The Videos Don't Play Topic

[PixCatholica]

PixCatholica last edited by leocg

No video playback for me either - with or without extensions.
Youtube, Whatsapp, Amazon product videos - the list goes on!

This issue has been going on for quite some time now, which is a surprise. Because of this I am having to use different browsers; where video playback does work - but this is a shame as I prefer Opera

Version:69.0.3686.77
Opera is up to date
Update stream:Stable
System:Linux Mint 20 (x86_64; X-Cinnamon)

[vladimir-bardakov]

vladimir-bardakov last edited by leocg

HI))
https://www.comss.ru/page.php?id=6351

Users of the Linux version of the Opera browser face the problem of playing some videos. For example, Opera refuses to play streaming on Youtube or native videos on Twitter
Solving the problem of the Opera browser with video playback in Ubuntu and similar distributions (Linux Mint, KDE neon, etc)

Playback errors look like this:

Currently your browser does not recognize any of the available video formats
This is the kind of error you can see when you try to watch a live broadcast on Youtube. However, some other videos may only be available as 360, without the ability to improve the playback quality.

You cannot play the video in this browser. Try a different browser
This message can be found when viewing a video on Twitter. We will not change the browser, this is not our way. But we will tell you about an easy solution to this problem.

We fix the error of video playback by the Opera browser in Ubuntu distributions and the like
First of all, you need to install the chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra package. You can do this using the terminal with the following command:

sudo apt install chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

Usually the second step is to create a symlink for the file libffmpeg.so, but since now the Opera browser delivers a file with this name (but not solving the problem), we will delete it and then create a simlink to the new file. File deletion:

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

Creating a simlink:

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

When will it be fixed ?

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @vladimir-bardakov last edited by

@vladimir-bardakov As said before, this is not a technical issue but a legal one. So it can't be fixed, at least not easily.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

Hey guys, I tried this workaround but even though chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra is installed on my computer (Linux Mint 20), there is no /usr/lib/chromium-browser directory.

Any idea where to get the correct libffmpeg.so?

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

Got it! I needed to install the chromium-ffmpeg snap. It comes with a bunch of libffmpeg.so's in a number of folders, all of which you can find in ~/snap/chromium-ffmpeg. I linked this one:

sudo ln -s /snap/chromium-ffmpeg/15/chromium-ffmpeg-95241/chromium-ffmpeg/libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/

Did the trick!

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @PixCatholica last edited by

@PixCatholica See the comments linked below:

https://forums.opera.com/post/150324

https://forums.opera.com/post/139976

[mtompset]

mtompset last edited by

It's all about the libffmpeg.so file, as far as I can tell.
On my Ubuntu 20.04 LTS machine, I have Chrome, Chromium, Opera, and perhaps other browsers installed.

Granted your version of Chromium may differ, and the location of library may differ too, but this generally fixed my opera's inability to play.

$ sudo cp /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so.original
$ sudo cp /snap/chromium/1229/usr/lib/chromium-browser/libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so.chromium.1229
$ sudo cp /snap/chromium/1229/usr/lib/chromium-browser/libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so

Notice I purposefully created a backup copy to replace if things go horribly wrong. Also a good idea to not do this while Opera is open.

[A Former User]

A Former User @PixCatholica last edited by

@PixCatholica Opera version 70.0.3728.59
System:Linux Mint 20 (x86_64; X-Cinnamon)
For me there is problem with HTML5 what was worked earlier.
It is not clear for me whether there is issue with latest Mint update or latest Opera update because before I've got both these updates all worked just fine!
Can't say for sure at what point this issue started since I am not using YT on daily basis.

[supermen]

supermen last edited by

Opera v 69
Linux Mint 20 (Cinnamon)

It annoys me to no end that my favorite browser doesn't work 100% on Linux Mint. I have issues with video playback on Twitter and Youtube Live. There are probably other video playbacks that don't work but I didn't to to those particular sites.
The only thing that solved this problem for me was to enable snap, install snap store and then install Opera and chromium-ffmpeg-extra as snap apps. Basically, recreate the steps as in Ubuntu (I have Ubuntu on my other PC and everything works fine there).
Enabling snap was the only thing that worked. I tried installing chromium-ffmpeg-extra via terminal, deleting libffmpeg.so, then linking it to another file, I tried Opera 70 (beta), I installed Ubuntu restricted extras....no luck. Only snap helped.

