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Any free codecs out there to get my WMA files playing on Rhythmbox? (11.04)

6 Answers 6

10

Another good thing is to install the package ubuntu-restricted-extras

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

It will install a lot more than just codecs for wma files. But you shouldn't have any problems with media files after the installation.

2

Fairly sure it's in one of the 'restricted' packages. Try adding:

  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse
  • gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly

One of those should handle WMA, I believe.

2

You can use VLC media player. It's an open source project, plus it has loads of features.

0
1

What do you mean by "free"? open-source? or simply usable without paying anything? I doubt there are open-source codecs for wma, but I think you can install them as part of ubuntu-restricted-extras. At least after installing vlc and all it's dependencies banshee can play wma files.

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  • Free as in monetarily. I think I've tried the restricted codecs before but I'll try again with this fresh install.
    – dbrane
    Apr 29, 2011 at 17:28
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Running 10.04.3, i386 version on AMD Phenom.

Installed the following packages: ubuntu-restricted-extras, gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly, gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse, vlc.

DRM-free wma lossless files still won't play in either Banshee or VLC :-/

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  • 1
    Note: lossy wma files play fine in Banshee. Nov 9, 2011 at 3:36
  • wmal (lossless), can be decoded with mplayer/mplayer frontends; some xine based players & to some extent with a self built vlc. Note that this is only with w32codecs installed & 32 bit players. FFmpeg has recently added wmal decoding support but it's currently broken
    – doug
    Nov 9, 2011 at 3:58
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The following answer is for 18.04.

Rhythmbox uses gstreamer to play music. The ASF demuxer is provided by the gstreamer "ugly" plugins.

First, run the following commands to enable the universe repository:

sudo add-apt-repository universe

Next, run the following commands to install the ASF demuxer:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly

It's also probably a good idea to install the restricted extras package to cover other formats:

sudo add-apt-repository multiverse
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras

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