Proprietary multimedia formats, such as MP3 files and DVD decoders, aren't included by default. To enable playback of these medias, please follow the instructions below.

Open A Terminal

Press the Super key and type the word terminal, then press Enter. A Terminal window should open up.

Install Packages

The commands below can be used to install various sets of packages. To paste into the terminal, use the "Edit" Menu, or press Ctrl+Shift+V.

You may be prompted for your [sudo] password. If so, type in your regular login/user password, then press Enter again. You will not see characters appear while you're typing the password.

Please note that packages listed with "bad" or "ugly" in the names below are not harmful to your system.

• Plugins marked "ugly" may not be legal to install in all juristictions due to copyright and patent law.
• Plugins marked "bad" do not receive as many development resources from the GStreamer project, but are still supported in Pop!_OS and Ubuntu.

Install all available formats

Ubuntu and Pop!_OS both have a package available which will install most available proprietary media codecs. Because of legal restrictions, this package cannot be installed automatically, but if you live in a territory where it is legal to do so, you can copy and paste the following line, followed by Enter:

sudo apt install -y ubuntu-restricted-extras gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad

If you receive a prompt titled Configuring ttf-mscorefonts-installer, press Tab to select the <Ok> item, then press Enter. Next, use Tab again to select the <Yes> option to agree to the EULA, then press Enter again.

Install only some formats

If it is not legal for you to install all of the formats, or if you only want to install the formats you need, you can use the following manual commands. Remove any unwanted packages from the command before running it.

For Ubuntu/Pop!_OS 20.04 and above, copy and paste the following line, followed by Enter:

sudo apt install -y gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly gstreamer1.0-plugins-good libavcodec-extra gstreamer1.0-libav chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

For Ubuntu/Pop!_OS 18.04 and below, copy and paste the following line, followed by Enter:

sudo apt install -y gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly libavcodec-extra gstreamer1.0-libav gstreamer1.0-fluendo-mp3 chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

Set up DVD Playback (optional)

Once you see the command above has finished, enter the following command to additionally install and enable DVD playback:

sudo apt install -y libdvd-pkg

When you see the Configuring libdvd-pkg prompt, press Enter to select the <Ok> option, then press Enter again to select the <Yes> option. After the command has completed, you will also need to initialize the library with the following command:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg

At the prompt, press Enter to select <Yes>.

Restart Your Computer

After enabling codec support, it's recommended to restart your computer so any running software can load in the new codecs. You can do this with the top-right menu, or with the following command after saving and closing any other work:

sudo systemctl reboot

Useful Programs

The program VLC is an excellent media player with support for DVDs, CDs, and most formats of media files. It can be installed with the the Pop!_Shop in Pop!_OS, with the Software Center in Ubuntu, or with this command:

sudo apt install -y vlc