Opera can't play videos on Facebook
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A Former User last edited by
Please take a moment and read the post on my signature (and the one below it) and you will understand one of opera's most important problems: h264 support.
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A Former User last edited by
@leocg
Not available on my platform.@jimunderscorep
I read the post and all comments. If so there is nothing to do.
Why developers don't fix the problem?
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A Former User last edited by
What distro are you on?
The opera devs can not fix the problem because h264 is a proprietary codec and they need a licence to use it. -
A Former User last edited by
@jimunderscorep
I'm using CentOS 7.6 to learn the CentOS server management. I'm used to the Arch Linux distribution. There was no problem in the distribution of Arch Linux -
john-53 last edited by@empat said in Opera can't play videos on Facebook:
I want to Opera browser stable version. But there's a problem. Opera can't play on facebook but play videos on other websites (Youtube and Udemy).
Opera can't play only when logged in my Facebook account. Opera, when I'm not logged in my Facebook account. plays all videos on Facebook. But Chrome/Chromium browser plays videos in my Facebook account and other websites.I copied /usr/lib/chromium-browser/libffmpeg.so file to Opera install directory.
Which Chromium version did you use to get libffmpeg.so
If it was 71, try using the libffmpeg.so file from Slimjet 21 or Chromium 70. Slimjet 21 is easy to find, Chromium 70 is not easy to find...
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A Former User last edited by
@empat
@empat said in Opera can't play videos on Facebook:
@leocg
Not available on my platform.@jimunderscorep
I read the post and all comments. If so there is nothing to do.Why developers don't fix the problem?
Because it is not their problem to fix. Opera is not at fault here. It is annoying but we can´t blame opera for it.
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A Former User last edited by A Former User
Actually the opera devs are to blame. They could build opera for linux so that it will use the system's ffmpeg libraries (= the 3 libav files I can not remember now) and play everything, like all distros do with their chromium browser package. Or even make opera use those if they are available
But no, they choose to follow the ubuntu's way and build opera with its own libffmpeg and you know the rest of the story.On top of that, since h264 is proprietary, I think they could buy a licence. How? By spending some of the money they get from all their search providers.
Yes, those 6 search engines that show up on the right click > search, that they can not be shuffled or removed, sponsor opera to use them.
As for how much does a h264 licence cost, please google "h264 license mpeg la". -
A Former User last edited by
I had the same problem. It seems you are missing some codecs. The easiest way to get them is to download the Chromium (not Google Chrome) Browser. You don't have to use it, just download and install it. Simple. It worked for me.
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A Former User last edited by
as @jimunderscorep said, is a dev problem because they were too lazy and too miserly that they didnt update the libffmpeg.so to the latest version.
Just find / -type f -name libffmpeg.so in your system, and replace it the one that you've found with the one that is located on /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera
in my case, I took it from the slack installation and the size is 2.9mb vs the "original" that it size is 1.7mb
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A Former User last edited by A Former User
They are not lazy or miserly for that issue, and let me explain.
There are 2 ways to compile a chromium based browser, lets say they are named X and Y.- The X way will make the browser use the system's libav* libraries for audio and video support.
- The Y way will make the browser use its own libffmpeg for audio and video support.
The Y way is what opera's devs prefered (and ubuntu's and vivaldi's, afaik), and since they have to be legal (see the licencing issue above), they have to support certain codecs. It is not their fault that h264, although proprietary, is the most used codec out there.
Could they built it with the X way and avoid that? Yes. Will they? Probably no. Is there a official workaround? Yes, the installation of chromium ffmpeg codecs package... but only applies to ubuntu users.
But since opera is not an opensource app, no matter how annoying it is, there is no way to make it work differently.
So just use a different browser for the sites that opera does not work as you expect, plain and simple.And btw, stop unburying 1+ year old threads.
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A Former User last edited by
@jimunderscorep that only applies to ubuntu. I'm using Debian based os and there are no chromium-ffmpeg-extra-codecs packages available (I've searched for all possible names). think in other distros too.
I don't care about what devs should do or not, the good side of Linux is something doesn't work and you know how to fix it, fix it.
and btw, it worth opens this old thread only for new incomers to opera in Linux.
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A Former User last edited by A Former User
@g3nsvrv said in Opera can't play videos on Facebook:
the good side of Linux is something doesn't work and you know how to fix it, fix it
Sorry, but you are wrong on that part with the bold letters. The right word there is "opensource".
But opera is closed source, so you just accept what the devs offer you or use something else if you do not like it.
And please do not get me started on true opensource projects with stubborn devs -
leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@g3nsvrv Opera can't do much since it's a legal issue. As said before, Opera can't offer the libraries to decode certain codecs because of the lack of a license for it and depend on OS on it.
On Windows and Mac, things are more easy, once those libraries are included in them. On Linux, everything will depends on many factors. -
A Former User last edited by
@leocg said in Opera can't play videos on Facebook:
On Windows and Mac, things are more easy, once those libraries are included in them
Why don't you use the same tactics on linux as well? I do not think there is a distro out there which does not package the 3 libav* libraries that other browsers depend on for that precious decoding support
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leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@jimunderscorep Don't know, but they seem to follow Chromium: https://forums.opera.com/post/150324
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A Former User last edited by
Assuming that the entire "apology" is summed up on this sentence here
On Linux it's a bit more complicated, but it comes down to 'we use what Chromium uses except we can't give it to you ourselves'.
For me, he should say "we use what ubuntu's chromium uses", because the packages opera lists as suggested dependencies (chromium ffmpeg codecs) only exist on ubuntu and nowhere else.
All other major distros build their chromium packages against those 3 libav* libs for that proper codec support, so yes, ubuntu's way is the "unusual" one, although it is not wrong.
Ubuntu on the other hand has a long history on using "unusual" ways for lots of stuff, and imho, that is the core reason a lot of them have failed or were abandoned in the past (unity, mir, upstart etc), because the "usual" way was proven better in the long term.Staying ontopic, the libav* libraries are way too common to be ignored. Here, in my spartan debian installation, they are used "only" by mplayer, mpv, deadbeef, kodi, firefox, chromium, brave and ffmpeg. It would be true to say that any qt5 lib I have is used by less apps!
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bitterblackale last edited by
@empat Still a problem in March 2020
Opera 67.
chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra is already the newest version (79.0.3945.79-0ubuntu0.19.10.2).Is video ever going to work right in Opera for Linux?
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leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@bitterblackale Opera 67 is based on Chromium 80, so maybe you need version 80 of that codecs package?
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A Former User last edited by
Plus, if you are on ubuntu 19.10 or newer, on which chromium and its derivative packages come only as snaps, please read this first
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A Former User last edited by
@leocg said in Opera can't play videos on Facebook:
On Windows and Mac, things are more easy, once those libraries are included in them.
A couple of days ago, I came accross a "genius" w10 user who had the bright idea to install w10 home N version., because some other genius told him that they are lighter and thus better for gaming.
In case you do not know, the N version lacks the windows media player, skype, cortana, mtp support and all sorts of codecs.
Opera could not play h264 videos, just like on linux. And firefox could not plat them as well, for the same reason.
I would say "shame", but I am too happy to say it, because I now know that other browsers do not... cater stupid users or stupid use cases.
