Media (DVD, mp3, etc) playback in Fedora

  • 3 min read
    • The Fedora project believes in free software, and seeing as such patent-encumbered or proprietary formats are not included in the Fedora distributions. Unfortunately, that means that that media such as DVDs, MP3s, many types of video, Java content and .swf Flash content cannot be viewed on a fresh install of Fedora. This guide will show you how to install various plugins and codecs to allow the playback of this type of content.

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    Requirements

     

    All at Once!

    To install all the codecs, applications and plugins mentioned in this howto at once, run:

    yum -y remove totem;yum -y install totem-xine libdvdcss libdvdread libdvdplay \
    livdvdnav lsdvd libdvbpsi gecko-mediaplayer mplayer mplayer-gui xine-lib-extras-nonfree \
    xine-lib-extras libdvdcss libdvdread libdvdplay compat-libstdc++-33 \
    gstreamer-plugins-good gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-ugly

    Remember that removing totem may remove additional applications - If you'd like them back, make sure you add them to the 'yum install' command.

    DVD Playback

    yum -y install libdvdcss libdvdread libdvdplay libdvdnav lsdvd libdvbpsi

    Note that libdvdcss and the other libraries listed here may be illegal to distribute, install or use depending on your local copyright laws. Distribute/install/use at your own risk, I'm not responsible for anything that happens as a result.

    Totem-Xine

    Totem-Xine is a movie player that is based on Xine and not GStreamer. While the interface is exactly the same as Fedora's Totem player, using the Xine backend will allow for playback of media such as DVD, WMV, MPEG video and more.

    yum -y remove totem;yum -y install totem-xine xine-lib-extras-nonfree \
    xine-lib-extras
    Remember that removing totem may remove additional applications - If you'd like them back, make sure you add them to the 'yum install' command.

    MPlayer and MPlayerPlug-In

    MPlayer is also a movie player like Totem, although I find interface of MPlayer harder to use compared to totem-xine and additionally there is no support for DVD menus at the moment. Still, mplayer offers a web plugin for Mozilla/Firefox and packs in tons of codecs making it a valuable package.

    yum -y install mplayer mplayer-gui gecko-mediaplayer

     

    GStreamer plugins

    Seeing as Fedora uses the GStreamer engine for many programs, it's a must to install the extra GStreamer plugin packs. This is the package that will allow for MP3 playback on your Fedora system.

    yum -y install gstreamer gstreamer-plugins-good gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-ugly

     

    Macromedia Adobe Flash Player

    rpm -Uhv http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
    yum -y install flash-plugin

    Java (JRE) and JRE web plugin

    Please see this howto for instructions.

     

    RealPlayer

    Please click 'Download RPM Package' on this page, then save that file in your home. Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories or System Tools > Terminal) and type:

    rpm -Uhv RealPlayer11GOLD.rpm && rm RealPlayer11GOLD.rpm -f

    RealPlayer and the Mozilla plugin should now be installed.

     
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