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Comment: codecs not available because of patents is no longer true
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= What Are Codecs? = #language en
[[Software]] > Codecs
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~-[[DebianWiki/EditorGuide#translation|Translation(s)]]: English - [[it/MultimediaCodecs|Italiano]] - [[fr/MultimediaCodecs|Français]] - [[pt/MultimediaCodecs|Português]]-~
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Simply put for most users a codec is a program capable of compressing/decompressing data streams to make them more manageable and consume less bandwidth. To view files that are compressed by codecs, you will need to install a program capable of decompressing them for you. == What Is A Codec? ==
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= How to Install Codecs = As the page on codecs of [[http://en.wikipedia.org|Wikipedia]] says: "A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder". A codec (the program) should not be confused with a coding or compression format or standard – a format is a document (the standard), a way of storing data, while a codec is a program (an implementation) which can read or write such files. In practice, however, "codec" is sometimes used loosely to refer to formats."
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To install common codecs included in the Debian repositories: See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec for more information about codecs.

== Codec Installations ==

=== Available Codecs for Debian ===

Many codecs are already available in the official Debian archive. These include codecs for MP3, H264, and AAC encoding and decoding. These codecs are made available through libraries such as the libav/ffmpeg libraries. Media players available in Debian such as VLC and Mplayer make use of these libraries in order to provide support for playback of files encoded through these many different codecs.

In summary, when you install a media player available from Debian, many different codecs the media player supports will be automatically installed. Chances are, the codecs you will ever wish to use will be the ones automatically installed with the media player. If however, you find that a codec you need isn't available from your media player, you may need to install a few extra packages. How to install these extra packages, some from Debian and some available through third parties, is explained below.

==== Extra codec packages from Debian ====

===== Testing/Unstable Suite =====

As mentioned in the previous section, the libav/ffmpeg libraries are used to provide codecs for many different media players. There are alternate versions of these library packages that provide extra codecs. The names of the packages are libavcodec-extra-53 libavdevice-extra-53 libavfilter-extra-2 libavformat-extra-53 libavutil-extra-51 libpostproc-extra-52 libswscale-extra-2. These packages are available through Debian main, so to install them, simply run (as root) the following command.
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apt-get update
apt-get install gstreamer0.8-plugins gstreamer0.8-ffmpeg gstreamer0.8-mpeg2dec
apt-get install vorbis-tools toolame sox ffmpeg gstreamer0.8-misc
gst-register-0.8
apt-get install libavcodec-extra-53 libavdevice-extra-53 libavfilter-extra-2 libavformat-extra-53 libavutil-extra-51 libpostproc-extra-52 libswscale-extra-2
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To install other codecs not included with Debian (such as mp3 codecs): ==== Codec packages from third parties ====
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 1. Depending on your chosen release, add one of the following lines to your ''/etc/apt/sources.list' file:
{{{
    deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ unstable main
    deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ sarge main
    deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ etch main
    deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ sid main
{{{#!wiki warning
'''Warning'''

Installation of third party packages is not recommended. Use at your own risk.
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This repository has packages for mplayer, gmplayer, and other codecs also. This section describes installation of packages from third party repositories. The packages in these repositories are not as thoroughly tested as packages in the official Debian archive. The problems with third party packages can include, but is not limited to
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 1.#2 Then do the following:  * Package conflicts between packages in the Debian archive and packages in third party repositories.
 * Bad package upgrades between Debian releases.
 * Difficulty removing third party packages once installed.
 * Removal of unrelated packages to satisfy dependencies for third party packages.
 * Third party packages overriding/ignoring local system/user configurations.

As such, it is not recommended to install packages from third party repositories.

Moreover some codecs are only available through third party repositories and not in Debian due to legal concerns; do your own legal due diligence before using restricted codecs.

===== debian-multimedia.org =====

There is at least one extra codec package available for amd64 and i386 machines that is not available from Debian. On amd64, the package is w64codecs, and on i386, the package is w32codecs. These extra packages provide support for a few rarely used codecs and the only software that makes use of them are xine and mplayer. If you are not using xine or mplayer or find that you don't need these codecs at all, there is no point in installing these packages.

