Firefox not playing videos on Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS

My newly deployed Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS has already installed Firefox 80, but most videos in the web are not playable. One codec complains "No video formats available", while the other, for example, youtube, says that my browser can't play HTML5 videos.

What I've tried?

• Reinstall the browser
• Install the flash plugin(deprecated technology, I know)
• Install the widevine extension. Followed instruction

These solutions didn't help me a lot: the top result reached is watching videos on the sites supporting flash content.

So, what should I do? Please, instruct me!

3 Answers

Bro, a solution for your problem takes no more than one line :)

sudo apt install ffmpeg

That's all! After restarting your firefox browser the changes are applied and the browser plays any video content you wish.

P.S. I lost 2 annoying days searching the web for solution, trying different approaches, rolling back changes, reinstalling browser and so on, and try to imagine my face when this single line appeared the solution.

10

You may also try

sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras

See here for what it installs.

5

Just Open Terminal and paste:

sudo apt install libavcodec-extra -y

Restart Firefox and video playback will be working.

2