Are there any legal reasons for that?
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3I would rephrase the question as either "Why aren't multimedia codecs included by default?" or "Why are multimedia codecs not included by default?". As it now stands, a double negative is used and thus should be read as "Why are multimedia codecs included by default?"– AntonyAug 3, 2010 at 10:08
2 Answers
Some are for legal reasons - some video/audio formats require further license agreements or don't quite fit under the Ubuntu license schema. You can read more about this on the Ubuntu Wiki: Restricted Formats page.
I know that Ubuntu Studio comes with a lot of these codecs and "drivers" already installed. However for an average desktop user it's a lot of overkill as it's designed for multimedia market.
Medibuntu.org provides an easy way to install many "non-free" codecs and multimedia applications that are not available in the main distribution for legal or philosophical reasons. It is up to you to ensure that it is legal to use such codecs in your country.
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1According to help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu, looks like Medibuntu is gone: "Medibuntu has now been shut down, the packages were either obsolete, unnecessary or moved to the official Ubuntu archive. " Also see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medibuntu Sep 11, 2016 at 16:02