These packages are made available from the [[UnofficialRepositories|unofficial repository]] debian-multimedia.org. This repository can be added to apt sources list but is known to cause problems on users' systems, including all the problems mentioned above. Because of this, and since only one package from this repository provides extra codecs, this section will only describe how to download the extra codec package and install it. Below are the two commands that will install this codec package, depending on your system (you need to be root).
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apt-get update
apt-get install lame lame-extras faad
gst-register-0.8
# Type these commands for amd64 machines.
wget http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/non-free/w/w64codecs/w64codecs_20071007-0.5_amd64.deb
dpkg -i w64codecs_20071007-0.5_amd64.deb
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= WMA Codec =

There is no WMA codec available in Debian, but you can compile one yourself. Note that this procedure is only known to work with Beep Media Player, for more information see BeepMediaPlayerHowTo.

 1.#1 Open up a terminal and download the WMA Plugin:
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wget http://download.berlios.de/bmp-plugins/bmp-wma-0.1.1.tar.gz # Type these commands for i386 machines.
wget http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/non-free/w/w32codecs/w32codecs_20110131-0.1_i386.deb
dpkg -i w32codecs_20110131-0.1_i386.deb
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 1.#2 Extract the files: '''Note''': while adding an unofficial repository to APT sources can be a risk, please note that APT package management system doesn't know anything about packages installed directly with dpkg. These packages won't be updated automatically if there is a new version on the repository.

== DVD Playback ==

DVDs are usually encrypted with CSS. CSS is not a codec. In any case, here is some information on playback of encrypted DVDs.

All media players use libdvdcss2 in order to playback these encrypted DVDs. libdvdcss2 is available at the [[UnofficialRepositories|unofficial repository]] debian-multimedia.org. To install libdvdcss2, run these commands (as root).
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tar -xvzf bmp-wma-0.1.1.tar.gz # Type these commands for amd64 machines.
wget http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/main/libd/libdvdcss/libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_amd64.deb
dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_amd64.deb
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 1.#3 Change to the directory that was created and compile:
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cd bmp-wma-0.1.1
./configure
make
make install
# Type these commands for i386 machines.
wget http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/main/libd/libdvdcss/libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_i386.deb
dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_i386.deb
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Note: You cannot play WMA files with DRM. '''Note''': while adding an unofficial repository to APT sources can be a risk, please note that APT package management system doesn't know anything about packages installed directly with dpkg. These packages won't be updated automatically if there is a new version on the repository.
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= Links = == Legal Issues ==
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From ["http://www.debianguide.org"] As long time users of Debian may know, there has been a long history of legal concerns when it comes to using various multimedia related software due to software patents. Because of this, various multimedia codecs could not be made available within Debian. However, Debian's position on software patents has changed, resulting in the inclusion of these various multimedia codecs within Debian.

For information on Debian's position with regards to software patents, see the following.
 * http://www.debian.org/legal/patent
 * http://www.debian.org/reports/patent-faq

= More information =
[[WindowsMediaVideo|Windows Media Video playback]]

Software > Codecs


Translation(s): English - Italiano - Français - Português


What Is A Codec?

As the page on codecs of Wikipedia says: "A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder". A codec (the program) should not be confused with a coding or compression format or standard – a format is a document (the standard), a way of storing data, while a codec is a program (an implementation) which can read or write such files. In practice, however, "codec" is sometimes used loosely to refer to formats."

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec for more information about codecs.

Codec Installations

Available Codecs for Debian

Many codecs are already available in the official Debian archive. These include codecs for MP3, H264, and AAC encoding and decoding. These codecs are made available through libraries such as the libav/ffmpeg libraries. Media players available in Debian such as VLC and Mplayer make use of these libraries in order to provide support for playback of files encoded through these many different codecs.

