The Videos Don't Play Topic
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A Former User last edited by leocg
I've been using Opera for several years but reluctantly will be moving on to a different browser because of Opera not being able to play many videos due to missing codecs. I keep hearing that it is because of legal reasons which I can't understand. Other browsers such as Firefox, Vivaldi, etc. apparently don't have this legal problem. Why can't this be resolved? Opera is great is all other aspects.
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leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@ercouper To be able to play proprietary codecs by itself, Opera needs to have a license that may be very expensive. For that reason, Opera relies on the OS to be able to play media that uses those codecs.
On Windows and Mac things are more easy, but Linux being more decentralized makes things a little more complicated.By the way, Firefox has the license. Don't know about Vivaldi but it seems to be in the same situation as Opera.
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rgplayzmc last edited by rgplayzmc
No method seems to be working for the version of opera released today (Version 79.0.4143.22, chromium 93.0.4577.63). Replacing the provided libffmpeg.so with any of the provided methods causes the entire page to crash if you try to play any video embedded on it. I have now defaulted back to the provided one.
My go-to method before this was to download the latest version from iteufel's github repo and replace it manually. Had worked since I installed opera. -
rgplayzmc last edited by leocg
@rgplayzmc **Update To Previous Post **
Solution: Until @xZero updates his script (It returnsopera-fix-ffmpeg.sh: 15: [: Illegal number: Error: snapd is not installed Command 'snap' not found /usr/bin/snapSnap is actually installled
)
Here's what to do (GUI method):- Install the chromium-ffmpeg snap
- Navigate to /snap/chromium-ffmpeg/current
- Find the folder with the highest number and open terminal over there (Right click->open with terminal).
- Run
sudo cp libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera(Replace opera directory with wherever yours is installed.)
(CUI method) (I am a noob at bash, so please forgive me pros)
1.snap install chromium-ffmpeg && cd /snap/chromium-ffmpeg/current- Find the highest number
cd chromium-ffmpeg-highestnumber && cp libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/operaDone!
Now I request @xZero or anyone else to fix that script. Once the script is fixed, store the command the run it in a terminal utility known as keep for easy access.
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Fuzedrums last edited by
I've had this problem for about two years now. Can't the fix it? Vivaldi solved it somehow.
Every time I update, I start looking for the damn libffmpeg.so file.For Opera 79.0 install latest Vivaldi browser 4.2 and the take the lib:
sudo cp /var/opt/vivaldi/media-codecs-79b56700ea9558c50a5edacaeb70298120127d2f8b32bb5e05c3876a51bd64b5/libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so -
torrit last edited by
@rgplayzmc
Your solution worked like a charm. Thanks!I had tried copying libffmpeg from /usr/lib/chromium-browser/libffmpeg.so but it worsened the situation. Not only the playback didn't work - opera cashed on any page with an embedded video.
Now everything works as expected. Finally! -
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leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@ipa As far as I know, Vivaldi doesn't have the license.
Regarding the snap version, the codecs are provided by Canonical: https://blogs.opera.com/desktop/2018/08/opera-54-0-2952-71-stable-update/
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linuc last edited by
It's been quite a long time now that this problem has existed. Other browsers can obviously solve it, for example Vivaldi. Also the snap installation of Opera works with video. It would be time for the Opera team to make a clear statement here and provide a simple solution to the problem. By simple I mean that it should be workable even for users of Linux without background knowledge. Downloading files, unzipping them and then copying them into directories is from the last century!
So what is the problem and what is the ultimate solution?
greetings
LinuC -
leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@linuc What is the problem was already explained in the topic, but you can check it in https://forums.opera.com/post/150324
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linuc last edited by
Ok, I see you need exactly the right file with the right version. Vivaldi recently solved the problem and wrote to me that they have built in a "fallback". I suppose it means Vivaldi doesn't actually update until the correct version of the lib is in place.
Opera snap works. Is the license paid by the snap makers there?
How about a permanent solution? For example, the makers of different browsers form a company and this company buys the license, which is then valid for all of the company's products? Or what are the rules of the license?
Now you can say that you would rather remain "independent". I understand that. But you are not independent, at least not with this problem.
Opera is a very important browser (also Vivaldi), because I notice that none of the other browsers manage the memory and cache so well. With my 11 year old notebook with 1GB RAM and a swapfile of 2GB (swapiness 40) and single core processor I can open 6-8 tabs without any problems, without long waiting times. The Linux community doesn't like that these algorithms are not public
Maybe you could publish the old versions? Sometimes you have to compromise to stay at the top 
I hope you continue to be successful and thank you very much for Opera Browser, I always use it and if there is a video that I really want to see, then I switch to Vivaldi for a moment. It is a shame that Vivaldi has no function to block the preload of videos. This is very bad with 1GB of RAM
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leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@linuc said:
Opera snap works. Is the license paid by the snap makers there?
See https://blogs.opera.com/desktop/2018/08/opera-54-0-2952-71-stable-update/. If I understood correctly, it uses the Chromium codecs provided by Canonical.
How about a permanent solution? For example, the makers of different browsers form a company and this company buys the license, which is then valid for all of the company's products? Or what are the rules of the license?
As far as I know, Opera and other browser/software makers prefer that non-proprietary codecs are used for media on the web. Besides that, those licenses can be very expensive.
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