf and change the line that begins with spawn_options to begin with default_options. Finally, change the -as 5 to -as 2.

{{{[esd] auto_spawn=0 spawn_wait_ms=100 default_options= -terminate -nobeeps -as 2}}}

You will need to restart the sound server, whether from gnome preferences, or by logging out and back in. You should then be able to change System -> Preferences -> Multimedia System Selector, set Default Sink and Source to Alsa (or OSS), and then successfully use the test buttons. Other GNOME applications which depend on being able to access the native audio devices include GnomeMeeting.

Note: this problem only occurs on the Ubuntu Hoary release and newer. Kubuntu is not affected as it uses KDE Arts, although the default timeout for the sound server in KDE may be set rather long, can someone confirm? [It is sixty seconds.]

Java

Although the Java API itself is open, the only certified Linux implementations of Java with wide compatibility are derived from Sun's implementation. All of these implementations carry non-Free licensing terms.

The [http://www.kaffe.org Kaffe] project and the [http://www.gnu.org/software/classpath/ GNU Classpath] project are working on Free implementations of Java, but they are not yet comparable to the Sun-based implementations in performance, completeness, or compatibility.

There are detailed instructions for installing Sun's [Java] available. Daniel Robitaille has instructions on installing [IBM Java] on Ubuntu x86.

Macromedia Flash

There is a free player for this ([http://gplflash.sourceforge.net GPLFlash]), however it does not support many modern Flash applications. Macromedia has a player that supports up-to-date Flash applications, but it is considered "non-free" and as such is not included in the main Ubuntu archive. However, it can be installed from multiverse (see below for details), or by visiting the official [http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash Macromedia Flash Player for Linux] page and following their simple instructions.

Install (from MULTIVERSE) the following package:

• flashplugin-nonfree

This will install Flash and the plugins needed to view it in Firefox and Mozilla.

Note that this package doesn't exist for the amd64 architecture, as Macromedia has not yet produced a binary.

MP3 and Windows Media Audio

MP3 playback:

MP3 is patent-encumbered, for both encoding and decoding, these patents are being actively enforced.

[http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/ Ogg Vorbis] is a flexible and Free lossy audio codec with a proven track record. This format is now supported by some DVD players and some portable music players (usb keys, mp3 players).

However, you can still play your MP3s in Ubuntu with rhythmbox, amaroK, XMMS, beep-media-player and others.

RhythmBox is installed by default on Ubuntu (in the Applications menu, Sound & Video -> Music Player). It's a music player similar to Windows Media Player, with iPod support and a music library system.

To play MP3s with Rhythmbox or amaroK, you must install the gstreamer0.8-mad package. This package is in the universe repository (see section 2 above).

To install XMMS (a media player very similar to Winamp), you must install the xmms package. XMMS will play MP3s without needing the gstreamer0.8-mad package. Note : you must choose the eSound output plugin in the options of XMMS (XMMS freezes if you use ALSA). There is also the beep-media-player package (in the universe repository - see section 2 above), a version of XMMS with a more modern interface.

MP3 encoding:

Sound Juicer

To encode MP3s, you can use Sound Juicer (installed by default) which uses gstreamer and the LAME mp3 encoder. The following should also work with other programs that use gstreamer:

First, install the gstreamer0.8-lame package (available in the HOARY-EXTRAS repository). Create a new profile in gnome-audio-profiles-properties. Edit this profile and set Gstreamerpipeline to audio/x-raw-int,rate=44100,channels=2 ! lame name=enc. Optionally, you can add bitrate=<some bitrate> to the end of this line if you want a specific (constant) bitrate other than the default of 128. Finally, set File Extension to mp3, click the Active checkbox and then OK.

Before the first use of Sound Juicer, launch the command gst-register-0.8. Now, you should be able to rip MP3s.

Creating a new profile

To have a look on all settings available for mp3 you can use Gstreamer Pipeline Editor or simply run gst-inspect-0.8 lame in terminal.

After installing gstreamer pipline editor, run it from the programming menu. From the Utility Palette window select Codec->Encoder->Audio->lame and look at all the properties you can select in the Properties window (you may need to enable it from the View menu item if it is not visible).

Executing gst-inspect-0.8 in your terminal, all lame-options are listed with an short description and available values.

