Opera Linux browser - h.264 support (through x264 open source codec)

A Former User

Hi, first post here
@pinportal Thanks for the solution. It worked!

I wrote a script to "upgrade" Opera according to your instructions:
https://gist.github.com/mcarletti/7989d1c04199dba60a01adf8ac54fe31

Hope this helps!
M.

bert56237

bert56237 @Guest

@pinportal said in Opera Linux browser - h.264 support (through x264 open source codec):

The Linux community has long been asking Opera to support the h.264 codec in Opera Browser for Linux.

We know that h.264 is a proprietary format. However, Firefox browser worked around this problem, it uses the codec x264 (free and open-source software library which uses GNU General Public License and it is developed by VideoLAN)

The x264 codec allows browsers to support h.264 codec videos.

For my Opera browser to support h.264, I need to open the terminal and type this command with each new Opera browser update:
curl -L -O https://github.com/iteufel/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/releases/download/0.39.2/0.39.2-linux-x64.zip

unzip 0.39.2-linux-x64.zip

sudo mv libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libffmpeg_h264.so

sudo mv /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so.orig

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libffmpeg_h264.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so

But less experienced users don't even know there is this option, they simply can't watch videos on Facebook.com, Twitter.com and Youtube.com Live videos, as they rely on the h.264 codec

That's why Opera Browser needs to support the h.264 codec or at least x264 codec (which will not generate license costs for Opera and will once and for all solve this problem that only affects Opera Browser on Linux since Google Chrome and Firefox have been supporting the h.264 codec for a long time, even indirectly via the x264 codec)

I have Lubuntu 18.04.3 LTS (based on Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS) 64bits and Linux 4.15.0-58 kernel

Thank you for this information! I have Linux Mint LTS 20.0 Cinnamon 64B. I just followed your directions and all videos are now working perfectly including on Twitter.

Earlier I had also installed the following packages, so I just left them and followed your directions.

Ubuntu-restricted-extras

Multimedia Codecs

Chromium-codecs-ffmpeg

A Former User @bert56237

@bert56237 You are welcome.
Just remember to install the most updated version here: https://github.com/iteufel/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/releases/

Today it is 0.47.2 and not 0.39.2, that I wrote a year ago. Today you have to do it:

curl -L -O https://github.com/iteufel/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/releases/download/0.47.2/0.47.2-linux-x64.zip

unzip 0.47.2-linux-x64.zip

sudo mv libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libffmpeg_h264.so

sudo mv /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so.orig

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libffmpeg_h264.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so

bert56237

bert56237 @Guest

@pinportal Thanks again. I just updated, working perfectly!!!

red

red @Guest

@pinportal
Hi!
There's an even better way:

curl -L -O https://github.com/iteufel/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/releases/download/0.47.2/0.47.2-linux-x64.zip
unzip 0.47.2-linux-x64.zip
sudo mkdir /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/lib_extra
sudo mv libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/lib_extra

Opera will automatically use the version in lib_extra and the mod will survive opera upgrades. So you'll only need to do this once.

A Former User @red

@red Hey, thank you very very much for your help!
I didnt know it. I hope that one day Opera for linux will offer this natively. Many lay users do not see these forums and do not even know how to use the terminal.

A Former User @bert56237

@bert56237 Hello, see the @red comment. You will have to do this only once. Even if Opera update the browser, h.264 will continue being support:

curl -L -O https://github.com/iteufel/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/releases/download/0.47.2/0.47.2-linux-x64.zip

unzip 0.47.2-linux-x64.zip

sudo mkdir /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/lib_extra

sudo mv libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/lib_extra

arch3rtemp

arch3rtemp @Guest

@A-Former-User said in Opera Linux browser - h.264 support (through x264 open source codec):

So, as I have also said in the post on my signature, if you are on ubuntu or some derivative, install chromium ffmpeg codecs and you are done.