In summary, when you install a media player available from Debian, many different codecs the media player supports will be automatically installed. Chances are, the codecs you will ever wish to use will be the ones automatically installed with the media player. If however, you find that a codec you need isn't available from your media player, you may need to install a few extra packages. How to install these extra packages, some from Debian and some available through third parties, is explained below.

Extra codec packages from Debian

Testing/Unstable Suite

As mentioned in the previous section, the libav/ffmpeg libraries are used to provide codecs for many different media players. There are alternate versions of these library packages that provide extra codecs. The names of the packages are libavcodec-extra-53 libavdevice-extra-53 libavfilter-extra-2 libavformat-extra-53 libavutil-extra-51 libpostproc-extra-52 libswscale-extra-2. These packages are available through Debian main, so to install them, simply run (as root) the following command.

apt-get install libavcodec-extra-53 libavdevice-extra-53 libavfilter-extra-2 libavformat-extra-53 libavutil-extra-51 libpostproc-extra-52 libswscale-extra-2

Codec packages from third parties

Warning

Installation of third party packages is not recommended. Use at your own risk.

This section describes installation of packages from third party repositories. The packages in these repositories are not as thoroughly tested as packages in the official Debian archive. The problems with third party packages can include, but is not limited to

  • Package conflicts between packages in the Debian archive and packages in third party repositories.
  • Bad package upgrades between Debian releases.
  • Difficulty removing third party packages once installed.
  • Removal of unrelated packages to satisfy dependencies for third party packages.
  • Third party packages overriding/ignoring local system/user configurations.

As such, it is not recommended to install packages from third party repositories.

Moreover some codecs are only available through third party repositories and not in Debian due to legal concerns; do your own legal due diligence before using restricted codecs.

debian-multimedia.org

There is at least one extra codec package available for amd64 and i386 machines that is not available from Debian. On amd64, the package is w64codecs, and on i386, the package is w32codecs. These extra packages provide support for a few rarely used codecs and the only software that makes use of them are xine and mplayer. If you are not using xine or mplayer or find that you don't need these codecs at all, there is no point in installing these packages.

These packages are made available from the unofficial repository debian-multimedia.org. This repository can be added to apt sources list but is known to cause problems on users' systems, including all the problems mentioned above. Because of this, and since only one package from this repository provides extra codecs, this section will only describe how to download the extra codec package and install it. Below are the two commands that will install this codec package, depending on your system (you need to be root).

# Type these commands for amd64 machines.
wget http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/non-free/w/w64codecs/w64codecs_20071007-0.5_amd64.deb
dpkg -i w64codecs_20071007-0.5_amd64.deb

# Type these commands for i386 machines.
wget http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/non-free/w/w32codecs/w32codecs_20110131-0.1_i386.deb
dpkg -i w32codecs_20110131-0.1_i386.deb

Note: while adding an unofficial repository to APT sources can be a risk, please note that APT package management system doesn't know anything about packages installed directly with dpkg. These packages won't be updated automatically if there is a new version on the repository.

DVD Playback

DVDs are usually encrypted with CSS. CSS is not a codec. In any case, here is some information on playback of encrypted DVDs.

All media players use libdvdcss2 in order to playback these encrypted DVDs. libdvdcss2 is available at the unofficial repository debian-multimedia.org. To install libdvdcss2, run these commands (as root).

# Type these commands for amd64 machines.
wget http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/main/libd/libdvdcss/libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_amd64.deb
dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_amd64.deb

# Type these commands for i386 machines.
wget http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/main/libd/libdvdcss/libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_i386.deb
dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.10-0.3_i386.deb

Note: while adding an unofficial repository to APT sources can be a risk, please note that APT package management system doesn't know anything about packages installed directly with dpkg. These packages won't be updated automatically if there is a new version on the repository.

As long time users of Debian may know, there has been a long history of legal concerns when it comes to using various multimedia related software due to software patents. Because of this, various multimedia codecs could not be made available within Debian. However, Debian's position on software patents has changed, resulting in the inclusion of these various multimedia codecs within Debian.

For information on Debian's position with regards to software patents, see the following.

More information

Windows Media Video playback