How to Play Rmvb Files In Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)

Ubuntu Logo Linux jaux.netIf you experienced this topic earlier, you know that it’s tough to solve. Playing Real video format files (e.g. rmvb files) is still a problem in Ubuntu 8.04, but don’t worry, it’s now much easier than before.

So, here we go:

  1. Follow the official instruction to install all the restricted formats:

    sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
  2. Install MPlayer:

    sudo apt-get install mplayer
  3. Download MPlayer binary codecs package from here.
  4. Install MPlayer binary codecs package: (Note: the package name may differ from yours.)

    tar xjvf essential-20071007.tar.bz2
    sudo mkdir /usr/lib/codecs
    sudo cp essential-20071007/* /usr/lib/codecs
    

At this point, you should be able to play rmvb files now. In case you still can’t, install libstdc++5 as follow:

sudo apt-get install libstdc++5

Bonus: I highly recommend you to give SMPlayer a try. You can get SMPlayer by:

sudo apt-get install smplayer
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28 Responses to How to Play Rmvb Files In Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)

  1. tim says:

    THANK YOU kind jaux sir.

  2. Mr.Xprt says:

    I made that but it still not working??!!

    it’s my fist visit

    sweet blog

    :)

    regardes

  3. Michael says:

    thank you.

    it works for me…

  4. jaux says:

    thank you.

    it works for me…

    Cool!

  5. Dave says:

    nice one, that last bit (sudo apt-get install libstdc++5) was the bit i needed. no idea what it is or what it does but apparently i needed it.

    cheers

  6. frans van der star says:

    sorry it does not work.

    cannot find the directory

    tried cd /usr/local but without succes

    here you see the results

    star39@star39-laptop:~$ cd /usr/local/
    star39@star39-laptop:/usr/local$ tar xjvf essential-20071007.tar.bz2
    tar: essential-20071007.tar.bz2: Cannot open: No such file or directory
    tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
    tar: Child returned status 2
    tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
    star39@star39-laptop:/usr/local$ cd /usr/bin/
    star39@star39-laptop:/usr/bin$ tar xjvf essential-20071007.tar.bz2
    tar: essential-20071007.tar.bz2: Cannot open: No such file or directory
    tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
    tar: Child returned status 2
    tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
    star39@star39-laptop:/usr/bin$ cd ~desktop
    bash: cd: ~desktop: No such file or directory
    star39@star39-laptop:/usr/bin$ cd -Desktop
    bash: cd: -D: invalid option
    cd: usage: cd [-L|-P] [dir]
    star39@star39-laptop:/usr/bin$ cd -L
    star39@star39-laptop:~$ tar xjvf essential-20071007.tar.bz2
    tar: essential-20071007.tar.bz2: Cannot open: No such file or directory
    tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
    tar: Child returned status 2
    tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
    star39@star39-laptop:~$ cd /usr/opt/
    bash: cd: /usr/opt/: No such file or directory
    star39@star39-laptop:~$ cd /usr/etc/
    bash: cd: /usr/etc/: No such file or directory
    star39@star39-laptop:~$ cd /usr/local/
    star39@star39-laptop:/usr/local$ tar sjvf essential-20071007.tar.bz2
    tar: You must specify one of the `-Acdtrux’ options
    Try `tar –help’ or `tar –usage’ for more information.
    star39@star39-laptop:/usr/local$ tar xjf essential-20071007.tar.bz2
    tar: essential-20071007.tar.bz2: Cannot open: No such file or directory
    tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
    tar: Child returned status 2
    tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
    star39@star39-laptop:/usr/local$ cd /usr/local/star39
    bash: cd: /usr/local/star39: No such file or directory
    star39@star39-laptop:/usr/local$ cd ~desktop-star39
    bash: cd: ~desktop-star39: No such file or directory
    star39@star39-laptop:/usr/local$ cd ~ desktop
    star39@star39-laptop:~$ tar xjf essential-2001007.tar.bz2
    tar: essential-2001007.tar.bz2: Cannot open: No such file or directory
    tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
    tar: Child returned status 2
    tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
    star39@star39-laptop:~$

  7. sean says:

    hey!!! Thanks man!
    I usually play my media with vlc, but that couldn’t do it, even after having installed all the other requirements…
    smplayer did the trick..

    thanks!

  8. eran says:

    thank you, works great with kubuntu 8.04

  9. ranen says:

    This does not work on x86-64

  10. jaux says:

    @ranen: I guess you need 64-bit codecs to make it work.

  11. Pingback: How to Play Rmvb Files In Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) | sokoyo’s 隨手記

  12. zhaoqiang says:

    You gave me so much help. Thanks a lot.

  13. azman says:

    hello, my ubuntu 8.04 cant play any rmvb files, why is like that?
    i`ve tried your solution, install mplayer , libstdc and smplayer.. but it seem cannot work..

  14. jaux says:

    hello, my ubuntu 8.04 cant play any rmvb files, why is like that?
    i`ve tried your solution, install mplayer , libstdc and smplayer.. but it seem cannot work..

    @azman: Did you get any error messages when you were trying to play a RMVB file?

  15. jaux says:

    @azman: Try to use smplayer to play the file.

  16. azman says:

    i`d try but the output only audio

    audio is ok, but video not ok.

  17. jaux says:

    i`d try but the output only audio

    audio is ok, but video not ok.

    @azman: Do you know which version of RealVideo encoding it is for your files? Because I also have the same problem with my old videos which are encoded with older RealVideo codec. My solution should (or maybe only) work well for RealVideo 9/10 encoded videos.

  18. Hi Jaux,

    Thanks for the short and clear tutorial. It fixed my RMVB problem nicely.

    Stanley

  19. harish says:

    thanx machi …….. It worked for me

  20. Wyt says:

    you rocks! thx a lot, this worked for me, lucky me to find this :)

  21. zain says:

    thanks, good article

  22. egg says:

    sorry~
    i have key the trackback in my article
    but it didn’t show on your trackback!

    http://justfor1221.pixnet.net/blog/post/23115151

  23. rDee says:

    Thanks, for your article. Finally, I can watch RMVB videos in Ubuntu.

  24. anantha says:

    pls help me out how to install the binary codecs package.. my bit torrent isn’t workin properly i guess

  25. jaux says:

    @anantha Try HTTP or FTP, the links are on the same download page.

  26. hasssan says:

    thanks a lot man… it works

  27. Muchas gracias por este aporte.
    Funcionó inmediatamente.

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