How do I watch an AVI file?

I get following error message when I try to play file_name.avi file using default video player or VLC:

Required plugin could not be found
Videos requires to install plugins to play media files of the following type:
application/x-rar decoder

How to install those plugins?

2 Answers

You can download and install the Ubuntu Restricted Extras directly from the Ubuntu Software Center which provides support for most video and audio formats (mp3,avi,mpeg,Java Flash, TrueType,Codecs).

You need to install the restricted formats codecs. The documentation can be found here.