Fix for - Amarok won't play audio files on Ubuntu

I know this looks a pretty weird title, but a friend of mine had a similar trouble after installing Amarok 2.2 on Ubuntu 9.10 from the repos. Actually, in order to make it work, the package libxine1-ffmpeg is required, which probably isn't included in the default installation due to licensing issues. So, all you need to do is install the package and you are ready to amarok .

Update: As stated in the comment below by Alex, since Amarok is a Kubuntu application, installing kubuntu-restricted extras should do the job. Either click this link or run this command.

[shredder12]$ sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricted-extras

Although in non-ubuntu based distros you will have to go with the installation of libxine1.

Libxine1-ffmpeg contains MPEG-related plugins used by libxine1, the media player library used by Xine engine, which Amarok and other xine-based players use. This package includes the ffmpeg plugin for Xine, enabling xine-based players a large variety of audio and video codecs.

I didn't try this but after installation Amarok probably would have played files based on open audio formats (.ogg). This library was needed to enable it with appropriate codecs to play restricted formats.

Install libxine1-ffmpeg plugin on Ubuntu

Either click this link (in case of failure, help)or run the following command in a terminal to install libxine1-ffmpeg and get amarok in action.

[shredder12]$ sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg

Now, restarting amarok should fix the problem. I hope this will help most of the users who face a similar scenario of "Amarok won't play music/mp3 after installation on Ubuntu".

9 Comments

Anon Linuxer (not verified)
March 22nd, 2010 12:36 pm
Thanks for pointing out. Amarok doesn't play music under Mandriva as well. Probably I should to install libxine1-ffmpeg there too.
Alex (not verified)
March 22nd, 2010 11:35 pm
I'm sorry but that is not the way to do it. It is just hard to remember sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricted-extras will get you all complains about codecs/plugins solved, it installs mp3, dvd, flash and java installed.
March 23rd, 2010 12:50 am

lol... I thought ubuntu-restricted-extras will do that job but couldn't figure why, even though it was already installed on my friend's system. I didn't realise that Amarok is a KDE application, duhh Thanks for the solution alex, I have updated the article accordingly.

Krystofer (not verified)
April 1st, 2010 08:47 pm
hot diggity it worked. fantasic!
arayilpdas (not verified)
June 10th, 2010 09:04 pm
thank you!
MatT (not verified)
July 28th, 2010 07:09 pm
Great post. Thanks playa!
Sarah_N87 (not verified)
August 23rd, 2010 08:42 am
Thank you so much! It's pretty sad when a music player can't play music.
Anon Linuxer (not verified)
November 28th, 2010 02:29 am
cool, fixed the problem..THANKS
Clive (not verified)
March 26th, 2011 12:44 pm
It works for Linux mint lxde as well. Thanks for the info.

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