With your optionlist on hand, you can now launch the command gnome-audio-profiles-properties and create a new profile. Enter any options as listed in Gstreamer Pipeline Editor or gst-inspect-0.8 into the pipeline key of your profile as shown below:

{{{Profilename: New MP3 Profile Description: As You like Gstreamerpipeline: audio/x-raw-int,rate=44100,channels=2 ! lame name=enc OPTION_1=VALUE_1 ... Fileext: mp3}}}

For example you could create this profile with VBR-New using default quality: {{{Profilename: VBR-New-Profile with default quality Description: As You like Gstreamerpipeline: audio/x-raw-int,rate=44100,channels=2 ! lame name=enc vbr=4 vbr-quality=5 Fileext: mp3}}}

Remember to run gst-register-0.8 before running Sound Juicer to get the created/changed profile!

(According to will_rat, http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-957.html , 03-04-2005, 04:41 AM and alexp, http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=22010&page=3, 04-11-2005, 11:55 AM)

Goobox

Alternatively, you can install goobox (in the universe repository) along with gstreamer0.8-lame. Goobox requires no manual configuration to rip MP3s on Ubuntu once gstreamer0.8-lame is installed, and it will allow you to easily choose the audio quality to rip to through its graphical user interface.

Other

For other programs (non GStreamer), you need to install the "lame" package (MULTIVERSE repository). For example, grip (gnome cd ripping program) and kaudiocreator (KDE cd ripping program) work fine with just the "lame" package. Just set your ripper to use LAME and you should be ready to go.

Ripping speedup

After stopping autoplay on CD insertion the ripping speed may increase. Also could an decreasing speed occur after playing the CD.

(According to timeoff, http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=30888&page=2, 05-09-2005, 01:45 AM)

AAC and iTunes Music Store

AAC decoding

The default audio format used by Apple's iTunes and iPod is AAC. This is a variant of the MPEG standard, and as such has patent issues. However, you can listen to AAC files in rhythmbox or amaroK by installing gstreamer0.8-faad (from HOARY-EXTRAS). You will need this for listening to any AAC file, including those bought from the iTunes Music Store (see below for more info on using the music store on Linux). Warning, songs purchased from the iTunes music store (.m4p) are encyrpted, and will not just play using gstreamer0.8-faad. You will need to decrypt them first.

AAC encoding:

FAAC can be used to encode AACs, although this is somewhat experimental compared to MP3 encoding at this point.. For encoding programs which use gstreamer, there is a gstreamer plugin called gstreamer0.8-faac (install from HOARY-EXTRAS). However, this currently is problematic, and does not produce usable AAC files, though this may change in the future.

For other programs, you may be able to utilize FAAC directly to encode to AACs - just install the "faac" package. You can make iPod-compatible AACs this way, but this requires some additional configuration in your CD ripping utility.

iTunes Music Store

Apple's iTunes Music Store sells music online with a large selection of artists. Songs are in 128K AAC format, and cost varies by country. Apple only has Mac and Windows clients, but it also can be used on Linux. There are two different methods by which this can be done.

First of all, you can use CodeWeavers CrossOver Office (available at http://www.codeweavers.com) to install the Windows version of iTunes on Ubuntu. This will allow you to buy iTunes songs on Linux and listen to them. However, the main caveats of this approach is that 1) it costs money 2) it is not a fully Linux-native solution.

As an alternative to using CrossOver, there is a new, Free program called PyMusique which allows basic usage of the iTunes Music Store on Linux. This works better than using iTunes on CrossOver, but PyMusique has less features than the official iTunes client at this point and may be in violation of the iTunes Music Store terms of service. To use this on Ubuntu, first install gstreamer0.8-faad (from HOARY-EXTRAS) and libmcrypt4 (from UNIVERSE). Then, go to http://fuware.nanocrew.net/pymusique/ or a mirror (google "pymusique 0.4" for mirrors) and download the pymusique, python2.4-mcrypt, python2.4-vlc, and python2.4-mp4ff packages. Finally, install all the packages you downloaded from the above website. You can now launch PyMusique from the Applications-Internet menu, and purchase songs (although you may have to restart your system for this to work).

DVD-video

Non encrypted DVDs should play, however be aware that mpeg2 is somewhat patent encumbered and is not shipped on the CDs (though is in 'main')

Full DVD-Video support requires support of the Content Scrambling System (CSS). Though the encryption is weak, using libdvdcss to avoid this is classed as a 'circumvention device' and is such illegal in the United States and some other Jurisdictions.

However, as you can read at [http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/dvd.htm the DeCSS information page], in most European countries, DVD backup is legal. In fact, you can backup anything that you own in, eg. Norway, Sweden, etc. If you do not require compatibility with a DVD player, consider encoding your videos in [http://www.theora.org/ Ogg Theora].

