Install Multimedia Plug-ins in Linux

Music and video files come in a wide variety of exotic formats. Learn how to locate and install the plug-ins you need to view or listen to them.
On some Linux distributions, getting all of your multimedia files to play seems like it requires all sorts of command-line voodoo. One thing that sets Ubuntu apart is just how easy it is to grab all of the packages you need to play multimedia content. In this hack, we will walk you through the necessary steps so that once you are finished, Ubuntu will happily play just about any media file you throw at it.
Tweak Your Repository List
Many of the multimedia packages you need to install do not reside in the default Ubuntu repository. To get these packages, you will need to add the universe and multiverse repositories to Ubuntu. If you haven't done so yet, check out for information about these repositories and how to add them. Once you have added the repositories, be sure to update your list of packages within your package-management tool before proceeding.
Install General-Purpose Libraries and Tools
There are a number of basic libraries and multimedia tools you need to install to get the best support for your multimedia files. These include libraries for MP3 and Ogg Vorbis playback, as well as media players and other tools. If you use Synaptic, select totem-xine from the GNOME Desktop Environment (universe) category, vorbis-tools from the Multimedia category, sox from the Multimedia (universe) category, faad and lame from the Multimedia (multiverse) category, imagemagick from the Graphics category, and finally ffmpeg and mjpegtools from the Graphics (universe) category. Or, if you use apt-get, type:$ sudo apt-get install totem-xine vorbis-tools sox faad lame \\
imagemagick ffmpeg mjpegtools

Install Gstreamer Libraries
Gstreamer is a new plug-in-based approach to multimedia playback. GNOME uses Gstreamer for much of its own multimedia playback, and, while it is still under heavy development, you will still want to install a number of Gstreamer libraries for GNOME. If you use Synaptic as your package management tool, select the gstreamer0.8-plugins-multiverse package from the Libraries (multiverse) category; gstreamer0.8-ffmpeg, gstreamer0.8-mad, and gstreamer0.8-plugins from the Libraries (universe) category; and gstreamer0.8-lame from the Multimedia (multiverse) category, and apply your changes. Alternatively, if you use apt-get, type:$ sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.8-plugins-multiverse \\
gstreamer0.8-ffmpeg gstreamer0.8-mad gstreamer0.8-plugins \\
gstreamer0.8-lame

If version 0.8 of these Gstreamer libraries is not available, search your package repository to see if a new version is available (for example, if you are using apt, run the command apt-cache search gstreamer).
Once you have installed all the Gstreamer libraries, open a terminal and type:$ gst-register-0.8

to register all of the Gstreamer plug-ins on your system.
Install Codecs of Ambiguous Legality
There are a number of multimedia formats that are encumbered by special licenses that require the user to leverage Windows codec libraries on their Linux system to play back the file. Some of these include QuickTime and Windows Media formats. In certain countries, it may be illegal to play files via these codecs, so open up your checkbook, call up your lawyer, and have a chat before proceeding. Then, open a terminal window and grab a copy of the w32codecs .deb file from ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/pool/main/w/w32codecs/ and install the .deb:$ wget ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/pool/main/w/w32codecs/w32codecs_

20050412-0.0_i386.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i w32codecs_20050412-0.0_i386.deb

If for some reason that site isn't available, you can also track down the w32codecs packages from the official MPlayer page at http://mplayerhq.hu/.