There are no chromium codecs in Ubuntu repositories anymore, neither in Snap

A Former User

@arch3rtemp said in Opera Linux browser - h.264 support (through x264 open source codec):

There are no chromium codecs in Ubuntu repositories anymore, neither in Snap

Still available in Snap as "chromium-ffmpeg". For me, it doesn't automatically work, but you can link directly from the snap and it works fine.

sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/lib_extra && \
sudo ln -fst /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/lib_extra/ /snap/chromium-ffmpeg/current/chromium-ffmpeg-92972/chromium-ffmpeg/libffmpeg.so && \
echo -e "\n\nLink successful, restart Opera and it should work."

A Former User @red

@red Thank you very much. It works!

swnw

swnw @Guest

@pinportal Thanks a lot, "simple" and effective way, but why Opera developers are silent. I read a lot of advises and no one was from opera team.

paul-keenan

paul-keenan @Guest

@pinportal Thanks!, I should try it. The older 2018 post below, from burnout426, is very similar and it also works on Mint 20, and I haven't noticed any side effects so far:

**burnout426 Jul 5, 2018, 5:35 PM
@drpostman A little bit better directions.

Start Opera, goto, https://github.com/iteufel/nwjs-ffmpeg-prebuilt/releases/ and download the 0.31.4-linux-x64.zip file. In Opera's download dialog, click the folder icon to show the file in the file manager. Right-click it and choose "Extract here". This will give you libffmpeg.so.

Right-click in a blank spot in the file manager and choose "open as root" and type in your password. Then, right-click on libffmpeg.so and choose cut.

Then, in the file manager, browser to "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/". Right-click in a blank spot and choose to create a new folder named lib_extra. Once the folder is created, go into it, right-click on a blank spot and choose paste. You should then see libffmpeg.so there. Then, restart Opera and goto https://youtube.com/html5 to see if h.264 support is enabled for example. Then, test out some videos. On youtube, you can right-click on a video and choose "stats for nerds" to see if it's using vp9 or h.264. Or, you can try these h.264 videos to make sure they work.

You can then close the file manager.

(Tested on Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon x64)**

lu-menard

lu-menard

My Opera works fine with Youtube and satisfies the requirings on this test page
On a precise webcam website it displays only a bad video stream as chrome and Firefox displays 1080p video stream, do you think I am concerned by this discussion ?

graba

graba

Hi.
I found this topic via small bash file to update h264 in opera-developer.
Every time when come new release i run script as sudo and working perfecly.

Thank You

artoria026

artoria026 @Guest

@mcarletti Thanks friend, your script has worked perfectly for me, and thanks to the friend who provided the solution

KDE Neon 20.04 Kernel 5.4.0-70generic

gidici61

gidici61

Hi, still problems. None of the suggested workarounds work. I have Opera Stable 79.0.4143.50 on Debian 11. Try this page, for example: https://www.svtplay.se/video/30708050/rapport/rapport-24-sep-22-25
After "Page Crash" I need to type (as root): "apt reinstall opera-stable" to reset Opera.

A Former User @gidici61

@gidici61 Hi, gidici61. I am the original creator of this post. I created it on August 22, 2019 and until today, that is, two years later, Opera developers still do not support h.264 codec for Linux. After this update from Opera 79, even this solution that was created by independent developers no longer works. I personally gave up using Opera and switched to Brave Browser. I suggest you do the same. At least Brave Browser has constant updates for Linux and natively supports the h.264 codec.

gidici61

gidici61 @Guest

@pinportal said in Opera Linux browser - h.264 support (through x264 open source codec):

Brave Browser

Thank you, I'll give it a try. Opera is nearly unuseful without x264 support.

gidici61

gidici61

Finally, this works with Opera 90.0.4480.80: https://gist.github.com/mcarletti/7989d1c04199dba60a01adf8ac54fe31

jhog

jhog

I have version 91.0.4516.20 and I get the error "Sorry, we're having trouble playing this video." for some Facebook videos. I tried the script, also disabling hardware acceleration, copying libffmpeg.so to /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/lib_extra/ . I also have the proprietary codecs installed (ubuntu-restricted-extras). It used to work but I lost all my configurations some time ago and now it doesn't work.