I am really disappointed that one of the best, if not the best browser out there, trips over on such minuscule things. I've seen on the forums that it's some sort of a legal issue? Solve it, handle it! I don't see Firefox having a legal issue.
These things must work out of the box I you want people to spread the word of Opera as the best browser out there.

[truden]

truden @PixCatholica last edited by

@PixCatholica, I did some research and replaced libffmpeg.so with the one I downloaded from https://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial-updates/amd64/chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra/download
Download the package, find libffmpeg.so in it and extract it.
Open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu (this path may vary) click with right mouse button on "opera" folder and "Open as Root". Replace the libffmpeg.so with the new file.
Now you can play videos.

[pegasisworks]

pegasisworks last edited by

how do you fix this in linux mint

[Thor 0]

Thor 0 last edited by

@truden, brilliant idea and the only one that worked for me on Ubuntu 20.04. It seems the chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra package that ships with this distro is empty (as of this writing).
Great job!

[Vozzy]

Vozzy @truden last edited by

The solution @truden provides works like a charm on my system.
Thanks!

[xZero]

xZero last edited by

Can confirm this solved the issue for me.
I figured out how to use snap library, as @mr-matt-eastwood suggested.

On Manjaro Linux 20, opera directory is /usr/lib/opera.
You don't have to delete original libffmpeg.so file, but just rename it to whatever (including extension).

Steps:

# If you cannot use sudo -i, then just prefix your commands with sudo
sudo -i 
# Close your browser by hand. Following command will ensure no Opera processes are running in the background
killall opera
cd /usr/lib/opera
# Some software automatically loads any .so/.dll file that is present. Not sure for Opera, but just in case
mv libffmpeg.so libffmpeg.so_original
snap install chromium-ffmpeg
# Please note that chromium-ffmpeg-95241 path might differ. Just pickup one with highest number. 
ln -sf /snap/chromium-ffmpeg/current/chromium-ffmpeg-95241/chromium-ffmpeg/libffmpeg.so libffmpeg.so

Works like charm.

[Thor 0]

Thor 0 last edited by

Seems like any libffmpeg.so file will do - other than the one that ships with my Ubuntu Opera packages!!
I'm currently using the libffmpeg.so that came with the vsCode snap, and it seems I need to be updating the link after each Opera security update.

I'd like to join the choir of people demanding Opera fix this issue.

[A Former User]

A Former User @vladimir-bardakov last edited by

@vladimir-bardakov
Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon, Opera v.70 without Chromium browser
After
$ sudo snap install chromium-ffmpeg
in my OS the command and paths are:
$ sudo cp /snap/chromium-ffmpeg/15/chromium-ffmpeg-9xxxx/chromium-ffmpeg/libffmpeg.so /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/opera/libffmpeg.so
9xxxx - there is a few of them, I chose 95241 only because I thoubht the higher number=latest version. Can't say it's true for sure.

[cedarviola]

cedarviola @leocg last edited by

@leocg -- I came in late to the game. Can you please give a link or reference to the legalities?

Other browsers do not seem to have this trouble. Are they breaking the law?

I'm sortof new to Linux, but would love to use my favorite browser --Opera.

All of the suggestions to make it work seem really strange and weird. To my simplistic thinking they should be unnecessary.

Please help me understand.

regards
Jim

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @cedarviola last edited by

@cedarviola See https://forums.opera.com/post/150324

Browsers like Chrome, Edge and IE for sure can afford buying a license.

[clatsopduck]

clatsopduck last edited by

I've been happily running Lubuntu on several machines - installed Opera and ran it just fine on those - including YouTube videos.

Hubby installed a fresh copy of Xubuntu on a laptop plus Opera and nope, it will not play YouTube videos.

"Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available."

I've added the YouTube Flash & HTML5 extension and restarted the machine, but it still won't work. I even turned off the VPN and made sure YouTube thinks I'm where I am... But still the same error.

Hubby doesn't like Opera, so won't put any effort into fixing my problem. Can anyone help?

[A Former User]

A Former User @clatsopduck last edited by

@clatsopduck same problem to me