If you would like full DVD support, run the following script: /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/examples/install-css.sh . Then, install the DVD playing software of your choice (xine-ui from universe is good). (Note: If you use apt-get, the package in http://ubuntu-backports.mirrormax.net hoary-extras/restricted is libdvdcss2 [note the 2 at the end])

If your video playback software (e.g. Xine, MPlayer, Totem, etc.) locks up when attempting to access a DVD, you will need to: (1) Install regionset; and (2) Run regionset WITH a DVD in your drive.

If DVD playback is jerky or you notice optical data transfer (i.e burning a CD/DVD) is slower than it should be then you need to enable DMA transfer for that drive. See the DMA page for details.

DivX / XviD, other MPEG-4 variants, and miscellaneous proprietary video formats

These formats are patent-encumbered. If you do not require compatibility with MPEG-4 players, consider [http://www.theora.org/ Ogg Theora]

Note these are unsupported and may be illegal in your jurisdiction, we in no way endorse the use of these packages.

Mplayer:

MPlayer is a movie player for Linux (runs on many other Unices, and non-x86 CPUs, see the documentation). It plays most MPEG, VOB, AVI, Ogg/OGM, VIVO, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, FLI, RM, NuppelVideo, YUV4MPEG, FILM, RoQ, PVA files, supported by many native, XAnim, and Win32 DLL codecs. You can watch VideoCD, SVCD, DVD, 3ivx, DivX 3/4/5 and even WMV movies, too (without the avifile library).

[http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/news.html Homepage].

Choose between the various packages as follows (all are from MULTIVERSE):

Depending on your cpu: 386s and 486s should use mplayer-386; Intel Pentiums and newer should use mplayer-586; AMD Athlons and newer may use mplayer-k6 (find your cpu using "uname -m" in a Terminal).

The following packages may optionally be installed:

• mplayer-fonts mozilla-mplayer mplayer-doc (optional)

The "mixer" setting may need to be changed to avoid errors during playback. Right click on the MPlayer screen, select Preferences and then select the Audio tab. Select OSS (or your mixer if you use a different one) from the types and OK everything (accepting the default mixer location etc).

Other codecs

Not all mpgs are created equal. If you are getting sound but no video with some mpgs, you probably need the ffmpeg libraries.

    gstreamer0.8-ffmpeg (from UNIVERSE)

Additionally, other codecs may be required for various formats. Some of these can be found on the Mplayer home page at http://www.mplayerhq.hu and on various apt repositories around the web, but note that many of these may not be legally used or distributed.

RealPlayer

RealPlayer is a multimedia player for Linux which allows you to view RealAudio, RealVideo, and other content. RealPlayer is good for listening to BBC Radio, among otherthings.

RealPlayer on x86

You are required to manually download RealPlayer from [http://www.real.com/linux/ here].

Once it is downloaded, move it to your home folder (if its not there already), then open up a terminal and type

 chmod u+x RealPlayer10GOLD.bin       
 sudo ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin

You are then prompted for an installation directory. I chose

 /usr/local/realplayer

Answer yes to creating symbolic links, and let it use the default directory.

RealPlayer should now be in your Gnome menu, under the Sound & Video section.

To install the firefox plugins, run RealPlayer from the gnome menu. You will be asked to agree to a licence (this is free as in beer, not free as in speech). The you will be asked if you want to check for updates and configure mozilla helpers, check both and click ok. Now head over to [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/] and you should be able to listen.

RealPlayer for PPC

To install RealPlayer on PPC, download the Experimental build installer from [https://player.helixcommunity.org/2004/downloads/ Helix]

make the file executable (chmod 770) and execute (./realplayer-xxxxxx.bin)

Answer the questions and RealPlayer should work by executing /path-to-RealPlayer-directory/realplayer. To make life easier add an alias in your .bashrc (ie alias = '/path-to-Real\\Player-directory/./realplayer&') or create a soft link to /usr/local/bin (sudo ln -s /path-to-RealPlayer-directory/realplayer /usr/local/bin/).

RealPlayer issues

1. If RealPlayer doesn't immediately work, go to the RealPlayer install directory and remove the SWF plugins. For some reason, it works perfectly most of the time after you do this. If you still have problems, it may be the way that your soundcard handles esd. Go on to 2. (Keith Bassett)

2. If you have trouble hearing any sound in RealPlayer, change the auto_spawn item in /etc/esound/esd.conf from its default setting of 0 to 1.